Minutes of the Annual General Conference
of the Asian Association on Remote Sensing

Chiang Mai , Thailand, 2004

The first meeting of the association was held at the Sheraton Hotel Chiang Mai, Thailand, on the 23rd December, 2004, and commenced at 8.10 pm.

Members in attendance: (Note attendees who only attended one meeting, either the meeting of the 23 rd December or the 25 th December, are noted in the table of attendees below)

Secretary General, Prof. Emeritus Shunji Murai, Univ. of Tokyo
Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Manu Omakupt, GISTDA (Thailand)
Ordinary Member
Australia	John Trinder	RS and Photogrammetry Association of Australasia
	Clive Fraser	Melbourne University (only 23rd)
	Bruce Forster	UNSW and Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing Pty Ltd
China	Tong Qingxi	CNCRS
	Liang Yingnan	CNCRS (only 25th)
China Taipei	A.J. Chen	ChineseTaipei Society for Photogrammetry and RS
	Chi-Chuan Cheng	Taiwan Forestry Research Institute
	Peter T.Y.Shih	ChineseTaipei Society for Photogrammetry and RS
Indonesia	Rudolf W. Matindas	BAKOSURTANAL (only 23rd)
	Aris Poniman	BAKOSURTANAL (only 23rd)
Japan	Ryutaro Tateishi	JSPRS / Chiba University
	Yoshifumi Yasuoka	University of Tokyo
	Haruhisa Shimoda	Tokai University (only 23rd)
Korea	Choen Kim	Korean Society of Remote Sensing/Kookmin University
Malaysia	Azlikamil Napiah	Malaysian Center for Remote Sensing
	Mazlan Hashm	MRSS (only 23rd)
Mongolia	M. Saandar	Mongolian Nat'l Society for Photogrammetry & RS
Nepal	Madan B. Shakya	Survey Department (only 23rd)
Philippines	Renato L. Lapitan	(only 23rd)
	V.S. Santos	F.F.Crus & Co.Inc (only 23rd)
Singapore	John Low	CRISP
	Alice Heng	CRISP
Thailand	Wicha Jiwalai	GISTDA (only 23rd)
	Suvit Vibulsresth	GISTDA (only 23rd)
	Thongchai Charuppat	GISTDA
	Surachai Ratanasermpong	GISTDA
Vietnam	Nguyen Dinh Duong	Institute of Geography
	Nguyen Thuong Hung	Association of Vietnamese Geographers
	Le Quy Thuc	Vietnam Assoc. Geodesy, Cartography and RS
	Matindas Tring	Vietnam Asso..Geodesy, Cartography and RS

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1. Opening

The meeting was opened by the General Secretary, Professor Shunji Murai.
Dr. Suvit Vibulsresth was appointed as the Chairman of the General Conference.

2. Approval of Agenda

The meeting approved the agenda.

3. General Secretary’s Report

Professor Murai spoke to his report that had been circulated to the meeting. He reported that Bhutan, Cambodia, Russia and Saudi Arabia had applied for admission to the association. Professor Murai spoke to the proposal to register the association as an NPO in Thailand (Non-Profit Organization), with an office supported by GISTDA. He indicated the reasons for this move was to establish a permanent location for the Association, which is currently located at the Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo.

Professor Murai expressed his concern that the Journal of Geoinformatics, which was founded in September, 2000, is treated as an internal journal by AIT. This means that articles in the journal are not able to be accepted as credit towards PhDs at AIT.

Dr Vibulsresth spoke briefly to the Dr Boon Medal, indicating that this year the medal will be pure gold and larger(because of the Associations 25 th anniversary) and that Thailand would continue to support the medal.

4. Financial Report

Professor Murai spoke to the Financial Report and indicated those countries whose membership had not been paid. Professor van Genderen of ITC offered to pay the membership fee of Indonesia. Professor Murai noted that the association was not required to contribute any monies to the 2004 conference, as all finances had been covered by Thailand.

5. Admission of New Members

Representatives of the four new applicant countries, Bhutan, Cambodia, Russia and Saudi Arabia, spoke to their applications, indicating their reasons for wishing to join, and some background to their organizations. The meeting accepted the applications of these new member countries.

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6. Proposal of Host Countries for the 27 th ACRS in 2006 and the 28 th ACRS in 2007.

It was noted that both Australia and Mongolia had previously indicated their desire to host the 2006 conference. However Professor Trinder of Australia advised the meeting that Australia would withdraw its proposal due to the high cost of conducting the conference in Australia. Dr Saandar spoke to Mongolia’s application. There being no further applicants for the 2006 meeting the meeting was asked to immediately approve Mongolia’s application. The meeting so approved.

Malaysia indicated its desire to host the 2007 conference in Langawi.

7. Felicitation Volume

Dr Narpat Singh Rathore spoke to the Felicitation volume, which he edited, and which produced to celebrate the 25 th anniversary of the Association and importantly Professor Shunji Murai’s contribution to the Association and his 65 th birthday. He indicated that the volume would be distributed to all ACRS participants.

