The International Society for Photogrammetry (ISP) was founded in 1910 under the leadership of its first President, Edouard Dolezal, from Austria. After 70 years of functioning under its original name, the Society changed its name in 1980 to the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) and in 2000 added spatial information sciences to its area of interest. Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing is the science, technology and art of obtaining reliable information from noncontact imaging and other sensor systems about the Earth and its environment, and other physical objects and processes through recording, measuring, analysing and representation.
The ISPRS is a non-governmental organization devoted to the development of international cooperation for the advancement of photogrammetry and remote sensing, and their applications. The principal activities of the Society are: stimulating the formulation of national or regional Societies and promotion of exchanges between them; initiating and coordinating research through approximately 60 Working Groups of 8 Technical Commissions; convening international symposia and congresses at regular intervals; encouraging publication and exchange of scientific papers and journals dealing with the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences, machine vision and computer vision; ensuring worldwide circulation of the records of discussion and the results of research by publication of the International Annals of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing; and fostering cooperation and coordination with related international scientific organizations.
The ISPRS is composed of Ordinary Members representing 91 countries, 11 Associate Members, 14 Regional Members representing Associations of the 7 major continents, and 79 Sustaining Members providing institutional support. ISPRS sponsors two peer reviewed journals, the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, a bi-monthly electronic, and confers awards and honours to meritorious individuals in the profession. The official languages of ISPRS are English, French and German.