Priorities and Progress 2004 – 2008

What is ISPRS?
The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing is a non-governmental organisation devoted to the development of international cooperation for the advancement of photogrammetry and remote sensing and their applications. The Society’s scientific interests include photogrammetry, remote sensing, spatial information systems and related disciplines, as well as applications in cartography, geodesy, surveying, natural, Earth and engineering sciences, and environmental monitoring and protection. Further applications include industrial design and manufacturing, architecture and monument preservation, medicine and others. ISPRS publishes the International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences and the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing which contain scientific and technical articles. ISPRS Highlights is the official bulletin of the Society and contains such items as the ISPRS Annual Reports, general news of ISPRS activities, event reports of ISPRS sponsored conferences, officers lists, keynote speeches, book, project and technology reviews, minutes of Council and Technical Commission meetings, and calls for papers etc. The ISPRS Book Series was started in 2003 and contains collections of high quality scientific papers, usually presented at ISPRS events, after peer-review.

What is the mission of ISPRS?
At the closing ceremony of the XXth ISPRS Congress in Istanbul I set out four objectives for ISPRS during the next four years, these were:

·Sustain and develop the scientific programme based on international excellence in research and in collaboration with other international scientific unions;
·Expand the international role of ISPRS by building on our existing links and developing a presence in developing countries;
·Continue the role of ISPRS in education and technology transfer in collaboration with international partners;
·Develop the Foundation and attract $500 000 of funds by 2008.

We have already set in motion activities to realize these objectives and some of these are reported here.

Sustain and develop the scientific programme
An excellent team of Working Group chairs and co-chairs has been appointed and over 30 workshops have already been held or are planned for 2005. The planning for the eight Technical Commission Symposia in 2006 is well. The Symposia are listed below.

8-12 May 2006 Commission VII Symposium Enschede, John L. van Genderen
“Remote Sensing: From Pixels to Processes” NETHERLANDS (President Comm VII)
www.commission7.isprs.org   P: + 31-53-4874254
    F: -4874466
    E: genderen@itc.nl
27-29 June 2006 Commission VI Symposium Tokyo, Kohei Cho
www.commission6.isprs.org JAPAN (President Comm VI)
    P: +813-34672211#361
    F: -34854976
    E: kcho@keyaki.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp
3-6 July Commission I Symposium Marne-le-Valle, Alain Baudoin
2006 www.commission1.isprs.org FRANCE (President Comm I)
      P: +33-1-44767810
      F: -44767867
      E: alain.baudoin@cnes.fr
12-14 July Commission II Symposium Vienna, Wolfgang Kainz
2006 “GICON 2006 – Geoinformation Connecting Societies” AUSTRIA (President Comm II)
  www.commission2.isprs.org   P: +43-1-4277-48640/
  http://www.gicon2006.at/   F: -4277-9486
      E: wolfgang.kainz@univie.ac.at
3-7 Sep Commission VIII Symposium Haifa, Ammatzia Peled
2006 www.commission8.isprs.org ISRAEL (President Comm VIII)
      P: +972-48-343591
      F: -343763
      E: peled@geo.haifa.ac.il
20-22 Sep Commission III Symposium Bonn, Wolfgang Förstner
2006 “Photogrammetric Computer Vision” GERMANY (President Comm III)
  www.commission3.isprs.org   P: +49-228-7322713
      F: -7322712
      E: wf@ipb.uni-bonn.de
25-27 Sep 2006 Commission V Symposium Dresden, Hans-Gerd Maas
“Image Engineering & Vision Metrology” GERMANY (President Comm V)
www.commission5.isprs.org   P: +49-351-463-33680
    F: -463-37266
    E: hmaas@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de
27-30 Sep 2006 Commission IV Symposium Goa, Shailesh Nayak
“Geospatial Databases for Sustainable Development” INDIA (President Comm IV)
www.commission4.isprs.org   P: +91-79-26914141
    F: -26915825
    E: shailesh@sac.isro.org

Expand the international role of ISPRS
ISPRS attends meetings of international organisations such as UN COPUOS, GEO, UN CODI and UN Cartographic Conference for the Americas. The objective of involvement in these meetings is to put the view of the photogrammetry and remote sensing community forward to the policy makers and purse holders in the international arena, and also to seek opportunities for ISPRS members and working groups to become involved in international projects and initiatives. This is of course building on the work of previous Presidents and Councils. I believe that ISPRS is well respected in these circles and well placed to take advantage of any opportunities which may arise. As Preisident I have visited a number of member countries and meetings of our sister societies. The outcome of this is a better understanding of the activities and needs of these members and in some cases the opportunity to plan more activities with Council support. We are participating in the International Polar Year and working with the GeoUnions group within ICSU (The International Council for Science) which is developing projects on Cities and Megacities, Desertification, Groundwater, Hazards and Health. We are also represented on the UN ad hoc study group on the possibility of creating a disaster management international space coordination entity.

Continue the role of ISPRS in education and technology transfer
ISPRS Council has decided to concentrate capacity building efforts on Africa as there is a clear need in this region, and it also an area where ISPRS members need support. We will maintain contact with African members through an email network, by attendance by a member of Council at one meeting in Africa per year and the organisation of a members meeting every 2 years. We will also support capacity building though collaboration with other organisations, such as ESA, CEOS or UN OOSA, to run tutorials and training courses; through sponsorship of people to workshops and regional meetings, possibly jointly with our Ordinary and Regional Members, and to collaborate with the ICSU GeoUnions in GeoInformation for Africa. As a start we will participate in AfricaGIS in Pretoria from 31st October – 4th November, where we will conduct tutorials and hold a meeting of ISPRS members and potential members, we will follow this up at AARSE in 2006. We will also continue to support Regional members in Asia, Europe and the Americas. We are in discussion with SELPER for closer co-operation in Latin America.

ISPRS has an excellent website which is maintained by the webmaster, material is however only in the English language. We are discussion at how other languages can be used to give more comprehensive and up to date information. We are also looking at how key presentations at meetings can be made available to a wider audience through webcasting, and using the same technology, at how presentations may be made remotely by key speakers.

Other activities in this area include the preparation of a video to promote photogrammetry and remote sensing, and the organisation of a Summer School for Students.

Develop the Foundation
Of course if we are to do this properly, we need funds. The ISPRS Foundation was launched in Istanbul and already we have attracted donations of $US50,000. Council has also decided to transfer $200,000 from our reserves to the Foundation as a loan to allow support for worthy activities to start as soon as possible. We still need more donations, and Council and Foundation Trustees are working to make this happen. We are also looking for support from other sources to fund the activities set out above and any suggestions on who may provide such funding will be welcome.

ISPRS is seeking to establish its position as a recognised player at the highest level of international activity where the scientific and strategic expertise of ISPRS is needed. We have the human resources and the expertise, we need to ensure that these are used for the advantage of society as a whole.

Further information on activities and on membership can be obtained from our website http://www.isprs.org or from myself (idowman@ge.ucl.ac.uk) or the Secretary General Orhan Altan (oaltan@itu.edu.tr)

Ian Dowman
President, ISPRS
July 2005

July 2005