ISPRS GSW’2023 Report

by Prof. Naser El-Sheimy, PEng, CRC, FCAE, FION
ISPRS GSW’2023 Conference Director
 

 
On behalf of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), it was a great honour to host the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Geospatial week 2023 (GSW’2023) at the Semiramis Cairo Hotel, on the magnificent river Nile – under the theme “Remote Sensing For Better Future”. As the first ISPRS Geospatial Week (GSW) to be held in Africa and the Middle East, the conference was chaired by Prof. Naser EL-Sheimy, and Prof. Ismail Abdelgafhar as the Honorary Chair and host of the conference, under the Auspices of H.E. Professor Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

ISPRS President with the Students from AAST who served on the LOC

 
It took 18 months of hard work from many committees including an international scientific committee of over 80 scientists from all over the world, and close to 40 local organizing committee members from AAST, chaired by Prof. Alaa Abdel Barry.

The conference program included:

• 4 tutorials on UAV, sensor fusion, geospatial in public health, and deep learning in remote sensing given by the best specialists in the field. About 200 attendees (+50 students offered free registration) joined these 4 tutorials
• 15 exciting keynote and plenary presentations from leaders in the geospatial technologies
• 25 major industries in the fields of remote sensing, mapping, navigation, geospatial technologies, and GNSS
• 3 space agencies from Taiwan, UAE, and Egypt
• 2 major mapping agencies from Egypt and Saudi Arabia

• 29 workshops divided into 100 sessions which included over 650 presentations and posters. The 29 workshops included state of the art and future trends in geospatial technologies and their applications in many industries and economic sectors

ISPRS GSW’2023 List of Industry and Supporting Organizations

The conference also witnessed the announcement of many awards, including the ISPRS TIF awards, best papers awards, best presentation awards, and the presentation of ISPRS Honorary Membership to Prof. Chen Jun, the ISPRS Fellowship to Prof. Kohei Cho, and the ISPRS Brock Gold Medal Award to Prof. Deren Li.

ISPRS President, Prof. Lena Halounova, GSW’2023 Director, Prof. Naser El-Sheimy, and Prof. Alaa Abdelbarry, Chair of the LOC, with the recipients of the Best Papers Awards

This rich program enabled the participants to remain at the state-of-the-art on the current trends in Geospatial science, technology & business, and also give them opportunity to meet and network with a very large number of experts, and to cross-fertilize with colleagues coming from neighboring fields! The conference also provided a platform for international scholars, graduate students, future scientists, and industrial sectors to learn and exchange knowledge and experience in the application of up-to-date geospatial technologies for sustainable development.

The GSW’2023 Conference was not only about science, but also about Egypt - a vibrant, fascinating and welcoming country. Cairo is home to the best Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic sights in Egypt. Most of the attendees visited Cairo’s architectural and cultural treasures which is the dream of every traveler. The mystifying Pyramids, the vast sand dunes of the deserts, the oasis, the Nile, it's dazzling capital Cairo, countless temples and tombs along the river bank makes it amazingly beautiful and a land to be loved by all. The conference attendees enjoyed two social dinners: a dinner and show on the Nile Crystal Cruising Restaurant, and dinner and show at the Citadel of Cairo.

It was great to have the ISPRS Geospatial Week organized in Egypt where, most probably, the first Geospatial mapping systems were developed 1000s of years ago! We are happy that the attendees enjoyed this conference and could bask in Egypt’s warmth and thousands of years of civilization.

President’s Message

Dear colleagues and friends,

It is my pleasure to share with you my experience from the second largest ISPRS event - the Geospatial Week (GSW).

Geospatial Week 2023 in Cairo was the first large ISPRS event on the African continent: no symposia, no GSWs, and no congresses have been organised on this continent before. The programme included 650 presentations from more than 50 countries. Prof. Naser El-Sheimy from Canada, the GSW 2023 Director, together with the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, I am sure, have found that their efforts were rewarding and very fruitful; all participants very much appreciated the event. Two gala dinners will stay in our memories for a long time. Both were combined with a social programme, the second with the active participation of everybody. Egypt, with its amazing history, was also an interesting place for private travel before, during and after the conference. My thanks go to all who were involved in the preparation.

