International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII Part 7C2. UNISPACE III, Vienna, 1999 
12 
I5PR5 
UNISPACE ra - ISPRS Workshop on 
“Resource Mapping from Space" 
9:00 am -12:00 pm, 22 July 1999, VIC Room B 
Vienna, Austria 
/<^N. 
ISPRS 
FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR MAPPING FROM SPACE 
by 
Gottfried Konecny, 
University of Hannover, 
Germany 
Mapping from Space has become possible through the 
phenomenal development of space platforms and space sensors 
during the past generation. 
Mapping from Space may be considered a technology driven 
activity, but it is vitally needed for the provision of basic 
information required for sustainable development. 
1. Global Economic Development and Technical 
Cooperation 
Human activity is based upon economic development. 
Throughout human history economic development has gone 
through four different stages from 
* nomadic to 
* agricultural to 
* industrial to 
* service oriented. 
Due to different conditions in different parts of the world 
influenced by 
■ climate 
■ soil conditions 
* mineral resources 
■ labour 
■ education 
■ technical innovation and 
■ motivation 
this economic development has progressed at different rates in 
different parts of the world. 
UN statistical yearbooks list a number of parameters, according 
to which this progress is usually measured in the countries of 
the world: 
■ the percentage of employees in agriculture, industry and 
services 
* the GNP or GDP per inhabitant 
■ the percentage of food supply 
■ the inhabitants per medical doctor 
■ the child mortality. 
The countries of the world can usually be divided into three 
categories: 
1) the low level income countries characterized by a GNP/yr 
under 600 $/inhabitant, a predominance of agricultural 
economy, and a shadow economy of over 50 %. These 
countries have recently shown a decline of the GNP/year. 
2) the medium level income countries with a GNP/yr between 
600 and 3000 $ per inhabitant, a predominance of 
industrial activity and a shadow economy under 20 %. 
To these count the 
“ socialist reform countries with a stagnating GNP/yr 
■ the tiger countries of Asia with high foreign 
investment and the highest GNP/yr growth rates 
• the debtor countries mainly of Latin America with 
stagnating GNP/yr growth rates. 
3) the high level income countries with a GNP/yr of over 
3000 S/inhabitant. They are sendee oriented, and their 
shadow economy is less than 10 %. 
To these count the donor countries with small GNP/yr 
growth rates and the oil exporting countries with 
stagnating GNP/yr growth rate. 
One of the major achievements of the United Nations System 
has been to stimulate high level income countries to share some 
of their wealth with the countries of lower income to stimulate 
their economic development through technical cooperation. 
Of these four countries alone account for over 50 % of the total 
economic cooperation of 58 B $/yr for example available in 
1991 
• the USA 11.3 B$ 
■ Japan 11.0B$ 
■ France 9.5 B $ 
■ Germany 6.8 B$ 
Most of the development funding went to Subsaharan Africa 
with 32.5 %, but a significant portion also went to South East 
Asia with 27.1 %. This is proof that the system worked. 
There have been many mutual discussions to make sure that 
some of the difficulties encoimtered, particularly in the 
poorhouse of the world in Africa, can be overcome. 
They stem from institutional, financial, and educational 
difficulties in the countries, but they sometimes also relate to 
unsuitable teclmical issues. 
2. Global Trends and Sustainable Development 
The major trend in economic development is due to population 
growth. With the current 6 billion population, mankind will 
most likely double in number in the next 50 years. 
Because of this there is additional need for food production and 
the need for sustainable development to preserve the global 
ecosystem with respect to a sustainable w'ater balance, the 
mitigation of drought, and the preservation of coastal waters. 
This leads to the necessity to monitor 
■ degraded forests 
■ poor crop yields 
■ dumps 
■ drought areas 
■ floods 
■ sedimentation 
■ soil erosion and desertification 
■ the growth of urban areas 
The UNCED-Rio de Janeiro Conference of 1992 in their 
Agenda 21, Chapter 40 clearly describes the monitoring needs. 
Another U.N. conference, Habitat 2 in Istanbul in 1996 has 
clearly pointed out that this population growth mainly occurs in