By all accounts, the competition was a great success in highlighting the Surveying profession, and in building both organizational and personal relationships among the participants.
The teams representing NSPS and the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions gathered at the host hotel on Tuesday 11/13/18 for the opening ceremonies, introductions of the team members, and a presentation by representatives of local Trimble dealer Keystone Precision Instruments about the equipment to be used for the ‘field’ exercises portion of the competition.
On Wednesday 11/14/18, the teams traveled to the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) Testing and Training Center at Corbin, VA for the ‘field exercises’ portion of the competition and an introduction to the multifaceted activities undertaken at the Center. The ‘field exercises’ had been planned for Thursday 11/15/18 on the National Mall in Washington, DC but a predicted snow event (which came to pass) required the change in plans.
The “theoretical” portion of the competition was held on Thursday 11/15/18 at the host hotel with each member of both teams answering 50 multiple-choice questions which had been collectively selected by the judges from among a total 200 questions previously submitted by the respective team leaders.
Both the “field” and “theoretical” portions of the competition were independently judged with the combined result used to determine the overall winning team. The NSPS team won the “field” portion and the Chinese team won the “theoretical” portion. The comparison of the scores of the teams showed that the gap in the “theoretical” portion was greater than the gap in the “field” portion, resulting in the team from China being named the overall winner.
Among the most often heard reactions was the appreciation for the opportunity to build bonds among the participants representing both teams. The team leaders met on the final day to begin discussions about the continuation of the competition on some mutually agreeable plan for timing and location.