During the conference, we heard about the 2024 and 2025 ISPRS events.

2024 will bring five Mid-Term Symposia on four continents:

• Technical Commission I (Sensor Systems) Symposium about Intelligent Sensing and Remote Sensing Application will be held in Changsha, China on 13-17 May.
• Technical Commission II (Photogrammetry) Symposium dedicated to The Role of Photogrammetry for a Sustainable World will take place in Las Vegas, U.S.A. on 11-14 June.
• Technical Commission III (Remote Sensing) Symposium’s motto is Beyond the Canopy: Technologies and Applications of Remote Sensing. Its venue is Belém in Brazil, from 4-8 November.
• Technical Commission IV (Spatial Information Science) Symposium will take place in Fremantle, Perth, Australia, on 22-25 October. I believe that the motto Spatial Information to Empower the Metaverse will attract many attendees from all over the world.
• Technical Commission V (Education and Outreach) Symposium invites you to Manila, Philippines, on 6-8 August. I expect that the title, Insight to Foresight via Geospatial Technologies, will be interesting for many of you.

You can find information about all these events, and also other, smaller events, in the ISPRS Calendar.

Technical Commission Presidents, Tang Xinming, Alper Yilmaz, Laurent Polidori, Sisi Zlatanova, and Gay Jane Perez sincerely invite all of you and your colleagues to come and share your knowledge, learn something new, find new friends and enjoy yourselves at their symposia in 2024.

2025 is the year of the next GSW. The GSW 2025 will be organised in Dubai, U.A.E., by Muhammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) under the title of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing for a Better Tomorrow… on 16-21 February 2025. I hope it will be another very successful ISPRS event. Saeed Al Mansoori, GSW 2025 director, and his team are already busy with the preparation.

Come and support these exciting ISPRS events in good health and humour!

Lena

The ISPRS Foundation

The ISPRS Foundation (TIF) is a non-profit entity established in 2003 and managed by a Board of Trustees. It responds to ISPRS grant needs that are identified by the ISPRS Council. Grant recipients are active participants in ISPRS and ISPRS-sponsored events, presenting posters and oral presentations, publishing in the ISPRS Archives and Annals, and joining both technical discussions and cultural exchanges. While their experiences may sometimes lead to academic and professional opportunities, they always lead to new friendships and exposure to the latest research and advancements in geospatial sciences. More details can be found in our new brochure published recently in the TIF webpage.

The ISPRS Foundation depends on individual donations and contributions from ISPRS. Donations may be mailed directly to the TIF Finance Officer, Jeff Yates (General Manager, DAT/EM Systems International, a division of NV5 Geospatial, 2014 Merrill Field Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99501, USA) e-mail: jyates@datem.com

TIF @ GSW, Cairo, Egypt

TIF provided 18 travel grants to deserving students and young professionals out of 106 applicants to support their attendance at the Geospatial Week held in Cairo. Read more here…

1. ISPRS Geospatial Week 2023 - TIF Travel Support Award, by Debaditya Acharya
2. The ISPRS 2023 Geospatial Week Report, by Tri Atmaja
3. Report on the ISPRS Geospatial Week, by Salma Bijou
4. Valuable Insights Gained from ISPRS Geospatial Week, by Chima Iheaturu
5. TIF Travel Grant Report by Tamer Saleh and Shimaa Holail
6. TIF grant to participate in ISPRS GSW 2023, by Zhaoliang Liu
7. TIF Travel Grant, by Kate Pexman
8. Thank you ISPRS Geospatial Week 2023, by Jayati Vijaywargiya
9. Report on Attending ISPRS GSW2023, by Xiaochen Wang
10. Award Report, by Junjie Zhang

New Issue of the ISPRS SC Official Newsletter – SPECTRUM is out now!

