100th Anniversary of the BEV: Open House Days 4.12.2023 - The BEV - Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying also celebrated its 100th anniversary with open house days at Vienna's Schiffamtsgasse and Arltgasse. The number of visitors was enormous and interest was high.
Open House Day at the Arltgasse
At the Ottakringer Arltgasse, the location of the BEV's metrology and calibration department, the doors were opened to the public for one day on November 25, 2023.
Diverse Program
Visitors were offered a varied program that provided an insight into the various specialist areas and types of measuring equipment. Among other things, interested guests were able to experience measuring devices and procedures from the fields of traffic speed, temperature, length, force, mass, time, e-charging station, e-meter, water meter and acoustics. There were also exciting shows such as the electric arc in the high-voltage laboratory or the triple point of water in the temperature laboratory, which demonstrated the fascinating phenomena of metrology.
Get Active at the Hands-on Stations
Those who wanted to get active themselves could do so at the hands-on stations, where selected experiments such as breath alcohol measurement could be carried out. A particular highlight was the history room, which offered a great insight into the history of Austrian metrology with historical measuring instruments and documents.
Open House Day at the Schiffamtsgasse
For three days at the beginning of December, BEV invited visitors to its headquarters at the Schiffamtsgasse. The interest was great: around 400 visitors took the opportunity to see various specialist areas presented by experts. More than 50 guided groups were accompanied through six stations.
Fascinating Information and Hands-on station for Surveying
The centimeter-precise positioning with satellite methods was explained in a short film, and the accuracy of the positioning on your own smartphone could be checked at a "control point".
A presentation showed the path from analog images to data from digital sensors as well as the current methods of capturing aerial images, orthophotos and terrain elevation models. Many people appreciate the detailed topographic maps of the BEV. With the free of charge Austrian Map mobile, visitors could surf through the national maps of Austria on their smartphone or tablet.
Time Travel Through the Development of Austria
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary, an opportunity for a kind of "journey through time" was presented: the new Austrian histMap. Here, users can surf through over 150 years of Austrian history using 3,000 historical map treasures from the BEV archive. This can also be done online at https://maps.bev.gv.at.
The BEV in Consumer Protection
The station "Market surveillance: metrological consumer protection" was particularly interesting. How does the BEV monitor the fulfillment of technical and formal criteria of products on the European Single Market? Here it was explained how the BEV ensures the health and safety of Austrian consumers.
Cadastre and National Boundaries: We know your boundaries and ours!
At this station, the experts from the Vienna Surveying Office explained the change from the land tax system to securing property. While hundreds of years ago the cadastre was simply a means of determining the amount of property tax, today it secures the land ownership of Austrians. Over 200 years of cadastral history, from the original map to free of charge online access, there was much to discover. More on the history of the cadastre here.
Hardly anyone was aware that the BEV regularly checks all 26,000 boundary stones on the basis of the state treaties with the eight neighboring states and the State Boundary Law and remeasures them if necessary.
A Resounding Success and a Mission for the Future
The open house days was a complete success and provided an insight into the importance and diversity of the tasks for science, business and society. An exciting experience for visitors!