October 15th, 2015
9th International Symposium on Digital Earth Held in Canada

The 9th International Symposium on Digital Earth was successfully held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada from 5th to 9th of October 2015, under the theme of “Towards a One-World Vision for the Blue Planet”. About 300 delegates of scientists, engineers, technologists, and environmental managers from 28 countries around the world including United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and China etc. attended the Symposium and shared their thoughts, researches, and practical applications relating to Digital Earth vision.

The Symposium was hosted by the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), and locally organized by the Saint Mary’s University. It aims to spread the concept of Digital Earth, exchange Digital Earth related technologies, and promote relevant applications through providing an international platform for researchers, educationists and enterprises to discuss and communicate.

This Symposium was preceded with the ISDE Council meeting held on Oct. 4, 2015. In the meeting, the Council members congratulated Prof. Guo Huadong for being elected the 3^rd President of ISDE. Chaired by the new President, the Council meeting made many significant outputs, including:

• Prof. Guo Huadong as the President of ISDE and Dr. David Coleman as the President of GSDI signed the Memorandum of Understanding in a joint ceremony to work towards cooperation for mutual benefits.
• Sydney, Australia was given the honor to host the 10^th International Symposium on Digital Earth in 2017.
• Ms. Kristina Kehayova from Bulgaria was voted to be the winner of the ISDE video competition.
• The way forward for the Society was fully discussed.

The Symposium was started at the World Trade and Convention Center of Halifax on 5^th October. Welcome notes were presented by Mr. Mike Savage, the Mayor of Regional Municipality of Halifax, Mr. Joaquim Stroink, on behalf of Mr. Stephen McNeil, the Nova Scotia Premier, Mr. John McLaughlin (video), the President Emeritus of University of New Brunswick, Mr. Robert Summerby-Murray, the President and Vice-Chancellor of Saint Mary’s University, Prof. Guo Huadong, the ISDE President, Mr. David Keefe, on behalf of Mr. Hugh McKay, the President of Geomatics Association of Nova Scotia.

The theme of the Symposium was “Towards a One-World vision for the Blue Planet”. The invited keynote speakers included Prof. Michael Goodchild, Dr. Lynn Moorman, Dr. James Boxall, Prof. Guo Huadong, Dr. Dawn Wright, Ms. Rebecca Moore, Dr. David Green, Mr. Rear-Admiral John Newton, Dr. Doug Wallace, Prof. Rob Kitchin and Prof. Deren Li.

Other major attractions included the participation of Canadian Space Agency and NASA astronauts in plenary panel discussion, 20 poster papers, and a NASA Hyper-wall exhibition, et. . In addition, the Education and Outreach Program was offered as a special event for school children to have access to activity stations for visualizing our world, and to attend astronaut panel and four public scientific talks to instigate interest in younger generation for the vision of Digital Earth.

In total, 155 high quality papers in 37 sessions were presented during the Symposium with topics ranging from Digital Earth Theory and Technology, Earth Observation, Applications to Science and Policy, Digital Earth and Citizen Well-Being, Digital Earth Education and Outreach.

Read More: http://digitalearth-isde.org/news/768