Foreword 
Now we are on a mid-way between the previous ISPRS Congress in Vienna associated with the theme "Spatial 
Information from Images" and the next one devoted to "Geo-information to All" to be held in Amsterdam in 2000. 
The major goal of the mid-term symposium of ISPRS Technical Commission VII is to reflect on the state of the art 
of the exploitation of the research and technological development in remote sensing applications with special 
emphasis on environment and resource monitoring. 
A most laudable feature of this Symposium is its interdisciplinary approach. The integration of remote sensing and 
GIS techniques offers unprecedented improvement in efficiency, effectiveness and user friendliness. This in tum 
opens up new horizons in the commercialisation of geospatial information, enabling us to solve problems related to 
the environment and sustainable development on local, regional and global level. 
The Symposium will address a variety of subjects according the topics of the Commission's Working Groups, 
namely: 
e Fundamental physics and modeling (e.g. hyperspectral sensing, spectral, spatial and temporal radiation 
properties of objects) 
e Application of remote sensing and GIS for sustainable development (e.g. renewable resources monitoring, 
Agenda 21 related actions) 
Thematic applications of high spatial resolution satellite imagery (e.g. precision farming, urban applications) 
Computer assisted image interpretation and analysis (e.g. image understanding, thematic information extraction) 
Global monitoring (e.g. human dimension of global environmental change) 
Radar applications (e.g. use of all-weather data acquisition, SAR interferometry) 
Non-renewable resources and geotechnical applications (e.g. in studies of geology and geomorphology) 
Over 185 abstracts from nearly 40 countries from 5 continents will guarantee not only that attendees will be 
informed of the widest possible cross section of worldwide technological trends, solutions and applications, but will 
also provide a forum for discussions between pro-active participants representing world's developers and users of 
remote sensing. Leading researchers, scientists and application programme managers will deliver lectures or explain 
their methodology through oral and interactive poster sessions. From Working Group chairpersons to invited ISPRS 
Council members, the invited speakers will focus their attention not only on the aerospace spectral sensing 
programmes and their applications, but also on their role in the spatial data handling and related issues such as global 
spatial data infrastructure and interoperability. For these later topics a special session will be planned under the 
theme "Geo-information to All" of the ISPRS Congress' 2000. 
A special session will be devoted to demonstrating the activities of the scientific network of the European 
Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories (EARSeL). Moreover, the leading space agencies and international 
organisations will gather for a forum under the auspices of the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs as 
preparatory meeting for the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space 
(UNISPACE III) which will be held in Vienna from 19-30 July 1999. At this session, the objectives of the 
UNISPACE Illi, anticipated results and the way in which the scientific community can utilise them, will be 
discussed. 
This excellent scientific programme and the historic city of Budapest will contribute to a successful and memorable 
meeting. 
Gábor Remetey-Fülópp 
President, ISPRS Technical Commission VII 
Intemational Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII, Part 7, Budapest, 1998 V