The 75th annual American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Annual Conference took place in Baltimore, Maryland from March 9-13, 2009. This landmark event drew an international audience of more than 1,500 people, with the theme, "Reflection of the Past, Vision for the Future". The reflection portion of the theme was evident in a multimedia exhibit that recounted the history of the society as well as a special anniversary celebration. The vision part of the theme was explored in many different sessions that focused on the future of the industry.
The 75th annual American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Annual Conference took place in Baltimore, Maryland from March 9-13, 2009. This landmark event drew an international audience of more than 1,500 people, with the theme, "Reflection of the Past, Vision for the Future". The reflection portion of the theme was evident in a multimedia exhibit that recounted the history of the society as well as a special anniversary celebration. The vision part of the theme was explored in many different sessions that focused on the future of the industry.

The opening keynote speaker was meant to be Martin O'Malley, the governor of Maryland, but he was unable to attend given the pressing need to determine how to spend stimulus dollars in his state. Instead, a more photogrammetry-specific presentation was delivered by John R.G. Townshend, professor and chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Maryland, College Park. The presentation was titled, Challenges of Monitoring World Land Cover, and spoke to the role of photogrammetry and remote sensing for monitoring large scale global change. As examples, Townsend highlighted work regarding forestry disturbances at large scale, including fire and agricultural conversion. He also spoke about change in inland water bodies including the dramatic changes of the Chesapeake Bay where the marshes of the Bay are disappearing.

Townsend also veared off into an advocacy role for the needs of photogrammetry practitioners. He pushed for improved processing of imagery with atmospheric correction and ortho registration of all images done before download, rather than making each practitioner conduct these tasks. This change would make imagery easier to ingest into GIS, and would assure more use for issues that require rapid response. He also called for the standardization of imagery metadata, particularly in light of the number of satellites that are planned for launch. And of course, he couldn't resist airing industry-wide frustrations about the current status of the Landsat program.

GEOSS Insight

There were a number of sessions aimed at highlighting progress and vision for the Global Earth Observation Systems of Systems. The opening session in this series did a good job of outlining the vision, the necessary infrastructure investments, and the future direction for this coordinated international effort.

Gregory Withee, senior science advisor for international programs at the U.S. Geological Survey, opened the session. He highlighted the strategic targets that the GEO group has identified in the ten-year plan that will take the group through 2015. The GEO portal is one of the primary accomplishments of the group to date, facilitating access to geospatial data, information and services. The group has also developed GEONETcast as a means to transmit data and training via television broadcast, particularly to the developing world, to get the whole globe up to speed on environmental issues.

Doug Nebert, clearinghouse coordinator at the Federal Geographic Data Committee highlighted the many steps that are being taken to create a common infrastructure for both publishers and users of the systems of systems data repository. Much is being done to create robust registries and clearinghouses using both IEEE and OGC standards in order to meet the ambitious data sharing goals.

Teresa Fryberger, the associate director of Applied Sciences from the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters, closed this session with a focus on the U.S. strategic plan for earth observation. She emphasized that the U.S. effort was pulling together information and expertise from 21 U.S. federal agencies. She spoke of the practical approach that is being taken for more regionalized efforts such as GEO in the Americas where the North American Drought Monitoring program is an outcome of cross-country GEO collaboration. She also spoke about the high hopes for the planned Sixth GEO Forum that is slated for late November in Washington, D.C., where more than 80 countries will come together to discuss policy and progress. 

NGAC Update

Anne Hale Miglarese, principal with Booz Allen Hamilton and chair of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee spoke to the role and progress of this group that is tasked with advising the federal government about practical and necessary steps to achieve the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. Miglarese outlined the many inititiatives that this group has undertaken over the past year, all with an emphasis on driving progress and change.

One of the primary achievements of the group is the whitepaper titled, The Changing Geospatial Landscape. This report, along with the group's efforts to promote a National GIS , both speak to a proactive push to inform policy makers about why geospatial technology matters, and how geosaptial data supports solution development. Regarding the national GIS proposal, Miglarese spoke to the need of the wide geospatial community to have a unified voice, citing three additional proposals each with overlapping and complementary details. She discussed the creation of a National Geospatial Policy Forum and the alignment of geospatial associations and stakeholders in the Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) both as a means to provide a more coherent and collective industry voice.

 

Historical Reflections

The history of ASPRS was on display at the event with a detailed timeline that recounted meetings, individuals and technological advancements over the past 75 years. The exhibit included early hardware that was used to derive intelligence from imagery, and there was an ongoing video loop that recounted both the history of the industry and the relevance of the technology today. One of the highlight of this exhibit outlined the role that women have played over the years. Women have a long-standing professional role in the industry. The society has a long history of women in leadership, with four women presidents in a row through this year.

The society continues to recognize past member accomplishments through a series of memorial lectures at the event. This year the career of Ruper Southard was recounted through the eyes of his long-time colleague Roy Mullins. Both spent many years of service at the U.S. Geological Survey, and it was under Southard's leadership that the agency moved into digital data collection. The address was filled with many personal anecdotes and photos from various stages of Southard's life. It was a touching and fitting tribute, with four of Southard's surviving children in attendance.

Future Focus

Incoming ASPRS president Brad Doorn, coordinator of the remote sensing program at the Foreign Agriculture Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, addressed the gathering in a talk that focused on "Preparing for Change." He emphasized the increasing importance of understanding global change from the political, ecomonic and security perspective as well as the overwhelming need to better assess changes in climate, food, water, energy and environment.

Regarding climate, Doorn noted that we must do a better job measuring change so that we can react to change with actionable analysis with trusted information. He summed up our current data store as being poor and emphasized the need for better geospatial analysis through time. He placed an importance on Landsat for its continuity through time and the role that it's played in providing timely, reliable and transparent information.

Doorn also emphasized that mapping is monitoring, and that mapping skills need to be extending to all scientists that are measuring change. He noted that integrated data analysis is essential now in this time of great change, and spoke to the need of the industry to inovate and increase our ability to measure and communicate quickly.

Doorn closed his talk by emphasizing the positive role that ASPRS members are playing. He noted that while ASPRS members aren't providing the solutions to global change, the problem of global change won't be solved without their expertise.

Overall, the 75th ASPRS Annual Conference, provided a good snapshot of the imagery side of the geospatial industry. A great deal of content surrounded federal programs and policy directions such as Imagery for the Nation, a national parcel data layer and LIDAR for the Nation. As with most industries these days, the focus is strongly on federal funds to stimulate development. Much appears to be riding on the direction that federal geospatial policy takes in the coming year.

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