Over 2,400 attendees enjoyed another successful ASPRS Annual Conference and Exhibition, May 21-26, 2000, in Washington, DC. Held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, the conference was hosted by ASPRS and the ASPRS Potomac Region, under the leadership of 2000 ASPRS Conference Director Walter Boge.
The week began with 12 workshops, of which 10 were sold-out, and 10 heavily attended User Group meetings. The workshops covered a wide range of topics and applications including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Geodesy, Photogrammetric Mapping, Softcopy Photogrammetry, Orthophotos, and Change Detection Analysis. With Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection Analysis, Research and Applications in LIDAR Technology, and Softcopy Photogrammetric Production among the most popular.
The User Group meetings, hosted by individual ASPRS Sustaining Member companies, featured many demonstrations and discussions of current and new software products and capabilities. Companies represented were Autometric, Inc.; ERDAS, Inc.; ESRI; Intergraph; KLT Associates; Orbimage; PCI Geomatics; Research Systems; Space Imaging; SPOT Image Corp.; and, ZI Imaging, bringing many additional participants to the conference.
A “Classified Session,” organized by Dr. Murray Felsher, was held on Tuesday at the Chantilly offices of SAIC. This is the second session of its kind sponsored in conjunction with an ASPRS meeting, and once again it was well received with over 20 speakers, 100 attendees, and a full agenda. ASPRS Executive Director Jim Plasker commented, “We are very pleased to work with the classified community to facilitate a broad-based exchange of information and technology. These sessions are one of the few opportunities for many professionals to meet colleagues from other organizations utilizing similar systems in order to address very different requirements. The session was so well received that we intend to offer it again next year in St. Louis.”
Tuesday evening concluded with a “Welcome to Washington Reception” hosted by the ASPRS Potomac Region. The event was designed to promote membership and more participation within the Society. Various university students and alumni were also present to connect with “first-timers” and new members.
The formal conference began on Wednesday with a general session that included a multi-source digital fly-over of the Washington, DC metropolitan area and an outstanding keynote speech by Lieutenant General James C. King, director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA). General King spoke about the many challenges and opportunities facing both NIMA and the broader geospatial community as we move forward into the new millennium.
Over 300 papers (a new record for ASPRS) were presented at 100 educational sessions held Wednesday through Friday. Session topics ranged from Sensors, GIS, and Natural Resources to Image Processing, Photogrammetry and many other related areas. Technical Tours to NIMA, USGS National Center, US Army Topographic Engineering Center, and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center were conducted on Wednesday and Thursday; all were sold out! The exhibit hall opened on Wednesday afternoon with 75-plus exhibiting companies and over 100 booths. The hall was packed from the time it opened, through the opening reception held Wednesday evening. The attendees socialized and conducted business in the relaxed atmosphere.
The Poster Presentations were held on Thursday, with 33 posters being presented. The ASPRS 11th Annual Awards Luncheon and 66th Annual Business Meeting and Installation of Officers was also held on Thursday. Awards were presented for outstanding papers, professional achievements and service. The ASPRS Potomac Region, host of this year’s Annual Conference, was awarded the ASPRS Region of the Year. The Awards ceremony continued on Thursday afternoon, following the Memorial Lectures honoring Gomer T. McNeil, and Heinz E. R. Gruner.
During the Business Meeting, incoming ASPRS President Alan Mikuni was installed, along with President-Elect George Hepner, Vice President Terrence Keating, and new division and assistant division directors. During his inaugural address, Mikuni touched on many areas where ASPRS is beginning to play a major role in the imaging and geospatial information community. Central to all of these is a strong strategic plan and a vision of where the Society, and the field, is headed in the next decade. “One of the most important lessons taught to us by ASPRS’s recovery over the last three years,” he said, “was the need to link financial management with a robust association-wide strategic planning effort. Last year, President Renslow reinvigorated our program of strategic planning within each organization in ASPRS. In a nutshell, each Division, Committee, and Region must have an individualized, up-to-date statement of its goals, that, when aggregated upwards, will comprise a fully-integrated budget and program plan for ASPRS. Several broad areas in which the Society should begin forging strategic direction this coming year include workforce development and customer education; recognition of our professional and technical membership; increasing participation in emerging scientific and technological initiatives, such as imagery and advanced sensors; and, continuing the enhancements of the governance of the organization. Talent and hard work, with a cohesive strategic plan providing the focus and resource base, will enable ASPRS to take advantage of the incredible number of growth opportunities for our profession.” [The full text of President Mikuni’s remarks will be published in the August “Yearbook” issue of PE&RS.]
Thursday concluded with “An Evening at the National Air and Space Museum,” graciously sponsored by Autometric, Inc., Litton/TASC, Raytheon, and SAIC. The event was a smashing success! Those present enjoyed wonderful food, great music and ambiance, planetarium shows, “Space Images as Art” by Dr. Murray Felsher, an Imax movie, and a full suite of museum exhibits. Attendees also witnessed the inaugural presentation of the George E. Brown, Jr. Congressional Honor Award. The Brown Award recognizes an U.S. Congress member whose leadership and efforts have contributed to advancements in the science, engineering, application, education and commerce of imaging and geospatial information. In his memory, the initial award was presented to Congressman George Brown’s widow, Marta Macias Brown.
Photographs from the 2000 ASPRS Conference are located on the website at http://www.asprs.org. To obtain a copy of the conference final program, contact ASPRS headquarters at asprs@asprs.org. The conference proceedings, on CD-ROM, may be purchased from the ASPRS Distribution Center ($50 list price; $35 for ASPRS Members) by calling 301-617-7812 or emailing asprspub@pmds.com.
Don’t miss upcoming ASPRS conferences: Practical Applications in the Geospatial Information Sciences, hosted by ASPRS and ACSM, focuses on problem-solving, new technology, and late breaking news in the geospatial information sciences; to be held December 1-6, 2000, in Providence, Rhode Island, at the Rhode Island Convention Center/Westin Providence Hotel. The 2001 ASPRS Annual Conference and Exhibition will be held April 23-27, 2001, in St. Louis, Missouri at the America’s Center/Adam’s Mark Hotel. Visit the ASPRS web site http://www.asprs.org for the most up to date information about ASPRS and our conferences.
Founded in 1934, ASPRS is an international professional organization of more than 7,000 geospatial data professionals. ASPRS members are involved in all aspects of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, GIS and related technologies.
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(18 July 2000)