eee ira 
ISPRS 
2000 
  
Technical Commission Il: Systems for Data Processing, Analysis 
and Representation 
lan Dowman, President 
Ray Harris, Secretary 
1. Introduction 
With the current and planned increase in sensors acquiring 
data of the Earth, there is an urgent need to use this data 
in the most economical and productive way. This implies 
efficient systems for handling the large amounts of data 
collected and the accurate fusion of the different types of 
data to provide the maximum information. Commission Il 
set itself the goal of promoting systems and techniques for 
carrying out this task and bringing together scientists and 
users from a range of disciplines to discuss and tackle the 
problems involved. 
The Commission set two specific themes for its activities. 
The first of these is the development of involvement of 
industry in ISPRS with a view to having a forum to dis- 
cuss ideas between researchers, users and the industrial 
sector, and to discuss issues such as transfer formats 
and standards. The second is the processing of SAR data 
in such a way as to remove the mystique of SAR and yet 
allow applications groups to use the data with some 
understanding of the principles and limitations involved. 
The theme of system integration is implicit in both of 
these themes. 
The terms of reference of the Commission are: 
- Design and development of integrated systems for 
measurement, processing, analysis, representation 
and storage of photogrammetric, remote sensing and 
GIS data. 
- Study and evaluation of system integration aspects for 
photogrammetric, remote sensing and GIS data pro- 
cessing. 
- analysis of systems and their components for auto- 
mated, semi-automated and manual digital processing 
systems. 
- development of systems and technologies for radar 
data processing. 
- Study of real-time mapping technologies. 
- Standardisation of digital systems for photogrammetry, 
remote sensing and GIS. 
Eight working groups were initially established to cover 
these terms of reference. Unfortunately because of 
changes in personal and employment circumstances, the 
officers of Working Group 1l/5 were forced to resign after 
the Commission symposium. Their efforts in supporting 
the commission up to that time are much appreciated. The 
working groups were as follows: 
WG 11/1 Real time mapping technologies 
Chair Dr Rongxing Li 
Co-chair Holger Schade 
WG 11/2 Software and modelling aspects for 
integrated GIS 
Chair Dr Manfred Ehlers 
Co-chair Mark Gahegan 
WG 11/3 Spatial data handling technologies 
Chair Henrik Osterlund 
Co-chair Dr Wyn Cudlip 
WG 11/4 Systems for processing SAR data 
Chair Dr Douglas Corr 
Co-chair David Stanley 
WG 11/5 Systems for integrated 
geoinformation production 
Chair Dr Charlotte Gurney 
Co-chair Dr Nick Veck 
WG 11/6 Integration of image understanding 
into cartographic systems 
Chair Dr David McKeown 
Co chair Olivier Jamet 
WG 11/7 Practical and implementation issues 
in digital mapping 
Chair John Thorpe 
Co-chair Jose Colomer 
WG 11/8 Digital systems for image analysis 
Chair Dr Christian Heipke 
Co-chair Dr Tapani Sarjakoski 
An ad hoc working group on Rational Functions, under the 
chairmanship of lan Dowman was set up by Council and 
has prepared a paper on rational functions for the congress. 
The working group will report to Council in the autumn. 
2. Meetings 
The ISPRS Commission Il symposium was held at Robin- 
son College, Cambridge University, UK, from 13th -17th 
July 1998. This symposium was organised by the Remote 
Sensing Society and The Photogrammetric Society of UK. 
Over two hundred delegates from twenty-five countries 
attended the symposium. There were forty-six oral presen- 
tations and sixteen poster presentations. Three panel dis- 
cussions were held on special, topical issues. Eight 
exhibitors displayed their latest products during the sym- 
posium and some of them gave presentations. Two tutori- 
als on SAR and data fusion were organised and a work- 
shop on automated triangulation was held just before the 
main part of the symposium started. The social pro- 
gramme included punting on the River Cam and Shake- 
spearean drama at an open-air theatre. 
The working groups have been active besides their partici- 
pation in the planning and attendance at the symposium. 
These activities are given in detail below. There has been 
considerable collaboration between Commission Il working 
groups and other ISPRS working groups, as well as with 
other bodies, such as CEOS and the Open GIS Consortium. 
The following meetings were organised or co-organised by 
the working groups of Commission Il: 
  
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote:Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amster 
lam 2000.