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Commission VII. Yet, the efforts of the active working groups are quite
visible within the program. Commission VII has also enjoyed good relations
with other scientific societies. Our close ties with the Remote Sensing Group
of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations is particularly
worth mentioning. This Group, at a highly successful remote sensing symposium
in Freiburg in 1973, passed a resolution expressing its intention to cooperate
closely with the ISP and Commission VII. Such offers for cooperation are
gladly accepted because they contribute to the exchange of information between
disciplines and they help in minimizing duplication and uncoordinated efforts.
I would now like to make a few comments about the method of
selection of papers for this Symposium. We have deviated from the practice of
having invited and presented papers: an open call for papers was issued and
proposals received were screened by the program committee. So many proposals
were received that good papers had to be rejected; the program committee
faced difficult decisions simply to achieve balance.
This method of selecting papers has many advantages: it involves a
more competitive approach, and gives new developments and new scientists a
better chance to be heard; perhaps it also avoids inbreeding and repetition.
But it also involves a committee in the extremely unpleasant task of judging
and ranking proposals, often on the basis of incomplete information. This
again is a topic on which the opinions of this Symposium will be appreciated.
As you know, this Symposium is hosted by the Canadian Institute of
Surveying and receives strong support from the Government of Canada (Canadian
Forestry Service and Canada Centre for Remote Sensing) and the Government of
Alberta (Alberta Environment). The University of Alberta (Department of
Extension) has assumed major responsibilities for the administrative
arrangements at the Symposium. Commission VII greatly appreciated the
valuable assistance from these agencies.
