MD and ITC in such way that remote sensing and GIS have
become at least as important as photogrammetry. In The
Netherlands, the MD has been a trendsetter in the use of
remote sensing. Radar techniques have long been used for
controlling shipping in the North Sea. Their success and the
advent of new airborne and satellite sensors inspired other
organisations to develop land applications of remote sens-
ing. The research institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture,
Nature Management and Fisheries, in co-operation with the
Wageningen Agricultural University, have played a leading
role in this development. Together with many other organi-
sations, they have developed applications such as crop
monitoring and crop yield prediction, environmental moni-
toring and forest inventories. This research evolved into a
National RS Programme coordinated by BCRS, The Nether-
lands Remote Sensing Board. This Board has coordinated
and encouraged national RS activities since 1986 and has
ensured that the Dutch activities are an integral part of the
international programmes operated by organisations as the
EU, ESA, NASA and the UN.
The National RS Programme has strongly contributed to the
current operational use of RS-techniques, both in terrestrial
and aquatic applications. As a result of the initiatives taken
under the programme, numerous organisations, institutes
and companies in the Netherlands are involved in RS and
GIS research and applications. They actively participate in
The Netherlands Society for Earth Observation and Geo-
informatics, which presently has over 700 members.
The ITC has become the largest international institute for RS
and GIS education and research in the fields of geo-infor-
matics, earth sciences and environmental applications. It
has a world-wide network of alumni through whom the
Dutch expertise in these fields can be passed on.
Since the 1920s Dutch scientists have had the benefit of a
strong international exchange with their colleagues through
the International Society of Photogrammetry. The Nether-
lands provided the 6th ISP President, the Secretary General
and the Treasurer during the years 1938-1948, Council
members during 1948-1960, Treasurers during 1972-1976
and 1980-1984,Technical Commission Presidents during
1934-1938 (C III), 1960-1964 (C VII), 1968-1972 (C IV), 1984-
1988 (C VII). During each ISPRS Congress, The Netherlands
presents the Otto von Gruber Award and the Schermerhorn
Award. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the ISP Jour-
nal of Photogrammetry was founded in 1938 in The Nether-
lands by Otto von Gruber and Willem Schermerhorn. Over
many years Dutch photogrammetrists have participated
actively in the editing and publication of the journal.
3. The Proposed Congress Theme
The theme of the Congress has been chosen to express
the fact that the acquisition, processing, dissemination
and use of geo-information is no longer a playground
monopolised by scientists and specialists. The importance
of these activities for society should be manifest and this
Congress should make an effort to prove this. Therefore
the ISPRS and the Congress organisers hope that this
theme will be elaborated in the special sessions and tech-
nical sessions of the Congress and in some of the work-
shops that will be organised before the Congress. All Con-
50
gress participants are therefore invited to contribute to this
effort; the ISPRS officials and especially the Commission
Presidents and their Working Group Chairmen should play
a central role in this respect. Several interpretations of the
Congress theme can be made, these may be helpful for
triggering initiatives:
- Geo-information for the benefit of all: emphasis is on
the role of geo-information for understanding large
scale and global processes like climatic change, land
use development, urban growth, land degradation etc.
- Geo-information available for all: this refers to policies
for data dissemination, cost aspects, legal regulations,
earth-observation programmes.
- Geo-information accessible for all: technological
aspects of data dissemination and users access to
geo-data, the role and development of the Web, tech-
nology of federated and distributed databases, geo-
information infrastructure, interoperability, global data-
bases, data mining.
- Geo-information useful for all: data should not only be
available and accessible but it should also be offered
so that it can be used in a large variety of applications;
that means that it should be offered in the right for-
mats, data definitions should be clear and relevant for
users, data quality should be expressed so that fitness
for use can be evaluated.
- Geo-information producible by all: the research and
development activities of the ISPRS community
resulted in methods, techniques and technology that
put tools in the hands of end users, so that they can
extract their own information from raw data and
develop geo-databases for their own applications. This
development is still going on; the expertise invested in
developing geo-information handling technology
results in tools that no longer depend exclusively on
technological experts for information production, but
rather on high-level knowledge of the different applica-
tion fields and their integration.
- Geo-information understandable for all: the fundamen-
tal concepts of spatial data modelling are better under-
stood through the joint research efforts of experts from
many disciplines, such as the application disciplines,
image processing, photogrammetry and geodesy,
computer science, etc. over the last two decades a
theoretical framework has been developed through
which the different approaches for spatial modelling,
data acquisition and spatial information production can
be understood and compared. This theoretical frame-
work needs further development to better support the
activities in the different mapping disciplines and to
help the users to understand the semantics, quality
and structure of geo-information and educational pro-
gramme are required to transfer this knowledge.
4. The Proposed Congress Programme Structure
The proposed programme consisted of three components,
i.e. tutorials, workshops and the main body of the Con-
gress:
- The tutorials are intended to upgrade the knowledge of
the participants in some selected fields of interest
- The workshops will enable experts to meet and to dis-
cuss in depth the developments and trends in a
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.
