Extracts from the 18th General Conference
Manila, Philippines,1998
The General Conference was held on 17th and 18th November 1998 in Manila during the 19th ACRS. Mr. Virgilio S.Santos of NAMRIA, Philippines presided.
The General Secretary presented the annual report and the financial report for the year, which were both endorsed by the members.
Membership application of Uzbekistan was again withheld. It was agreed that the Uzbekistan will be requested to send participants to the next ACRS where they would attend the AARS General Conference and present their case for acceptance.
Two applications for associate membership -one from USA (ASPRS) and the other from Germany (Hannover University) were received and accepted. It was agreed that universities interested in and involved in development efforts in the region would be welcome to join as associate member of AARS.
The General Conference, while discussing on the hosting of future ACRS, agreed that the 20th Anniversary of ACRS will be celebrated in 1999 by holding the conference in Hong Kong, China. This will be followed by holding the 21st ACRS in China Taipei. Although the case for hosting 22nd ACRS was not decided, it was the consensus that Bangladesh will get the highest priority for hosting that Conference in 2001.
During the discussions, the General secretary mentioned that ICIMOD in Nepal informed him that the year 2002 will be the United Nations Year for Mountain Development and therefore Nepal would be an ideal location for the 23rd ACRS in 2002. The participant from Jordan also informed the meeting that Royal Jordan Government Geographic Centre also intends to host future ACRS and would like to be in the queue and that could then be the 24th ACRS in 2003. The General Conference agreed to record these views in the proceedings to enable the host nations enough time for appropriate preparations.
A report on the ACRoRS was presented in which it was reported that a new building for the center has been built at AIT campus in Bangkok. The Center will move there by the end of November 1999 and expand its activities. Various research projects and visiting research programmes, as well as future plans of ACRoRS were highlighted.
Dr. Ryutaro Tateishi presented a report on the Global database. He also presented a summary of the activities of the Working Group on 1 Km. land cover database of Asia. Dr. Tateishi also elaborted the plan for 1999. He infomed the meeting that a 30 arc-second (approximately 1-km) grid land cover data set for Asia will be completed in early 1999. This data set will be distributed around the spring of 1999 in CD-ROM free of charge. This will include all ground truth data and their source description and complete description of the methodology of classifications.
The General Conference also discussed on the publication of the Memorial Book in 1999 to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of ACRS. Dr. M. U. Chaudhury explained the process for the collection of materials for the Memorial Book from members and requested for their co-operation and support.
Discussions were held on publishing the future ACRS Proceedings in CD-Rom. Dr. Goldin Rudhall volunteered to provide technical support to the host from China for the next year's conference proceedings.
Dr. Bob Ryerson suggested that in future ACRS, a session on Trans-border spatial data Intergration should be arranged. This is expected to generate discussions, identify more applications and begin consensus building in integrating geospatial information that extends the borders of several countries. It was agreed that the topic might be considered for inclusion in the overall programme of the ACRS as a session or a part of a session or by organizing a separate workshop on the topic.
Preparation of Bibliographic Abstract of all the papers and articles published in the nineteen ACRSs so far held was discussed. Prof. Lopez of the University of the Philippines agreed to undertake the job using his academic and student support. He, however, would need all the 19 copies of the proceedings of the ACRS and some resource support, if needed.
The General Conference welcomed this offer and agreed that such a publication could be a valuable asset for research and education in the field of remote sensing and should be undertaken by AARS. The AARS Secretariat and NAMRIA agreed to provide Prof. Lopez with copies of all the ACRS proceedings. NAMRIA agreed to provide technical, bibliographical and co-ordination support.
Dr. Ida F. Dalmacio, Chairperson, STCC-COSTA of the Philippines graciously agreed to provide necessary support to Prof. Lopez and NAMRIA in undertaking the compilation and publication of this bibliographic abstract by the Philippines on behalf of AARS.