Professor Orhan Altan, based in Istanbul, Turkey, has been elected ISPRS president for the term 2009-2012. He has twice served as vice-dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Istanbul Technical University and head of the Department of Geodesy and Photogrammetry. His main areas of interest are digital and architectural photogrammetry, spatial-information systems, and deformation measurement.

Every year disasters such as hurricane, flood, volcanic eruption and earthquake cause thousands of casualties and tremendous damage to buildings and infrastructure around the world. Destroyed livelihoods force tens of thousands of people to find shelter somewhere else and overhaul the residue of what was once their life. Human suffering and loss of homes and goods could have been reduced or even prevented had all phases of the disaster-management cycle in the disaster area been better understood and appropriately documented. Particularly essential is information on onset and course of disaster provided by early-warning systems.

In order to run effectively, early-warning systems need strong linkage between the different elements of a long chain of operations, and all these elements are managed by different players. The major players should therefore meet regularly to ensure they understand the role of all the other elements and what other protagonists need and expect of them. The main element in the chain is information, especially geo-information, on the disaster area. Unfortunately, the important role of accurate, timely and broad-scale information too often becomes clear only when the disaster is actually on the doorstep. Several technologies, particularly satellite-based ones, offer the potential to improve prediction and monitoring of hazards, risk mitigation and disaster management, among them meteorological and earth-observation and communication satellites and satellite-based positioning.

But technology alone provides only part of the solution. Effective application of geo-information technologies requires a solid base of political support, legal frameworks, administrative regulation, institutional responsibility and capacity, and technical training. Early-warning systems have to be part of disaster-management plans and policies, and preparedness to respond should be engrained in public awareness. The Joint Board of Geospatial Information Societies (JBGIS, see1) and UN-SPIDER therefore jointly invite contributions to aBest Practices Booklet on Geo-information for Risk and Disaster Managementthat will create a decision-support forum based on the knowledge and experience of experts and outline the potential use of geo-information technologies for government, institutional and operative decision-makers all over the world.

The booklet is intended to cover all geographical regions and phases of the disaster-management cycle. Publication and worldwide launch of theBest Practices Bookletis planned for 2ndJuly 2010 at UNOOSA in Vienna.