EDITORIAL

ISPRS Foundation Grants First Awards

The ISPRS Foundation is pleased to announce the award of grants from its funds in 2006. With thanks to donors, event sponsors and selection committees 21 Grants were awarded to deserving grantees.

· Travel Grants (Sponsored by the Trust Fund Amsterdam 2000) were provided for 18 grantees from 14 countries to participate in 2006 ISPRS Symposia convened by Commissions:

o IV - "Geospatial Databases for Sustainable Development", Goa, India

o V - "Image Engineering & Vision Metrology", Dresden, Germany

o VI - "E-Learning & the Next Steps for Education", Tokyo, Japan

o VII - "Remote Sensing: From Pixels to Processes", Enschede, The Netherlands

· CATCON4 (4th Computer Aided Teaching Contest) Awards - The contest promotes the development and dissemination of effective and user-friendly software packages, videos and data sets designed and used specifically for computer assisted teaching. In general, the software or data set should be non-commercial, provided to users without license charges or other fees, and be available for download on the ISPRS web site. The 2006 winners were selected from demonstrations of 14 software entries presented at the Commission VI Symposium in Tokyo, Japan.

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Winners of the CATCON4 awards (front left to right): Bronze Award winner for "SV3DVISION-Satellite Image 3D Presentation System for Education", Diego Gonzalez Aguilera (Spain); Silver Award winner for "CARST 1.0-Computer Assisted Remote Sensing Training ver. 1.0", Nguyen Dinh Duong, (Vietnam); Shunji Murai (Japan), sponsor of the CATCON Awards; and Gold Award winner for "E-Tutor for GIS", Dr. P. Venkatachalam, (India).

ISPRS Council intends to support worthy applicants for funding in 2007. The details will be announced in the near future.

Board of Trustees Officers

Following the meeting of the Board of Trustees in Paris in June, the newly elected officers are as follows:

  • Chair: Dieter Fritsch (Germany)

  • Operations Officer: John Trinder (Australia)

  • Financial Officer: Lawrence Fritz (USA)

Responsibilities of the Board include, but are not limited to: wise investment, management, and approval for disbursement of Foundation funds; determination of funds available for distribution of grants from each Fund account and approval of the annual operating budget of the Foundation; consideration of priorities for charitable goals; disbursement of funds for approved grants; and acceptance of bequests, donations, contributions, or subscriptions as may be made to the Foundation by individuals. All Foundation funds have been invested in secure interest bearing deposits at current rates.

Committees

Four ISPRS Foundation Committees have been established and terms of reference approved by the Board to manage specific matters within the Foundation. They are: Grants Evaluation Committee; Marketing and Promotion; Audit Committee; and the Large Grants Procurement Committee. All Committees have an international representation and include some Board members, as well as individuals not on the Board, according to the requirements of The ISPRS Foundation Bylaws.

Fund Raising

The Foundation requires further donors to support its benevolent activities. While the Large Grants Procurement Committee will be aiming to acquire large grants from commercial benefactors, smaller grants are still needed from individuals, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and other organizations which recognize the benefits of providing financial assistance to individuals from emerging and reform countries. Such funding will enable recipients to better develop their expertise in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences. This will impact on their ability to map, document, and hence monitor and manage their land and their environment. Leaders in the industry of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences will appreciate these efforts being made to address the global need for more knowledgeable and skilled professionals.

The Board urges you to support The ISPRS Foundation in this very worthwhile endeavor.

John Trinder

First Vice President; Operations Officer, ISPRS Foundation

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