 The XXth ISPRS Congress was organized at the historical city of Istanbul, Turkey, from 12 to 23 July at Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC). The theme of the Congress was ‘Geo-Imagery Bridging Continents’. Sessions The event had the following five sessions: Plenary Sessions; Technical Sessions and Theme Sessions; Poster Sessions; Special Sessions; Exhibitor's Showcase Sessions. Besides the sessions there were Tutorials and Workshops organized. For the first time Youth Forum was created as a part of the event. Opening Ceremony The Opening Ceremony on the day one took place at the Anadolu Auditorium of the ICEC. It started with a video show 'Innovations in Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences'. Prof Orhan Altan, Congress Director, announced the opening of the event that was followed by the welcome addresses by Major General Ali Fuat Sarac, President, Turkey National Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (TNSPRS) and Prof John Trinder, President ISPRS. The following prestigious awards were also conferred during the opening session:
Time for Bridging Continents July 15 had the first plenary session with John Tinder as chair and Lawrence Fritz as co-chair where three presentations were made by Armin Gruen from ETH Zuerich, Martin Sweeting from the University of Surrey, UK and Jack Dangermond of ESRI. Besides the first plenary session, poster sessions were held in the afternoon at side foyers of the Anadolu Auditorium. Different themes under the poster session were - Spatial and Temporal Modelling and Analysis, Data Integration and Digital Mapping, Sensor Pose Estimation, Automation for Vision Metrology Systems and Industrial Applications and Sustainable Agriculture and Eco-system Approach. Eight Technical Commissions for 2004-08 nominated earlier during the Congress were elected unopposed the subsequent day. Prof Martein Molenaar, Ms Tao Chang and Martin Kerschner were presented runners-up award for Helava Prize. The team from Australia and China made presentations in a bid to get the next Congress organized in their respective countries. Later in the day, the reports were presented by the President, Secretary General and Treasurer on their activities and achievements. Nominations for the Council were also reviewed. Prof Ian Dowman, UK, was elected President ISPRS, 2004-08. Others elected were the following: Secretary General Prof Orhan Altan (Turkey), Second Vice President Prof Manos Baltsavias (Switzerland) and Treasurer Prof Stanley Morain (USA). The Second Plenary Session took place on 20th that gave an insight into multi-sensory 3D world modeling, the digital divide problem and pioneering future of earth science from space, respectively by Gerd Hirzinger (DLR, Germany), Peter Woodsford (EuroSDR, UK) and Ghassem Ansrar (NASA, USA). Larry Fritz announced the launch of ISPRS foundation the same day. The third, and the last, Plenary Session focused on two key areas - building capacity for the Geo-Information (GI) community and exploration of Mars. The key speakers during the session were Prof Martein Molenaar, Rector of International Institute of GI Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Steve Squyres from NASA and Gerhard Neukum from ESA. The Closing Ceremony took place on 23rd after the remaining Technical Sessions came to end. It was announced that China would host the next 21st ISPRS Congress in Beijing during July 14-25, 2008. |