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THE ROLE OF EUROSDR IN THE EMERGING WORLD OF INTEGRATED SPATIAL INFORMATION K MURRAY 1 (1) Ordnance Survey, SOUTHAMPTON, United -Kingdom.

_2IK0Z5R10 The world is changing fast. It is nearly 53 years since the then OEEPE (and now EuroSDR) was established to investigate the nature and opportunities in the new technology of photogrammetry. In the half century that has followed, technologies of this and all kinds have progressed beyond the dreams of those who created the organisation, but so too have many other aspects of our working environment. The political map of Europe has been transfor med at least twice with the east -west divide now giving way to a more inclusive but yet still evolving European Union. The commercial and cultural dimensions have also been transformed and developed over this time scale and are now accelerating as a conse quence of the political changes. In a post war Europe the need was for renewal and rebuilding everywhere. This required detailed mapping, new kinds of information and plans to help develop and underpin the economies, ensure adequate housing and support emp loyment. Photogrammetry offered a step change over previous survey methods in terms of cost savings and accelerated delivery. It also provided significant potential for research a) to explore new techniques in trials and tests and b) help inform others o f these proven technologies and support the take up in other countries and by the wider community of practitioners. As economies and living standards have improved, labour has consequently become relatively more expensive and hen ce wa ys of deriving information by greater automation have been progressively sought. The 1950-70 period witnessed the investigation into several new techniques by the organisation with aerial triangulation tests being regularly tracked, tes ted and reported. OEEPE, and now EuroSDR, has maintained a long track record in formal publication of projects and workshops, and these bear witness to the dedication of the researchers and activists over the years. The triangulation tests culminated in the now legendary Oberschwaben tests report ed by Ackermann in 1973 [Official Publication No 8]. The growing economies lead to greater house building, new roads and motorways and therefore map update became of more interest in the 1970’s [Official Publication No 12 and later No 27] and the digitisin g of maps in the early 1980’s [Official Publication No 14] and Orthophotomaps [Official Publication No 17]. By the late 1980’s interest also included the use of a variety of space sensors [Offic ial Publication Nos 19, 22 & 24] an d this period al so saw the emergence of workshops and the recognition that the organisation needed to acknowledge a wider range of applications. Kölbl promoted the application based workshop process with a “Workshop on Cadastral Renovation” [Official Publication 21] and several other workshops followed such as the Application of Digital Photogrammetric Workstations in 1996 and Automation in Digital Photogrammetric Production in 1999. By the time the Internet had appeared [Official Publication Nos 38 and 48] the organisation had already recognised the need to radically overhaul its position an d the way it operates – where short but focussed workshops are now the main vehicle for information gaining and sharing. It was agreed that the role of EuroSDR was to support the lifecycle o f geographic information from data collection through data processi ng, quality checks to database an d thereon dissemination. The national mapping and cadastral agencies largely fund EuroSDR and through leading universities and research institutes across Eu rope form a unique network of individuals in addressing the growing need for data sharing across Europe and the emerging Eu ropean Spatial Data Infrastructure [ESDI] and the INSPIRE initiative. The five Commissions were are managed by l eading experts in the ir field from NMCAs, academia and the private sector. To better reflect this new ro le the name has been changed to EuroSDR (European Spatial Data Research ) and it has also been necessary to re -establish the basis of the organisation as a not for profit bo dy based in Dublin where the Secretariat is now based (at the Dublin Institute of Technology [DIT]). But what does all this mean for photogrammetry and data acquisition? While the growth has been in data, there is still a large part of the annual program me devoted to imagery acquisition and data processing. As in the early days, new techniques and methods are emerging. Indeed digital imagery has opened up the business potential to more organisations underpinned by lower cost processing. The need to expe riment and report the state of the art is as relevant today as it ever was. I n recent years pro jects have included tests on inertial systems, digital cameras and feature extraction (roads). The current activities demonstrate the breadth of activity in whic h we are engaged Information for mapping from SAR and Optical Imagery, Digital Camera Calibration and International Calibration and Orientation Workshop . We enjoy a strong relationship with ISPRS (and other organisations) and seek to strengthen these links . The material from some of the projects and workshops is then considered for use in the E -Learning programme which is now in its fourth year of execution, as EduServe. The organisation is one of the longest esta blished in the geographic information comm unity in Europe. While there were periods when we did not always keep up to date in our first fifty years, the lesson that we need to listen to the customer and change with the times is now well understood. We are today more conscious of the need to focus on our ‘customers’ needs and priorities, now and in the future, and to undertake work that is rele vant, timely and well-communicated. We intend to complete another 50 years and to be just as active in 2053, by constantly changing and adopting to the needs of our community we don’t see any reason why we should not achieve that. Further information and points of contact are available on the EuroSDR website: http://83.138.131.106/eurosdr/200 2/index.htm