The 2020 edition of the XXIV ISPRS Congress
A very successful preliminary digital event in preparation for the Congress in Nice in July 2021
The ISPRS XXIV Congress was initially planned from 14-20 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 situation and its impact on international travelling, the ISPRS Council decided to postpone the Congress to 4-10 July 2021. Nevertheless, the paper submission and reviewing process was nearly completed when the decision was taken. As it seemed scientifically impossible for an innovative scientific community to present and publish papers submitted in February 2020 in a Congress taking place 18 months later, ISPRS decided to create two editions of the XXIV Congress:
- a digital 2020 edition with a 3-day virtual event, which began on the 31 August 2020, enabling authors to present their work to a large audience; this edition also includes a published version of those works in the ISPRS proceedings, and
- a 2021 edition taking place in July 2021 in the Nice Congress with the presentations of papers, for which a new submission and reviewing process will start in December 2020 with a deadline in early 2021.
For this 2020 edition,1850 papers from authors of more that 120 countries were submitted. All of these papers were reviewed by at least two, but in average by 3 different reviewers. Out of these, 1050 papers were finally published in the ISPRS Annals and The International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, and Spatial Information Sciences. More than 350 authors took the opportunity to present their work and results in a very successful and attractive 3-day virtual event which is actually the first ISPRS digital event ever. Indeed, two thousand persons registered for this 3-day virtual event of the 2020 edition. This event was not a mini-congress but was organised as a webinar with two parallel sessions to enable all authors to present their results. In addition to the papers, the authors also submitted oral pre-recorded videos that can permanently be viewed on a new ISPRS content portal. This video portal will be soon made freely accessible to all for education, training and capacity building, contributing towards the outreach mission of the Society.
Now, that the 2020 edition has ended with great success, the ISPRS Council and the XXIV Congress organisers and sponsors hope to see you in Nice for the 2021 edition. Note that the Congress in Nice in July 2021 will be a fully hybrid event. Thus, those who cannot join us in Nice or who want to limit their travels or their travel expenses, will be able to take part remotely in all scientific sessions, in the exciting plenary talks, and in the Congress forum, discussing the future of our community. Remote participants will also have the possibility to present their work to the audience with their presentations being integrated seamlessly within the on-site sessions of the Congress.
Nevertheless, we encourage our Congress participants to join us in Nice in person. Remember that Nice is nice and that nothing replaces a physical encounter to build, revive and deepen long term professional and personal relations and friendships! Besides Science, this is what ISPRS is all about!