The ISPRS Educational and Capacity Building Initiatives (ECBI) is a program that aims at improving ISPRS’s international status in education and training in the field of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences, and therefore benefits all ISPRS members and beyond.
This new initiative is in addition to the existing ISPRS Scientific Initiatives (SI) that have been successfully run for a few years since 2014. It offers the opportunities for the projects to addresses a wide range of topics, whose results should serve educational purposes and thus should in particular deal with applications relevant for developing countries.
Topics may include, but not limited to, the following:
- generation of computer aided teaching and learning material (curriculum development, text books, etc.) in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences;
- development of capacity building tools for developing regions;
- studies of the theory of education and training in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences;
- new types of education and training in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences including summer schools and similar activities; and
- database generation of images/point clouds and other test materials for educational purposes.
The call for proposals invites ISPRS Working Group Officers to submit proposals to their respective Technical Commission President. All applications are evaluated based on a few factors, including 1) overall benefits to ISPRS and its community, 2) merits of the proposal, 3) competence of the team, 4) contribution to education and capacity building, and 5) budget and feasibility. ISPRS specially encourages community participation in all projects, preferably with the involvement of multi-national investigators. On completion of the project, a report on the outcomes of the project must be submitted, which will be published on the ISPRS website, and/or in the ISPRS eBulletin, GIM or Geoinformatics.
The inaugural call for proposals, issued in 2017 for 2018 ECBI projects, received sixteen applications with seven awarded, totaling 44,000 Swiss Francis in funding.
The funded projects are:
- GeoInformation Science Pedagogical Outreach Pilot Program: 3S-4-Schools, by Timo Balz, Stephen C. McClure, Norman J. Meres, Jianya Gong, Jinsong Tao, and Jingjin Wang
- Camera Calibration and Performance Database, by Mark R. Shortis
- Spreading out the Knowledge from ISPRS Educational Events using a Dissemination Internet Platform, by Marco Scaioni, Roderik Lindenbergh, Francesco Pirotti, Martin Rutzinger, Bernhard Hofle
- Capacity Building for High-Resolution Land Cover Inter-comparison and Validation, by Maria Brovelli, Hao Wu, Marco Minighini, Xinyan Zheng, Msilikale Msilanga, Mark Iliffe, Maria D’Urso, Sisi, Zlatanova, Phoebe Oduor, George Sithole
- Establishing an Open Repository and Catalogue for Geospatial Educational Resources, by Victoria Rautenbach, Serena Coetzee, Arzu Coltekin, Chris Pettit, Marguerite Madden, Sidonie Christophe, Ochiroo Lkhamjav
- Education and Training Resources on Digital Photogrammetry, by Grazia Tucci, Anjana Vyas, Vikram Sorathia, Satwant Rihal
- MOTIVATE Learning: Making Opportunities to Initiate Valuable Alliance through Experiential Learning, by Sheryl Rose Reyes, Tanita Suepa, Krzystof Sterenczak
These funded projects focused on developing education and learning programs, teaching and training materials and resources, e-learning techniques and platforms, and online databases. The outcomes of these projects are expected to improve public awareness and visibility of photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences; strengthen collaboration among the participants and professional networks; provide students with resources and platforms to learn; and assist in evaluating the suitability of cameras and the performance of cameras. The full reports of these projects are available at https://www.isprs.org/society/ecbi/default.aspx. Some online resources developed by the projects may be accessed through the following links:
- Camera Calibration Database
- Catalogue for Geospatial Educational Resources
- Spreading out the Knowledge from ISPRS Educational Events using a Dissemination Internet Platform (SKIEE-DIP) (login with the guest access)
A new call for 2020 Educational and Capacity Building Initiatives projects has just been issued and interested parties are asked to prepare and submit their applications by 22 November 2019.
The competition results will be announced by 15 December 2019.