This year, 2010, marks the mid point between the Beijing and Melbourne ISPRS Congress, and is the year that the eight Technical Commissions hold their Symposia. It also marks 100 years since the establishment of an international scientific organisation for the advancement of photogrammetry, promoting photogrammetry as a tool to aid in mapping and creating a forum for the dissemination of research and developments. This makes for a very busy year.

Our Technical Commissions continue to be the engine-room of the ISPRS, developing new techniques and applications that further the aims of the Society. The inter-congress Symposia of the Technical Commissions are very important events on the ISPRS Calendar, along with joint activities between Working Groups and other allied societies. A full list of the Symposia can be found on the ISPRS website, and if there is one nearby they are truly worth attending.

One of the permanent committees of ISPRS is CIPA Heritage Documentation, CIPA-HD. It is also an International Scientific Committee (ISC) of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and was established some 40 years ago to promote the use of photogrammetry in the recording of architecture. Just as the science of photogrammetry and remote sensing has advanced, so have the applications of the science in the documentation of many aspects of cultural heritage, not just buildings and monuments. Techniques such as precision photogrammetry and surveying, terrestrial and aerial lidar, multi-spectral imaging, satellite imaging, geographic information systems, 3d visualisation and virtual reconstruction have all found roles in aiding the recording, documentation and information management of both tangible and non-tangible aspects of heritage. CIPA-HD holds a Symposium every 2 years and publishes the proceedings as part of the ISPRS Archives as well as making the papers available for download from the CIPA-HD web site (cipa.icomos.org). This year the Symposium was in Kyoto, Japan; the next will be in Prague and the one after in Africa. Apart from other Symposia and Workshops organised jointly with CIPA, there is to be a Workshop in Jordan in December 2010 dealing with the measurement and monitoring of stone in the context of managing a tourist site of World Heritage significance. While the ISPRS is, not surprisingly, very active with many International Societies and NGOs dealing with food, water, space, agriculture and the natural environment, it is also worth acknowledging that there is a real role for the tools and techniques of photogrammetry and remote sensing in helping preserve the things that we would like to keep.

Preparations for the Melbourne Congress in 2012 are progressing well (www.isprs2012.org). The Congress will run for eight days between August 25th and September 1st in 2012, giving participants the opportunity to enjoy all that the City of Melbourne, the State of Victoria, and the continent of Australia have to offer in pre-and post- congress touring. Australians have a different concept of distance to many other nations, but we recognise that some people may think that it takes a long time to get there. So the Congress has been planned to encourage everybody to maximise their time down-under by concentrating the scientific and social aspects of the Congress into one week.

The new Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre opened in July 2009 and offers ISPRS a state-of-the-art venue with a 6-star environmental rating. Most of the Congress activities will be based in MCEC, apart from a few functions that will be held in somewhat more special locations. The MCEC is also located right next to down-town Melbourne which is one of the most vibrant, exciting, multi-cultural cities in the world (it is my home town so I might be biased).

Sign up at the Congress web site for regular email updates, and start planning now for an Australian holiday built around the Melbourne 2012 ISPRS Congress.

Cliff Ogleby
Congress Director, ISPRS 2012 Melbourne Australia
President, CIPA-Heritage Documentation

Department of Geomatics
The University of Melbourne.