ISPRS 
2000 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
for Information Systems applications 
- 3D modelling and geo-referenced VR integration per- 
taining to cultural heritage 
- Low-cost systems development and demonstration 
- On-line as-built modelling techniques 
- Combining aerial and close-range information in Infor- 
mation Systems 
- Testing, calibration and efficiency assessment of new 
data acquisition equipment and their integration to 
enhance photogrammetric means for cost and time 
reduction in mapping cultural goods 
- Promotion of cultural heritage through VR 
- Reverse engineering and CAD automation 
- Model-oriented photogrammetric measurement of 
industrial installations 
Having in focus these changes and their future evolution, 
the role of ISPRS can be defined as to: 
- Continually monitor and evaluate the state-of-the-art of 
new technology (camcorders, CCD cameras, smart 
cameras, laser scanners, other sensors, low-cost soft- 
ware, new techniques, etc.) in terms of improving the 
quality and reducing the cost for data acquisition, pro- 
cessing and handling for architectural, archaeological 
and industrial applications. 
- Develop methods and techniques to produce geomet- 
rically precise and aesthetically mature 3-D models for 
cultural items. 
- Popularise the photogrammetric techniques by devel- 
oping user-friendly processes and broaden the market 
pull by introducing innovations and developing a ‘criti- 
cal mass’ through co-operation with other scientific 
disciplines. 
Intercommission WG V/III "Image Sequences" 
by Chairperson: Hans-Gerd Maas, Dresden 
University of Technology, 
Germany 
Horst Haussecker, Xerox Palo 
Alto Research Center, USA 
and Co-chair: 
General 
ISPRS intercommission working group IWG V/III “Image 
Sequences" has been established for the period 1996-2000 
as a joint working group of ISPRS Commission V "Close- 
Range Techniques and Machine Vision" and Commission Ill 
"Theory and Algorithms". 
Image sequence analysis has been playing an important 
role in many applications in computer vision, machine 
vision and robot vision and is also of increasing interest in 
several fields of digital photogrammetry, especially in digi- 
tal close-range photogrammetry. Examples of the applica- 
tion of image sequence analysis in digital close-range pho- 
togrammetry are 3-D object tracking, the analysis of 
dynamic processes, deformation measurements, monocu- 
lar or stereoscopic mapping of the environment of an 
autonomous robot, mobile mapping systems, biomedical 
motion analysis, 3-D data gathering for computer anima- 
tion, and many others. Image sequence analysis tech- 
niques are also of increasing interest in aerial photogram- 
metry in the context of automated triangulation 
techniques, as well as in general change detection tasks of 
aerial photogrammetry and remote sensing. 
The working group had some 35 members, mainly from 
194 
  
academic institutions in the fields of photogrammetry, 
computer vision and robot vision. 
Working Group Activities 
IWG V/III contributed as a sponsor or organiser of techni- 
cal sessions to the following events: 
- 2nd ARIDA/SGPBF Workshop on Image Sensing and 
its Application, Zurich/Switzerland, 1997 
- |SPRS Com. V symposium, Hakodate/Japan, 2nd-5th 
June 1998 
- Videometrics VI, SPIE Electronic Imaging ‘99, San 
Jose/USA, 23rd-29th January 1999 
- ISPRS/IAG workshop ‘Mobile Mapping Technology’, 
Bangkok/Thailand, 21st-23rd April 1999 
- ISPRS workshop ‘Vision-based Techniques in Visuali- 
sation and Animation’, Onuma/Japan, 14th-16th Octo- 
ber 1999 
- ISPRS congress ‘Geoinformation for all’, Amsterdam 
2000 
Trends in WG-related Topics 
A number of trends can be recognised from the contribu- 
tions to the above mentioned conferences, the member list 
of IWG V/Ill and the abstracts submitted to the ISPRS 
congress: 
- Aconsiderable amount of the work has been performed 
on various practical applications. On the algorithmic side, 
work was mainly oriented towards image flow analysis 
and spatio-temporal matching techniques. 
- A certain focus of activities may be found in traffic-ori- 
ented applications, including airborne traffic surveil- 
lance, mobile mapping systems and autonomous car 
navigation tasks. 
- Sensor fusion and integration is of major importance, 
especially in the field of mobile robots. Here, the infor- 
mation retrieved from vision systems is combined with 
data from other sensors, such as distance meters, 
odometers and inertial navigation systems or range 
images acquisition systems. It also plays an important 
role in aerial triangulation, where INS and GPS are used 
as additional sources of data. 
- New developments in hardware components are 
mainly related to the storage of digital image 
sequences and to the development of high-speed 
cameras. Digital video systems now coming onto the 
consumer market at very reasonable prices will con- 
siderably simplify the acquisition of monocular image 
sequences in the near future. The general increase in 
computer speed will allow real-time solutions for an 
increasing number of image analysis tasks in the 
future. 
- A large percentage of the IWG V/III members do not 
consider themselves photogrammetrists in the classi- 
cal sense. In fact, their provenance shows a large vari- 
ability, ranging from neuro-biology to remote sensing. 
This heterogeneity made it difficult to find topics for 
common efforts, but was considered positive from the 
aspect of knowledge transfer between communities. 
Special Interest Working Group on “Animation” 
by Chairperson: Armin Grün, ETH - 
Hónggerberg, Switzerland 
Shunji Murai, University of Tokyo, 
Japan 
and Co-Chair: 
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.