ISPRS SC has released SPECTRUM, issue 2, volume 16, themed on “Use of Social media data in Geospatial Analysis”. The newsletter contains articles on how social media data are being analyzed using geospatial technologies. It further features Dr. Liyanage Kithsiri Perera from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, in its IFOV section, and Dr. Zainab Akhtar from Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar, in the spotlight section, sharing their research activities.

ISPRS seeks Social Media Manager

The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS: www.isprs.org) is a non-governmental organization devoted to the development of international cooperation for the advancement of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences and their applications. Its activities include managing events of various sizes such as conferences, symposia, and workshops, publishing journals, and encouraging research in the geospatial sciences. As a result, its success hinges on communicating effectively with a community of students as well as post-docs, early-career researchers, and established professionals in academia, government and the private sector, who are heavy users of information technology and use social media continually.
» Read more details

Call for Proposals
ISPRS Educational and Capacity Building Initiatives 2024

In accordance with the statutory mission and activities of ISPRS, the Society shall provide funds to support educational and capacity building initiatives, which will further improve its international status in education and training in the field of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences, and will therefore benefit all ISPRS members. For 2024, the ISPRS Council is making up to CHF70,000 (70,000 Swiss francs) available to support winning projects under the educational and capacity building initiatives. The maximum funding assigned to any one project shall be CHF10,000 per annum. Projects should commence on January 1, 2024 and typically last up to 12 months. In exceptional cases, applications for projects lasting up to 24 months will be considered. Projects of greater duration than one year will be subject to annual review before subsequent funding will be released.

» Read more details

First announcement of the XXV ISPRS Congress

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Please find here the first announcement of the XXV ISPRS Congress, From Imagery to Understanding, to be held in Toronto, Canada, 4-11 July 2026.

Best regards,

Derek Lichti
Congress Director
isprs-cd@isprs.org

New ISPRS Ordinary Members

ISPRS Ordinary Members unanimously voted for the transfer of membership for the Spanish Ordinary Member representation from the Spanish Society of Cartography, Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing (SECFT) to Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN).

The transfer of membership for the Vietnamese representation from the Institute of Geography, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) to the Faculty of Geography, VNU University of Science (VNU – HUS) was also unanimously approved by Ordinary Members.

ISPRS welcomes both IGN and VNU, and looks forward to continuing collaboration.

Read a short profile on IGN here…

Visit the VNU website.

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information News

Discover the latest at ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (October 2023) including Half-Year Performance Review

IJGI Featured Papers from 2022 Q1 and 2023 Q3

Find the Featured Papers from the first quarter of 2022 which, among others, have substantially impacted the rising IF (3.4) of the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, and the 2023 Featured Papers, from the 3rd quarter, an array of high-quality papers published by MDPI.

HKIS Awards 2024

The HKIS Awards endeavour to acknowledge and recognise the outstanding achievements of Hong Kong Surveyors. The Awards serve as a platform to showcase the exceptional work of surveyors in the industry and promote their professional image. Read more here…

• Application Opens 20 September 2023
• Early-bird Application Deadline 12:00 noon, 31 October 2023
• Regular Application and Materials Submission Deadline 12:00 noon, 15 December 2023
• Award Presentation Ceremony-cum-Dinner 12 July 2024

3-Hour Online Tutorial

Low-cost photogrammetry for the metric documentation of cultural heritage

presented by ISPRS WGII/6 in collaboration with CIPA Heritage Documentation Emerging Professionals

Date, duration and technical means

• Date: 20 October 2023
• Start time: 13:00 CEST (UTC+02:00) / 7:00 EDT (UTC−04:00)
• Duration: 3 hours
• Platform: Zoom, recording uploaded onto YouTube

» Read more details

TC II Online Talk Series

See https://www2.isprs.org/commissions/comm2/activities/online_talk_series/

International Scientific and Technical Conference - Environmental Monitoring, Photogramme-try, Geoinformatics – Modern Technologies and Development Perspectives

Dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Department of Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics, Lviv Polytechnic National University

8-10 November 2023
Lviv, Ukraine

More information

ISPRS WG I/6, WG I/7, ICWG I/IV - GEOBENCH

2nd Workshop on Evaluation and Benchmark of Sensors and Systems in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

23-24 Oct 2023
Cracow, Poland

https://geobench.fbk.eu/

ISPRS Student Consortium - Post-ACRS ISPRS SC Summer School 2023

3-8 Nov 2023
Taipei, Taiwan

https://acrs2023.tw/isprs_summerschool.php

GeoAdvances 2024

8th International Conference on Geoinformation Advances

11-12 Jan 2024
Istanbul, Türkiye

http://www.geoadvances.web.tr/

Geo Week 2024

Geo Week is the intersection of geospatial + the built world. The event brings together previous event brands AEC Next, SPAR 3D and the International Lidar Mapping Forum with 4 co-located user conferences into a single powerhouse event. Industries covered include Architecture, Engineering & Construction; Asset & Facility Management; Disaster & Emergency Response; Earth Observation & Satellite Applications; Energy & Utilities, Infrastructure & Transportation; Land & Natural Resource Management, Mining & Aggregates, Surveying & Mapping, and Urban Planning/Smart Cities.

11-13 Feb 2024
Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO, USA

http://www.geo-week.com

International Digital Building Permit Conference 2024

18-19 April 2024
Barcelona, Spain

Read more here or on the website: https://eu4dbp.net/dbpc24/

GISTAM 2024
The International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management

2-4 May 2024
Angers, France

The conference aims at creating a meeting point of researchers and practitioners that address new challenges in geo-spatial data sensing, observation, representation, processing, visualization, sharing and managing, in all aspects concerning both information communication and technologies (ICT) as well as management information systems and knowledge-based systems. The conference welcomes original papers of either practical or theoretical nature, presenting research or applications, of specialized or interdisciplinary nature, addressing any aspect of geographic information systems and technologies.

https://gistam.scitevents.org/

• Regular Paper Submission: December 13, 2023
• Position Paper Submission: January 25, 2024
• Doctoral Consortium Paper Submission: March 6, 2024

ISPRS TC I Mid-term Symposium
Intelligent Sensing and Remote Sensing Application

13-17 May 2024
Changsha, China

https://www.isprs2024tc1.net/

ISPRS TC II Mid-term Symposium
The Role of Photogrammetry for a Sustainable World

11-14 June 2024
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

https://www.isprs.org/tc2-symposium2024/

Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel https://www.caesars.com/flamingo-las-vegas
The first 150 bookings will receive discounted room rates. The booking link is coming shortly.

COSPAR 2024

13-21 July 2024
Bexco, Busan, Korea

Contact: COSPAR Secretariat: cospar@cosparhq.cnes.fr

https://www.cospar2024.org/

ISPRS TC V Mid-term Symposium
Insight to Foresight via Geospatial Technologies

6-8 Aug 2024
Manila, Philippines

https://philsa.gov.ph/isprsTCV/

ISPRS TC IV Mid-term Symposium
Spatial Information to Empower the Metaverse

22-25 Oct 2024
Fremantle, Perth, Australia

https://www.isprs.org/tc4-symposium2024/index.html

ISPRS TC III Mid-term Symposium
Beyond the canopy: technologies and applications of remote sensing

4-8 Nov 2024
Belem, Brazil

https://selperbrasil.org.br/evento/simposio-da-comissao-iii-da-isprs-belem-para-brasil/

Participation of ISPRS Student Consortium at ISPRS GSW 2023, Cairo

By Laxmi Thapa
President SC

Read the report here…

New publications
Volume 12, Issue 8 (August 2023)

Volume 12, Issue 9 (September 2023)

New publications
Volume 203 (September 2023)

New publications
Volume 204 (October 2023)