On behalf of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Working Group SC4.1 
“Mobile Multi-Sensor Systems” and the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) 
Working Group C5.3 “Kinematic and Integrated Positioning”, I would like to thank Dr. 
Ron Li and Prof. Shunji Mauari for the work that went into the preparation for this 
meeting and for the success in attracting all these working groups from different 
professional and scientific organizations. 
It was almost four years ago, in 1995, when the Ohio State University, the ASPRS, and 
the FIG organized the first meeting on Mobile Mapping Technology, in Columbus, Ohio, 
USA. There, geodesists, photogrammetrists, GIS and computer scientists met together to 
discuss the future of mobile mapping systems. Since then, substantial progress has been 
made in the integration of many different sensor technologies for a variety of applications 
that have not been anticipated in that meeting. The practical results of this progress are 
remarkable: real-time mapping for emergency applications, GPS/INS integration 
supporting aerial triangulation, airborne digital mapping, bridging of GPS and INS by 
photogrammetric techniques, highway and railway mobile mapping systems, and 
softcopy photogrammetric workstations that integrate land and airborne digital images. 
Progress in mobile mapping technologies can also be measured by the interest of many 
international organizations to have a special working group on mobile mapping systems. 
I hope that the present symposium will contribute to the development of mobile mapping 
systems and that future symposia in this field will further extent the applications areas of 
these technologies. 
Naser El-Sheimy, The University of Calgary