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Modelling & Advanced Techniques
MAT SIG Annual Report 2000-2001
Over the last year MATSIG has been active organising a session on uncertainty at the RSS2000 conference at Leicester and holding a one day meeting in London entitled ‘Spatial Modelling of the Terrestrial Environment’, the latter being in collaboration with the GISSIG.
Over the following year we are organising two sessions at RSPS2001 one on Modelling and the other on Algorithms and a two-day meeting on Uncertainty in Remote Sensing and GIS at the University of Southampton.
The uncertainty session at RSS2000 proved so popular with the conference delegates that all seats were taken and people were forced to stand at the back. All talks were very interesting showing both the breadth and complexity of the subject. For me the highlight of this session was the talk by the invited speaker Prof. Michael Goodchild entitled ‘Models for Uncertainty in Area Class Maps’ which provided a thorough assessment of the errors associated with class maps and presented some novel methods for their solution.
The Spatial Modelling of the Terrestrial Environment meeting was held at Birkbeck College in November 2000 and was organised by Nick Drake, Stuart Barr and Richard Kelly. The aim of the meeting was to bring together a group of experts in remote sensing and spatial environmental modelling, evaluate different approaches to spatial modelling, introduce novel techniques, determine common ground, and assess the way forward. The meeting was attended by 90 people which was a considerable achievement when considering the state of the rail system at the time. All talks were of a high standard and the meeting generated much stimulating discussion. Wiley have agreed to use the talks as the basis of an edited book on spatial modelling.
MATSIG is also continuing its collaboration with the GISSIG by convening a two-day meeting on ‘Uncertainty in Remote Sensing and GIS’ in Southampton on 3rd and 4th of July 2001. The meeting was organised by Professor Giles Foody and Dr Pete Atkinson providing a forum for the presentation of state-of-the-art research in the field of statistical uncertainty modelling in remote sensing and GIS. The meeting had a number of oversees invited speakers including Professor Curtis Woodcock from Boston University, Dr Jennifer Dungan from NASA Ames Research Center, and Dr. Gerard Heuvelink from University of Amsterdam. Sponsorship has been provided by The Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society, The Ordnance Survey, Taylor and Francis, Erdas UK, PCI, Research Systems, RGS-IBG, and the University of Southampton. The evening meal at the Mill Arms in the New Forest was sponsored by Taylor and Francis so the food was free of charge.
Nick Drake
