IXth International Scientific and Technical Conf.

The Conference was organized by Racurs Co., (Moscow, Russia) with the support of International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) and Russian GIS-Association. Sponsors of the Conference:- NP AGP «Meridian+» (Russia), - FSUE «Goszemcadastrsyomka» - VISHAGI (Russia), - GeoEye (USA),- FSUE «Uralgeoinform» (Russia).Media support: - GeoInformatics â magazine for surveying, mapping and GIS professionals, - GIM International â global magazine for geomatics, - GEO: Connexion â international magazine, - Geoprofi â scientific and technical magazine, - GIS-Info, - GeoTop â branch specialized catalogue,- Information and Space â scientific-technical magazine.The conference provided ample opportunities for discussion, knowledge and experience exchange in the sphere of remote sensing and digital photogrammetric technologies. Over 100 leaders and specialists of industrial enterprises and institutes from 20 countries, all of them using remote sensing data and photogrammetric processing in their daily practice, attended the conference this year. For the first time the conference was attended by representatives from the Republic of South Africa and Thailand.The Conference schedule included plenary sessions, business meetings, workshops, and a rich entertainment program.42 speeches were delivered by experts from 11 countries. The conference opened with welcome speeches by Colonel Ioannis Kolovos, Director of Hellenic Military Geographical Service (HGMS), and Professor Andreas Georgopoulos, President of Hellenic Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (HSPRS).In the first section titled âRegional and Corporate Mapping. Common Photogrammetric Problemsâ delegates from Bulgaria, Russia, Greece, Germany, and India described the major achievements and current state of mapping, cadastral and photogrammetric services in their countries. The following reports attracted particular attention of the audience: Athanasios Gkegkas (Captain, HMGS, Greece) â on activities performed by HMGS in Greece; Sergey Miller (President, Russian GIS Association) â on geoinformation market in Russia; Gottfried Konecny (Professor, Leibniz University, Germany) â on photogrammetry and cadastral systems; Yannis Yanniris (Greece) â on development of photogrammetry in Greece.The second block was dedicated to digital camera and aerial equipment. Interestingly, the vast majority of reports made by the representatives of the companies manufacturing large-format cameras were devoted to medium-format cameras. For example, Peter Schreiber (Leica Geosystems AG, Switzerland) spoke mostly about the RCD100 mapping camera and Mikhail Petukhov (Intergraph, Moscow Representative office) â about the RMK product line. These medium-format cameras, less expensive and more accessible for small companies, are aimed at taking aerial photographs of extended or small-sized objects.The third thematic section was devoted to photogrammetric processing of digital aerial and close range images. Delegates from Russia, Greece, and Bulgaria presented their reports in this section. Andrey Sechin (Scientific Director, Racurs Co., Russia) spoke about the fifteen-year way of DPS PHOTOMOD from version 1, which enabled simple image processing, to the modern 5.0 version, which represents a powerful digital photogrammetric system. Professor Andreas Georgopoulos (NTUA, Greece) described his experience of using DPS PHOTOMOD at a photogrammetric laboratory. One of the projects of the laboratory is devoted to the photogrammetric method of measuring the distance between the city of Marathon and Athens. This method is more precise than electromechanical ones. Yulia Nikolaeva and Katerina Chuchevaâs report (GIS-Sofia, Bulgaria) described a large project of making an orthophotomap of Sofia. 7,000 Intergraph DMC images were processed with DPS PHOTOMOD.The second day of the conference was devoted to satellite imaging of the Earth. Andrey Shumakov (GeoEye, USA), Bruno Bertolini (SPOT Image, France), Pawel Ziemba (Digital Globe, Poland) â all representatives of RSD providers â presented their reports in the first section titled âModern Space Remote Sensing Data and Their Usageâ. They spoke about existing RDS satellites and the ones that are planned to launch in the future. Robert Lanzl (Infoterra GmbH, Germany) reported on an interesting project to create a global DTM using SAR systems. In the following block of reports, Dmitry Fedotkin (ScanEx, Russia), Andrey Zheleznyakov (KB Panorama, Russia), Anna Beregovskikh (ITP Grad, Russia) and others discussed technologies and software for remote sensing data processing.In the third block of reports on the second day of the conference, devoted to remote sensing data based mapping, participants learnt about creating orthophotomaps based on Resurs DK-1 images (Marina Sinkova, Zemlemer, Russia), about RSD practice in JSCo RZD (Alexander Vasileyskiy, NIIAS, Russia) and JSCo Gazprom (Yuri Baranov, Gazprom VNIIGAZ, Russia).The third day of the conference was devoted to the PHOTOMOD system. The Racurs staff presented the new 5.0 version improving the level of automation and productivity. After that there was a master-class where PHOTOMOD 5.0 was demonstrated in action and new enhanced capabilities of the PHOTOMOD Radar were shown to the audience. New features of 5.0 version, such as the support of 16-bit or multi-channel raster and the increased level of system openness, were of particular interest to the users. It is also essential to notice that the representatives of Greek companies were especially active during the master-class. Besides the master-class there was held a special two-hour seminar for employees of Hellenic Military Geographical Service. All stages of photogrammetric processing with the PHOTOMOD release version were demonstrated there, including internal orientation, automated photogrammetric triangulation, DTM creation, orthophotomapping, and vectorisation in stereo mode. Some 15 employees of HMGS, all experienced in photogrammetry, took part in the seminar. New features of PHOTOMOD aroused keen interest of the audience.In the course of the conference, Racurs Co. had a regular meeting with dealers where prospects of cooperation were addressed. As before, Racurs Co. is ready to provide its dealers with efficient support, consultations and training as well as up-to-date information on all changes to the PHOTOMOD system and its updates. Such dealer meetings have become a good annual tradition helping to increase productivity and representing a solid foundation for mutually beneficial dialogue between partners.In the framework of the conference, the results of the projects implemented with the use of PHOTOMOD were summed up. This year the well-deserved prize â PHOTOMOD GeoMosaic 4.4 â went to GIS-Sofia (Bulgaria) for the project âLarge-scale Orthophotomap of the City of Sofiaâ (2008) performed with the digital photogrammetric PHOTOMOD system.During the informal part of the conference, attendees could take part in sports competitions where they could demonstrate their skills and will to win. The atmosphere of the competition was friendly and cheerful. The most entertaining part of the evening was a five-a-side football tournament. Both players and their ardent fans took pleasure taking part and watching the match.The participants of the conference got acquainted with traditions and culture of Greece during the sightseeing tour which began with visiting a traditional Greek winery and local wine sampling. After the winery the tour continued to the Temple of Poseidon at cape Sunion which is considered one of the main sights of Attica. The grand closing ceremony took the form of a festive banquet. This year the way to the feast lay across evening Athens where the participants visited the Acropolis Museum â one of the worldâs most outstanding collections of antique sculpture. Visiting an observation deck where the participants could enjoy a panoramic view of grand Acropolis and night Athens became the final stop on the evening outing. The most exciting part of the gala dinner was a lottery where anyone could win the Russian or English edition of the PHOTOMOD software. The lucky winners were Pogorelov Viacheslav from North Caucasian Aerogeodetic Enterprise (Russia) and Robert Lanzl from Infoterra GmbH (Germany). Racurs Co. are very thankful to all partners and colleagues for their participation in the IXth International Scientific and Technical Conference âFrom Imagery to Map: Digital Photogrammetric Technologiesâ and are looking forward to new meetings! Detailed information about the Conference you can find at Web sites below.

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