ISPRS 
2000 
  
significant potential for ISPRS to play a major role in the 
work being undertaken by ICSU-related groups in inter- 
disciplinary aspects of environmental monitoring and 
assessment. 
Committee of Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) 
In 1997, ISPRS was appointed as an Affiliate (now named 
‘Associate’) of CEOS, the first international scientific 
organisation to achieve such status. ISPRS is therefore 
invited to fully participate in the Annual Plenary Meetings 
of CEOS and in CEOS Working Groups. An initiative taken 
by ISPRS with CEOS is to encourage the establishment of 
an international industry forum, incorporating the private 
sector suppliers of satellite data. This body is still under 
development. 
International Union of Technical Associations and 
Organisations (UATI) 
UATI is a co-ordinating and facilitating organisation for 
engineering, with UNESCO, UNIDO and ECOSOC, and 
conducts collaborative projects in the developing world. 
ISPRS was represented at the March 2000 UATI General 
Assembly by Ms. Isabelle Veillet from France. ISPRS 
involvement with UATI is currently being reviewed. 
International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) 
and International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) 
ISPRS has been a co-operating sponsor for many confer- 
ences over the past four years. These have included co- 
operation between ISPRS Commission V and the Interna- 
tional Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) Videometrics 
Conferences, and the Technical Group on 3-D Analysis of 
Human Movement of the International Society of Biome- 
chanics (ISB). 
International Standards Organisation (ISO) 
ISPRS Liaison and Representatives 
ISPRS has liaison status on a number of ISO committees, 
with varying degrees of activity. Unfortunately, ISPRS has 
had considerable difficulty in attracting appropriate repre- 
sentatives for these Committees. The names of the ISO 
Committees with which ISPRS has liaison status, and those 
Committees for which ISPRS has representatives, are: 
1. ISO/TC 20 "Aircraft and Space Vehicles' 
2. ISO/TC 42 'Photography' 
3. ISO TC/172 'Optics and Optical Instruments' 
SC9 Electro-optical systems 
Category B Liaison 
Current representative: Dr Manfred Schróder (Germany) 
4. ISO TC/211 'Geographic Information/Geomatics' 
Category A liaison 
Current ISPRS representatives: 
Mr Hans Knoop (Germany) and 
Mr Norman Andersen (USA) 
Conclusions 
Inter-Organisational activities address some of the core 
objectives of ISPRS and hence must be encouraged. Most 
of these activities have involved the direct participation of 
ISPRS Council. Given the considerable load on Council 
members, the impact of ISPRS on some of these organi- 
sations has necessarily been limited. The application of the 
sciences and technologies of ISPRS are needed for 
capacitybuilding, particularly in developing countries and 
for greater public recognition. This recognition will be 
enhanced as ISPRS works in inter-disciplinary applications 
with other international organisations, such as those 
described in this report. It is therefore important that these 
inter-disciplinary activities are expanded in the future. 
  
ISPRS - A Strategic Plan for the 21st Century 
by Lawrence W. Fritz, ISPRS President 
July 2000 
In early 1997, the leadership of ISPRS realized the need 
to define the future of the Society and enhance its ability 
to stay abreast of the changing global community that it 
serves. The sciences and technologies we work and 
depend upon are advancing ever faster. These are not 
times for a strong, vibrant society such as ISPRS to sit 
back and assume that our activities, structure, outreach 
and most importantly, value, will be sufficient to meet the 
challenges and opportunities of the future. Your ISPRS 
Council colleagues agreed unanimously that it is our 
elected responsibility to conduct an ISPRS self-evalua- 
tion, openly solicit ideas and to formulate a long-range 
plan - "A Strategic Plan for the 21st Century." This is the 
tale of this journey and the common vision for the future 
of ISPRS. 
As we depart the 20th Century, the ISPRS can look back 
at the remarkable achievements and advancements that 
have been made in the sciences and technologies (S&T) it 
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represents. From the early 1900s through to the 1960s the 
activities were dominated by the development of optical 
analog sensors and instruments to support the pho- 
togrammetric discipline. With the introduction of comput- 
ers and compact electronics in the 1950s, the activities 
began a shift to analytical systems for data analysis, pro- 
cessing and archiving. The launch of Landsat in 1972 was 
a milestone event, ushering in the Earth observing era and 
bringing the discipline of remote sensing out of its earlier 
photo interpretation roots. The 1980s featured the emer- 
gence of geospatial information systems (GIS) with devel- 
opments for capturing and integrating map features and 
attributes into user-specific, thematic databases. By the 
1990s digital and communication technologies had pro- 
gressed rapidly and the all-digital era began. This dynamic 
and exciting new era is best exemplified by the high reso- 
lution digital sensors, all-digital processing, archiving and 
distribution of tailored products to provide timely informa- 
tion. Applications from all of these activities have evolved 
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.