Media

HKU and the Hong Kong Observatory jointly held
“Visibility Measurement Method Design Competition”
award presentation ceremony

10 Jul 2012

An award presentation ceremony for the Visibility Measurement Method Design Competition for primary and secondary school students was held at Rayson Huang Theatre, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on July 7 (Saturday).

The competition, which was the first of its kind in Hong Kong, was jointly organized by the HKU Faculty of Engineering and the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO), and was supported by the Hong Kong Meteorological Society and Community Weather Information Network. 

The objective of the competition was to enrich the knowledge of local primary and secondary students in both engineering and meteorology.  Visibility is closely related to our daily lives. Low visibility affects flight and shipping schedules and increases the risk of traffic accidents, and it has been an important task for experts in the field to identify the various factors that affect visibility. Yet, visibility measurement is a specialized area of knowledge. 

Earlier this year, HKU and HKO had organized a series of talks, workshops and visits for students to understand the various methods of visibility measurement. More than 140 students studying Primary 4 to Form 6 in 16 schools took part in the Visibility Measurement Method Design Competition. They were divided into 26 groups and their designs ranged from simple naked-eye identification of buildings in digital photos to sophisticated software for automatic analysis of multiple landmarks that can compensate for errors in camera positions.  The works fully demonstrated the ability and creative ideas of students in the application of meteorological measurement and information technology.

At the award presentation ceremony, HKU Dean of Engineering Prof. Norman C. Tien praised the students for their creativity and talents in providing a wide variety of solutions for visibility measurement.  The methods have been meticulously designed and tested, software elegantly written, hardware seamlessly integrated with software, and the team work has been elegantly presented.  All these show that they are the engineers and scientists of the next generation.

HKO Acting Assistant Director Mr. Edwin Lai was impressed by the students’ team spirit. “Over the past six months or so, students had to persevere with their outdoor visibility observations, and to cooperate with each other in combining skills in software programming and hardware tool design to devise innovative methods for visibility measurement.  This process was not easy at all,” he said.

For media enquiries, please contact: Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 email: pychoy@hku.hk  or Ms Melanie Wan (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk. 

Photo: organizers and supporting organizations of the competition.

From left to right: Dr. Francis C.Y. Tam, Hong Kong Meteorological Society; Mr. Edwin Lai Sau Tak, Acting Assistant Director, Hong Kong Observatory; Prof. Norman C. Tien, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong; Mr. Lo Cheuk Wai, Community Weather Information Network; Mr. Tam Kwong Hung, Hong Kong Observatory; Dr. Wong Ka Yan Ivy, Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong; Dr. Yip Chi Lap, Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong; Prof. Francis C. M. Lau, Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong.

Photo: winning teams in the Junior Category and organizers of the competition 

Photo: winning teams in the Senior Category and organizers of the competition