back to earth. The Netherlands has done an outstanding
job at organising this Congress. They have been innovative
in bringing their own approach to the Technical Pro-
gramme, as well as to the overall organisation and the
social programme. It has been a pleasure to work with you
and your team, as well as Martien Molenaar, Saskia Tem-
pelman and Jan Timmerman. There were many others
involved in the organisation of the Congress that | am
unable to name.
Klaas Jan, | congratulate you and your team on an out-
standing contribution to the work of ISPRS through the
organisation of this Congress. It has been a pleasure for all
of us to visit your country and experience its many
delights. We will particularly remember the social func-
tions, the bike rides and canal trips and the outstanding
banquet, a truly wonderful evening. | am sure | am
expressing the deepest gratitude of all participants at this
Congress for the work that you and your team has done in
organising this Congress. Thank you very much. Hartelijk
bedankt.
Now, looking ahead, the ISPRS will be led by a new team
for the next four years. A Council of six, four of whom are
new members, so we will see new, but | am sure con-
structive views being presented by these people. The Gen-
eral Assembly has elected seven new Technical Commis-
sion Presidents from:
TCI - USA, Stanley A. Morain
TCI - China, Chen Jun
TC ll - Austria, Franz Leberl
TCIV - Canada, Costas Armenakis
TCV - Greece, Petros Patias
TC VI - Brazil, Tania Maria Sausen
TC VII - India, Rangnath R. Navalgund
The Resolutions approved by the General Assembly define
the future directions of the Technical Commissions, the
bodies that are responsible for the scientific and technical
activities of ISPRS. These resolutions have been defined
by the Technical Commissions as one of their last duties at
the Congress. | look forward to framing new terms of ref-
erence for the Commissions and then working with them in
the Commission activities based on these resolutions until
2004.
The Strategic Plan developed by the Council and
approved by the General Assembly will define the overall
directions of the management, scientific and international
co-operation in ISPRS. It will be a challenging task to con-
tinue to implement the recommendations of the Strategic
Plan. Our achievements in this regard will define the suc-
cess of the Council over the next four years.
When it was first formed ninety years ago by Eduard
Dolezal, the ISP, as it was then named, was a small Soci-
ety with limited aims. It dealt with the development of pho-
togrammetry and its applications. The Society achieved
these task slowly, but very thoroughly. It gained an out-
standing reputation as the leading society in the field. As
we know, photogrammetry has developed through the
analogue to the analytical and now the digital ages. Now
that we have entered the digital age, the areas of interest
of ISPRS, the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial
274
information sciences are not only converging but they are
also based on the integration of data and facilities into
data processing and analysis systems. Therefore, the new
trends in technology in ISPRS will place an emphasis on
the integration of these activities.
ISPRS has been very successful in developing its reputa-
tion in photogrammetry and this will continue, especially in
the areas of digital and close range photogrammetry.
However, ISPRS is not the only player in the fields of
remote sensing and spatial information sciences and
therefore it cannot expect to be the leader in all aspects of
these fields. ISPRS therefore has established collaborative
agreements with other organisations working in these
fields. It will need to continue and expand this collabora-
tion in the future to ensure that it fulfils its mission.
The new ISPRS mission identifies the purpose of its activ-
ities as ‘contributing to the well-being of humanity and the
sustainability of the environment'. These are very ambi-
tious aims but ISPRS certainly has a role to play in the
preservation of the environment and the future of the
planet. Sustainable Development is becoming an impor-
tant topic for ISPRS, as well as UN declarations on the
environment, such as the Kyoto protocol. ISPRS can and
should play a major role in achieving public recognition of
its technology as leading-edge science for such important
matters. This will be done by collaborating with other
organisations that have knowledge of the physical, chem-
ical, biological and environmental aspects of the planet.
ISPRS should therefore become more diverse and adapt-
able to these new demands. These aims must be pursued
with vigour over the next four years.
As we depart from Amsterdam for our homes, | trust that
all attendees at this Congress have been able to gain new
knowledge of the developments of the activities in ISPRS.
This Congress will in many ways, | believe, be recognised
as the beginning of a new era in ISPRS activities. We have
really entered the digital age in photogrammetry. Remote
sensing has now entered the high spatial and spectral res-
olution eras; spatial information systems, now well embed-
ded into ISPRS activities, are making significant progress
in inter-operability and hence may be applied in a broad
range of undertakings. Integration of these activities is, in
addition, well established.
| trust that you will be able to take the knowledge you have
gained about many of the new developments that you
have seen here back to your workplaces and introduce
them where applicable. This will confirm the benefits
gained from attending this Congress, from your participat-
ing in ISPRS and from ISPRS Membership. More impor-
tantly it will assist you in contributing to the preservation of
our threatened planet.
| wish you success in your future work in the photogram-
metry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences.
Tot ziens, bon voyage and have a safe trip home. | look
forward to seeing you all in Istanbul in 2004.
Thank you.
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.
