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
116
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.
