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tional Council for Science (ICSU) and the Union of Techni-
cal Associations (UATI); and has signed formal co-opera-
tion agreements with organizations such as the UN Office
of Outer Space Affairs, the International Center for Remote
Sensing of the Environment, and with the IGU Spatial Data
Handling Group (SDH). More formal relationships are
under development.
ISPRS Officers are frequently requested to deliver state-
ments and speeches to these and similar groups because
their activities are positioned in the mainstream of develop-
ment at all levels. The social and economic success and
sustainable development of nations, their global competi-
tiveness and their environmental health and security all have
dependencies on the S&T ISPRS represents. It is easy to
conceive that without ‘information from imagery’ there
would be chaos for those that seek orderly development.
Good public policies require valid information. It is in this
context that in 1998 ISPRS established an International Pol-
icy Advisory Committee (IPAC) to identify issues and provide
policy studies and advice to support Council in creating
documents and making presentations for public discussion
and for making equitable and sound advocacy stances
which will be in the best interest of all sectors of ISPRS.
Areas which have come to fore are the needs for public pol-
icy dialog between the government S&T community and
industry and between information users and providers of
data and information. Obviously ISPRS, as an objective
NGO, is ideally positioned to lead and facilitate this dialog.
National Members of ISPRS are societies and institutions
which receive the greatest benefits from its activities. Yet,
remarkably, the long-standing Statutes of the Society have
been mute, other than voting and membership fees,
regarding the responsibilities of the National Members to
make the Society more effective. This has been addressed
by Council formulating more explicit Statutes which
request Members’ involvement by:
- participating in the scientific work of the Society,
including active participation in WGs and Commis-
sions;
- promoting ISPRS activities;
- actively participating in the decisions of the General
Assembly;
- appointing Correspondents to the Technical Commis-
sions and registering them with the Secretary General;
- striving to provide equitable national representation for all
photogrammetric, remote sensing and spatial informa-
tion specialists in its country or region;
- serving as national focal point for distribution of ISPRS
information to their members;
- submitting periodic reports and news for publication in
the Society’s bulletin, and producing a quadrennial
report for the Congress;
- demonstrating active representation of the whole of
their membership in their country or region;
- encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation in S&T activities,
and establishing links with relevant groups;
- forming journals and registering them with the Secre-
tary General.
Administration and Support
The ISPRS activities are all carried out by the voluntary
efforts of individuals from Member organizations, and with
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.
5
ISPRS
2000
the support of their employers. These individuals are dedi-
cated and enthusiastic in the pursuit of their ISPRS endeav-
ors. Their efforts should be beneficial to, and appreciated
by, their Member organization, their employer and ISPRS.
Individually they benefit from the scientific, social and pub-
lic aspects of their involvement. The Society must reinforce
this rewarding commitment relationship to stay viable. It is
hoped that the provision of Society list server services will
help increase involvement of individuals.
Management and administration of the ISPRS activities are
conducted by the six members of Council. In recent years
this effort has become administratively laborious, especially
for the Secretary General and to lesser degrees for the Pres-
ident, Treasurer and Vice Presidents who, more or less,
need support from their employers and the Society. The
Congress Director is faced with the most difficult tasks and
requires strong support from the hosting Member Nation.
Throughout its 90 years ISPRS has maintained a floating
headquarters, which since 1968 has been the location of the
Secretary General. Offers have been made for providing a
permanent ISPRS headquarters facility, but have been
deferred based on objective cost benefit analyses. Council
believes it is not in the best interests of the Society to estab-
lish a permanent headquarters, to avoid influence from any
local biases. Rather it is felt that more attractive arrange-
ments would be for clerical support to be provided on a
regional basis or on limited contract basis to support
requests for information, circulation of administrative mate-
rials, maintenance of Member listings and general support
to the Council. This approach would provide the support
needed for running the Society professionally, but without
interfering with the management and agenda of the Society,
which definitely is the elected responsibility of its officers.
The Society administers its activities by annually assessing
a subscription fee to each of its 169 member organiza-
tions. In recent years the annual income has averaged
145,000 SFr (US$87,000) and annual expenses average
125,000 SFr (US$75,000). The bulk of expenses include
fees for ISPRS membership in intergovernmental organiza-
tions (e.g. ICSU, UATI, etc.), management costs of Coun-
cil (postage, travel, supplies, etc.), and printing of Society
publications (Silver, Blue, Orange Books, brochures, etc.),
but no salaries! In reality, the expenses to run ISPRS are
more than twice these amounts because of the generosity
of Council employers in the form of time, travel, clerical
office support, supplies, postage and special printings.
However, it is difficult to conceive that all future Council
members will receive as much support from employers as
in past decades. Yet it is clear that the Society is still grow-
ing and continuing to expand its sphere of operations and
services for the disciplines it represents.
The Council recognizes the potential for future financial
shortfalls. It believes strongly that ISPRS should not be
deterred from the full and vigorous pursuit of its goals and
activities as set forth herein for achieving its mission. Yet
the Society is large and should be run as a professional
organization! The Society must be prepared to annually
dedicate an amount not to exceed 50,000 SFr (US$30,000)
for clerical support to the Council, especially for the office
of the Secretary General. This allocation is achievable
without requiring an increase in Member subscriptions