Dr Vibulsresth drew the attention of the meeting to the quote in the volume which best described Professor Murai – “The fragrance of a flower does not travel against the wind: nor does the fragrance of Sandal wood, Tagar or the Jasmine flower: But the fragrance of good people travels against the wind. It spreads in all directions.” Dr Vibulsresth also presented a commemorative plate to Professor Murai and the association.

There being no further business the meeting was closed at 9.10 pm.

The second meeting of the Association was held at the Sheraton Hotel, Chiang Mai, Thailand, on the 25th November, 2004, and commenced at 5.33 pm.

Members in attendance: (See previous list)

Professor Murai opened the meeting and asked the members to approve a modified agenda for the 2 nd meeting. He proposed the following:

The modified agenda was approved by the meeting.

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1. Introduction of Guests

Professor Murai introduced a number of guests that were in attendance at the meeting (see attendance list)

2. Admission of New Members

Professor Murai introduced the representative of Syria, who was seeking admission to the Association. Mr Mohamad Rukieh spoke to the application and advised that GORS (General Organization of RS in Syria), was located about 10km out of Damascus, would act to represent all of Syrian remote sensing interests and groups. He indicated that they were involved in various aspects of remote sensing particularly geology and agricultural. Professor Konecny spoke to the meeting in support of Syria’s application. The meeting approved Syria’s membership. Professor Murai presented certificates of membership to the new members, Bhutan, Cambodia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Syria, and advised the meeting that there were now 28 Ordinary members.

3. Proposal for ACRS 2007, 2008 and 2009

Professor Murai advised the meeting that Malaysia would like to hold the 28 th conference (2007), that both the Philippines and Saudi Arabia the 29 th conference (2008), while Professor Tong Qixi advised the meeting that China would like to hold the 30 th conference in Beijing in 2009. These potential applications were noted by the meeting.

4. Confirmation of Host 2006

The approval of Mongolia to hold the 27 th conference, in 2006, was reconfirmed. It was suggested that the meeting be held in the second week of October.

5. Report of ACRORS

6. Proposal of NPO

Professor Murai spoke to the proposal to establish a NPO, which was raised at the first meeting. Professor Konecny suggested that similar problems had arisen with EARSEL in Europe. Professor Murai indicated that it was hoped that permission could be granted next January (2005) to establish the NPO. He also advised that Dr Suvit of GISTDA was prepared to act as the Chairman. Professor Murai noted that the establishment of an NPO did not require the chairman to be a Thai citizen, and that it was only registered in Thailand. Following these comments the meeting approved the proposal.

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7. Proposal of AARS Office

Dr. Samarakoon advised that the new Geoinformatics Center was prepared to support the relocation of the administrative center of AARS to Thailand by the provision of temporary office space and also to assist AARS in managing a home page. (Full details of the proposal can be found on pages 9.1 and 9.2 of the notes provided to members.) The meeting supported Dr Samarakoon’s offer.

8. AJG (Asian Journal of Geoinformatics)

9. ISPRS Affairs

Professor Dowman, the President of ISPRS, spoke of the decisions made at the ISPRS meeting held over the previous 3 days, also in Chiang Mai, with the 8 new technical commission presidents, approved at the Istanbul conference. He advised that two of the commissions now dealt with remote sensing. He further advised that a total of 60 new working groups had been approved for the four years to the next ISPRS conference to be held in Beijing. Professor Dowman indicated that outreach and education (and the resources required) would be an important part of the work of ISPRS. ISPRS would be looking at the needs of each region but with a priority being given to Africa. He indicated that Asia would not be overlooked and requested that joint meetings of ACRS and ISPRS working groups be used to foster collaboration. Professor Dowman advised that ISPRS would be establishing a foundation to raise $500,000 over the next four years to provide support for these outreach and educational activities. He thanked professor Murai and the meeting for his invitation to speak at the meeting.

10. Other

• Ricesat

Professor Murai spoke to a proposal to build and launch a satellite remote sensing system to service the Asian communities. This was a proposal that had previously been raised some years before. He suggested that it would need to be a collective but non-government approach, and indicated that he had had useful discussions with Dr Ade Abiodun of COPUOS. Professor Murai suggested that there would be a number of things required to successfully proceed with the concept and these included, the need to establish a technical committee, select sponsors, and develop contracts. Dr Abiodun spoke to the proposal and offered congratulations on the initiative. Professor Forster suggested that the initials RICESAT could well represent the words Regional Information Crop Evaluation satellite. It was suggested that this would have the advantage of indicating a broader application to food crops in Asia, not just rice, as many Asian countries do not grow rice. The representative for Russia offered specialist help with the project, and Professor Murai suggested that Professor Guo Huadong from China act as the Chairman of a committee to examine the specifications required for such a satellite system.

• ITC

On behalf of the Rector of ITC, Professor Beerens spoke to the meeting, and in particular the long association between ITC and AARS over its 25 year history. He presented a gift to Professor Murai on behalf of ITC.

• Offer of Support – South Pacific Science Press

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