NATIONAL REPORT 
OF THE 
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING 
5410 GROSVENOR LANE, SUITE 210 
BETHESDA, MD 20814-2160 
By 
Stanley A. Morain 
1992/93 National President 
ABSTRACT: 
The National Report for the United States summarizes the structure and membership for ASPRS since the XVI 
Congress in Kyoto, describes the three main service sectors provided by the Society, highlights of the status of its 
three membership sectors, and comments briefly on future prospects for our professions. The full national report 
is published as a special issue of PE&RS (August, 1992), which also contains a series of short articles describing 
achievements in various technical pursuits. The primary service sectors of ASPRS are represented by meetings, 
publications, and membership; and the three membership sectors are private practice, government civil service, and 
academia. Membership in the Society is approximately 8000, balanced in their interests between the three 
membership sectors and five technical divisions. 
KEY WORDS: U.S. National Report, ASPRS. 
1.0 Introduction 
Earth observing technology and the mapping scienc- 
es are healthy and vibrant enterprises in the United 
States that encompass remote sensing, GIS, GPS, 
machine vision, virtual reality, medical diagnostics 
and industrial imaging, and environmental monitor- 
ing. Since 1988, we have seen the maturation of 
civil and private systems that will promote better 
resource management, enhance environmental 
protection, and solve many municipal planning 
concerns; and we have created the enabling technol- 
ogy for the next generation of applications in global 
monitoring. Our science, technology, and practicing 
professional community are among the world's 
leaders in plying these trades to the betterment of 
humankind; and while we are aware of growing 
international competition, we feel confident that our 
educational, industrial, and governmental programs 
will add to the pace of technology development 
throughout the rest of this century and beyond. 
The complete National Report of ASPRS is published 
in Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 
(August, 1992). It contains a statement of our 
societal and sectoral achievements. The following is 
a summary of this report, condensed on four fronts: 
those attributes describing ASPRS as our Profession- 
al Society; the status and achievements of its 
programs since 1988; the sectoral achievements in 
our nation’s professional practice, government 
service, and academic membership sectors; and our 
overall future prospects. As detailed as the full 
report is, it is far from comprehensive. Rather, it is 
a vignette of a larger picture that lacks several 
critical contributions. Nevertheless, it is one we 
hope sparks the imagination. 
17 
2.0 Society Structure and Membership 
ASPRS serves some 8000 active and student mem- 
bers, worldwide, whose primary employment is 
categorized into three professional sectors: Private 
Practice (2000 members); Government Civil Service 
(1650 members); and Academia (1500 members-- 
including students)’. Table 1 lists the ten most 
numerous professions from which the Society draws 
its members; and Figure 1 shows our current head- 
quarters building located in the Renewable Natural 
Resources Foundation (RNRF) complex in Bethesda, 
Maryland. 
Geographically, members are organized into 18 
regions, each with its own complement of locally 
elected officers, committee appointments, technical 
and social agendas, and an elected Regional Director 
who serves on the national Board of Directors. 
Some of the regions are further partitioned into State 
Chapters or Student Chapters to allow smaller 
clusters of members to participate in technical and 
social activities on a more local level. This three tier 
structure is beneficial in adding cohesiveness to the 
general mission and goals of the Society, and in 
providing a basis for transferring ideas and technical 
innovations upwards from local, to regional and 
national levels. 
As revealed in the six Region Reports contained in 
the August PE&RS issue, the region and chapter 
structure is a constantly evolving backdrop colored 
by technical and economic trends that, in turn, 
influence the interest profiles of members. Since 
1988, for example, the Georgia-South Carolina and 
Latin American Regions have been dissolved by 
  
x 
Numbers throughout this section of the paper 
are rounded upwards or downwards to the nearest 
50. They do not sum to 8000 because many mem- 
bers prefer demographic anonymity. All data in this 
section are extracted- from the ASPRS Category 
Report to the Board of Directors, February, 1992, or 
other appropriate Board documents of the same 
date.