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from these S&T advancements, initially for mapping and
surveillance to a plethora of uses today for almost all
aspects of human endeavor.
| believe that Eduard Dolezal, who in 1910 founded the
International Society for Photogrammetry with the intent to
generate “scientific collaboration for the prosperity of
humanity,” would be pleased with its evolution. The ISPRS
stands out in its recognition by and relevance for the inter-
national intergovernmental and scientific community, as
compared with its ‘sister societies’ which deal with spatial
data. Its growth has been spurred by the adoption of its
disciplines throughout the world. (See figure 1.) As we
begin the 2000 ISPRS Congress, the ISPRS membership
includes 103 national member organizations, 9 associate
national member organizations, 8 regional member associ-
ations, and 49 sustaining member companies and institu-
tions. It is a very large S&T ‘umbrella’ society of national
and regional societies and organizations whose activities
have spread widely beyond its European roots to encom-
pass all parts of the world.
The collective wisdom of early ISPRS members formed an
organizational structure which has proven to be quite
adaptable to changes in its S&T’s and underlying disci-
plines. The formation of Commissions operating on a four
year basis and, subsequently, the creation of Working
Groups (WGs) within the Commissions, has been the foun-
dation for fostering international scientific co-operation
and collaboration. Today these Commissions and WGs
continue to be the heart of the Society, refreshing and
nourishing the applications and user community. Now, as
we enter the 21st Century, the ISPRS S&T mission has
broadened to address the combined sciences and tech-
nologies which we denote as the photogrammetry, remote
sensing and spatial information sciences (P&RS&SIS). The
fundamental photogrammetric research and development
(R&D) for exploring and resolving the geometric issues of
photography and the spectral/temporal aspects of imaged
features is now raised to understanding, identifying, theo-
rizing, and modeling the complexities of images created
from all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Advanced
research continues for automating the detection, identifi-
cation, correlation and extraction of spatial, spectral and
ISPRS
2000
temporal characteristics of imagery; the modeling for
purity of digital geometric restitution; and investigation of
optimal representations and fusions of imaged and ancil-
lary data for generalization, aggregation and structuring of
data bases. These are just some of the current challenges
facing the P&RS&SIS disciplines.
The dominant players in the P&RS&SIS field have always
been national governments because of the ‘public good’
provided by imagery (including national security) and its
derivable products. Throughout the world, governments
funded the majority of the R&D and have been the primary
users. However, the core ISPRS sciences and technolo-
gies are now mature. This was evidenced by the emer-
gence in the 1990s of a strong investment by the private
sector into the "Information from Imagery" community.
Whereas the community has been composed throughout
history of small companies (colloquially denoted as mom &
pop industries) fragmented by function and service, the
modern emerging industry is highlighted by large corpora-
tions, mergers and alliances of partnering companies to
provide full services.
Governments and industry are increasingly recognizing
that modern humanity craves information. Together and
independently they are working to provide information
which fuels national and global economies driven by aspi-
rations to improve the quality of life. The ISPRS community
is at the heart of this growing demand for information
which can steer decisionmakers in taking sound, and
hopefully just, actions. Information from imagery is at the
core of 8096 of national and regional decisions in the more
developed countries. The public relies on imagery daily for
weather forecasts and is just now being exposed to the
power of near-real-time imagery for assessing current
news events globally, regionally and locally. The interna-
tional science community needs and uses information
from imagery to address global science issues, be they
assessing and characterizing renewable and non-renew-
able resources, identifying and monitoring terrestrial
ecosystems, atmospheric chemistry and land cover/land
use changes or for disaster monitoring, mitigation and
relief efforts. Politicians need imagery to develop and vali-
date infrastructure plans for proper transportation, water,
120
100
80
60
El Ordinary
40
20
Bl Associate
O Regional
O Sustaining
Figure 1. Membershio Growth of ISPRS
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. A jam 2000.
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