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 October 5 to 9, 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 including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and China attended the Symposium and shared their thoughts, researches, and practical applications related 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 an ISDE Council meeting held on 4 October 2015. In the meeting, the Council members congratulated Prof. GUO Huadong for being elected the 3rd 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 a Memorandum of Understanding at a joint ceremony to work towards cooperation for mutual benefits.
• Sydney, Australia was given the honor to host the 10th 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 October 5. Welcome notes were presented by Mike Savage, Mayor of Regional Municipality of Halifax, Joaquim Stroink, on behalf of Stephen McNeil, Nova Scotia Premier, John McLaughlin (video), President Emeritus of University of New Brunswick, Robert Summerby-Murray, President and Vice-Chancellor of Saint Mary’s University, GUO Huadong, ISDE President, David Keefe, on behalf of Mr. Hugh McKay, 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, Rebecca Moore, Dr. David Green, Rear-Admiral John Newton, Dr. Doug Wallace, Prof. Rob Kitchin and Prof. LI Deren.
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, etc. 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.