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Geoinformatics-8-2009
conference a report on the greece 2009 conference from imagery to map: digital photogrammetric technologies with an installed base of 4,000 digital photogrammetric workstations (dpws) operating under 1,100 separate licences,, and with 400 individual organisations and companies using its photomod software in over 50 countries, the russian racurs software company is a distinct success story. so is its user conference, which is now in its ninth year and is looked forward to with much anticipation by its now regular and devoted core of participants. by gordon petrie colonel i. kolovos of the hellenic military geographical service (hmgs). these introductory speeches were followed by a more substantial account of the development and the current status of photogrammetry in greece given by y. yanniris, the agent for racurs s products in greece. from this presentation, it appears that photogrammetry is flourishing within the country, with the establishment of the hellenic mapping & cadastral organisation (hemco) providing a major source of work [see the web site www.okxe.gr/engprof.htm for additional information]. of further note was the information given about the hepos (hellenic positioning system) that provides real-time positioning services covering the whole of greece through a network of 98 permanent gps reference stations [see the web site www.hepos.gr/ for more detailed information]. the next speaker was prof. g. konecny of the leibniz university of hannover who gave an overview of photogrammetry in the very specific context of cadastral systems. this was based on his own extensive experience of this activity, gained while acting as an adviser to a number of governments in different parts of the world. he estimated that currently only between 30 and 50 countries have operational cadastral systems with a further 50 countries trying to establish such systems. this means that over 90 countries have no cadastral systems whatsoever. however there are numerous deficiencies even in those systems that are operational. the surveying and photogrammetric technologies that are needed for the measurement and description of cadastral boundaries are widely available; the huge shortfall in their application is due almost entirely to institutional and political problems. the next presentation was given by s. kumar of map world technologies in india, who provided an update on the progress of the massive new delhi 3d project that he had first introduced at the previous year s conference held in croatia. after which, there was a short presentation on the extensive use of the racurs photomod software in bulgaria made on behalf of prof. i. katzarsky of the gis-sofia company. this was followed by a detailed account of the geo-information market in russia that was given by s. miller of the country s gis december 2009 fig. 1 the mare nostrum hotel at vravrona, attica, greece the venue for the 2009 conference. (source: k. petrie) ollowing on from the 2007 and 2008 conferences that were held in bulgaria and croatia respectively, the organisers had once again selected an attractive seaside resort in southeastern europe as the venue for the conference. in this case, it was the large mare nostrum hotel [fig. 1] located in the town of vravrona on the aegean coast of the attica peninsula, 35 km east of athens in greece. with its suite of conference halls and rooms [fig. 2], it proved to be an excellent choice for the 2009 edition of this annual conference. furthermore the organisers also followed the format that had proven to be very successful during the two previous conferences. thus the first day was devoted largely to mapping from airborne imagery, while, on the second day, attention was concentrated on the acquisition and processing of spaceborne imagery. the third day was taken up with a f series of presentations and master classes focussing on the racurs company s own software products, while the fourth and final day was given over to a bus tour of the attica peninsula for the participants. this culminated in a memorable visit to the ancient ruined temple of poseidon, perched high on its commanding site on the headland of cape sounion at the southern tip of the peninsula, as the sun set over the mediterranean sea which gave a fine end to a very good conference! day 1 airborne imaging & mapping 1 (a) national & commercial mapping the conference opened with brief welcoming addresses given by dr. v. adrov [fig. 3(a)], the managing director of the racurs company, and 30
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