Conference report by Henny Mehner, School of Civil Engineering & Geosciences, University of Newcastle, UK

The 20th Congress of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) took place between the 12th and 23rd of July 2004 in Istanbul, Turkey under the theme 'Geo-Imagery Bridging Continents'. The ISPRS Congress is one of the biggest meetings in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing worldwide and is held only every 4 years at changing venues.  The congress attracted over 2400 registered participants, 576 oral presentations in 116 sessions and 1151 posters presentations. The number of UK participants, at approximately 30 people, resulted in a small delegation in comparison to Germany with 253, USA with 228 and China with 118 participants.

During the congress it was decided to restructure ISPRS from the seven previous commissions into eights commissions, which will carry out specific workshops, symposiums and smaller conferences over the next four year period:

Commission I:	Image Data Acquisition - Sensors and Platforms
Commission II:	Theory and Concepts of Spatio-temporal Data Handling and Information
Commission III:	Photogrammetric Computer Vision and Image Analysis
Commission IV:	Geodatabases and Digital Mapping
Commission V:	Close-Range Sensing - Analysis and Applications
Commission VI:	Education and Outreach
Commission VII:	Thematic Processing, Modeling and Analyses of Remotely Sensed Data
Commission VIII:	Remote Sensing Applications and Policies

The presentations of the technical sessions covered a wide range of topics.  The use of LiDAR, in both its terrestrial and airborne forms, was the focus of many presentations. The applications of LiDAR are wide-ranging, such as rapid change detection and object extraction for building descriptions. Other presentations focused on point classification methodology for LiDAR clusters, for example tensor voting.  Another topical subject appeared to be the automatic extraction of surfaces, building and roads from different sources of imagery.  Several methodologies suggested the integration of ancillary data such as context information to be used for road network extraction, e.g. of SAR imagery.  The movement from 2.5D mapping to 3D modelling using photogrammetry was addressed in several talks. Close range vision techniques and spatial information systems have thereby developed further towards 3D reconstructions, modelling and the visualisation of objects, for example world cultural heritage sites.

As well as in technical presentations, the advance of digital aerial cameras was recognisable also in the exhibition.  Digital aerial cameras have been developed by several companies such as Leica (ASD 40), Z/I Imaging (DMC), Applanix (DSS), Vexcel (UltraCam D) and others.  In several presentations preliminary results of the achievable accuracy and processing applicable to imagery from such sources were shown.  Each one of the named cameras was shown at the ISPRS exhibition, highlighting the strong competition on the market for these cameras.  Companies have sold a number of cameras, for example Leica 20, Vexcel 19, Z/I Imaging 16, showing the general change in the acquisition of aerial imagery for mapping purposes from film cameras to digital cameras.

Being a final year PhD student in remote sensing, I presented some of my research in a presentation entitled 'Transferability of Artificial Neural Networks for Mapping Land Cover of Regional Areas with High Spatial Resolution Imagery' in a Theme Session on Advanced Classifiers and Data Fusion Techniques. In particular my session was very suited to my research interests, analysing different classifiers from a more technical angle. It confirmed my PhD research as being of current interest to the international remote sensing community.

Istanbul, the Congress venue, offered a view into two different cultures: Europe and Asia.  The session-free weekend enabled me to visit world famous sights of Istanbul, such as the Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofya and a Turkish Bath! The organisers of the Congress also offered a wide-ranging social program with the highlight being the Gala Dinner in the garden of the Dolmabache Palace.
The new President of ISPRS for the next four years is Professor Ian Downman from University College London, UK. The General Assembly voted in favour of Beijing, China to host the XXIst Congress of ISPRS in 2008 over the second candidate city Melbourne, Australia.  The organisers will be hosting the Congress a month ahead of the start of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, also to be held in Beijing.

I would like to thank the Imaging Science Group of the Royal Photographic Society for supporting me with a Travel Bursary to participate in the 2004 ISPRS Congress. Attendance at the meeting proved to be a very valuable experience and excellent networking opportunity.