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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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