Looking ahead to the ISPRS Geospatial Week 2019 in the Netherlands

If you are looking for a good opportunity to take a deep dive into the latest geospatial technology and science, look no further. The ISPRS Geospatial Week 2019 will take place from 10-14 June in Enschede, the Netherlands, on the green campus of the University of Twente with Prof George Vosselman as Geospatial Week director. The five days will cover the latest advances, for instance, in using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in geomatics, in deploying the latest sensor technology such as hyperspectral sensing, and in the role of artificial intelligence in handling this sensory big data. Those worried about climate change or interested in how cities can tackle the challenges of the future will have the possibility to hear about the latest atmosphere studies, and how new applications make use of the geospatial data of today.

There is a total of 13 workshops, covering a wide range of topics. Many of the workshops are well-established in series of workshops convened in the past. The workshops will provide excellent opportunities to present and discuss the latest developments in the fields of sensors, photogrammetry, remote sensing, and spatial information sciences. Participants will be able to register for any number of days and join any of the workshops offered on those days. Next to the programme booklet, the conference app Conference4me can be used to access the whole Geospatial Week programme.

Geospatial industrial diversity

The opening keynote will be delivered by Edward Anderson of the World Bank. He will share his experience on World Bank projects dealing with various geospatial technologies such as open data for resilience, innovations in spatial planning, community mapping with UAVs, and early warning systems. On the following days, further nine keynote speakers will present the latest technical advances on their fields. We as the organizers are proud to present, in the order of the schedule, Margarita Chli (visual SLAM), Avideh Zakhor (indoor modelling), Mei-Po Kwan (geo-health), Craig Glennie (single photon LIDARs), Jerome Kaempf (CitySim for energy), Peter van Oosterom (N-dimensional point clouds), Randolph Kirk (Europa Imaging System), Ramon Hanssen (InSAR) and Jocelyn Chanussot (deep learning).

Participants are expected from over 60 different countries. The organizers are happy to announce that the amount of received scientific abstracts and articles passed over 500, raising the expected number of attendees to 700 scholars and professionals.

Social programme

The venue is away from the most crowded part of the Netherlands. In between the day and the evening programmes, bicycles can be easily rented to experience a part of the Dutch culture and the main way of transportation of the locals, in a cyclist-friendly road environment. The social programme offers even more of an introduction to the local history and the way of life. A dinner-visit to the country estate ‘Singraven’ situated along the Dinkel river offers a rare, picturesque and historical landscape with forests, field, and pastures. In turn, a modern perspective is attained at the mansion De Jaargetijden, near the centre of the city of Enschede.

Finally, the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) takes pride in promoting advancement and benefits of these sciences over borders. Therefore, the ISPRS Foundation provides travel grants to enable young authors and distinguished speakers, especially from developing countries, to participate. To further enhance spreading of scientific knowledge, tutorials on deep learning and web services will be offered on the Sunday preceding the Geospatial Week.

For further information, visit the event website. Sponsorship arrangements are welcomed.

On behalf of the ISPRS, we welcome you to the Netherlands!