Document Overview
This is the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) publication Responsibilities and Duties of ISPRS Council Members, known as the Green Book. It sets out the responsibilities and duties of ISPRS Council Members. It was originally compiled from the statutory duties in the ISPRS Statutes and Bylaws and from the experience of current Council Members. From version V3.1 the statutory responsibilities were omitted to avoid possible inconsistency with the Statutes and Bylaws. The document states that it will be updated from time to time as responsibilities change.
Origin and Publishers
The document lists three versions. Orhan Altan compiled V2.0 in April 2008. Christian Heipke compiled V3.0 in October 2016 and amended V3.1 in January 2024. The appendix lists contacts for ISPRS publishers and services, including Copernicus GmbH (ISPRS Proceedings), Elsevier (ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and ISPRS Open Journal), MDPI (ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information), Taylor & Francis (ISPRS Book Series), Geomares Publishing (GIM Magazine) and Curran Associates (ISPRS Archives printing).
Officer Responsibilities
The document defines specific tasks for six roles: President, Vice-President, Secretary General, Past President, Treasurer and Congress Director. Presidential tasks include preparing the Congress invitation, chairing General Assembly sessions, planning Council and Joint Meetings twice per year, and representing the Society in one of six regions of the world. The Secretary General acts as editor of the eBulletin and coordinates the GIM magazine input. The Treasurer sends invoices to members each January and prepares the budget each mid-December. The Congress Director prepares announcements and edits ISPRS Archives Vol. A after the Congress.
Responsibility and Liaison Tables
Table 1 maps each ISPRS activity to primary (P) and secondary (X) contact persons, covering areas such as the Congress, finances, publications, awards, contracts, the Geospatial Week and regional affairs for Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, South America, Australia and Oceania, and North and Central America. Table 2 lists liaison contacts with about 40 organisations, including UN-GGIM Geospatial Societies, OGC, ISO, FIG, ICA, GEO, EuroSDR, OSGeo and ISDE, with each linked to a primary or secondary contact and, where relevant, a Technical Commission. The document notes that some responsibilities may change between inter-congress periods.
Awards and Schedules
The document lists the ISPRS awards and their donors, such as the Brock Gold Medal (ASPRS), the Otto von Gruber Award (NCG) and the U.V. Helava Award (Elsevier and Leica Geosystems), along with their juries. It gives nomination deadlines for the 2026 Toronto Congress, including 1 October 2025 for the Brock Gold Medal and February 2026 for several other awards. It also sets out a task and date chart for selecting juries, informing winners and presenting awards.
Procedures and Governance
The appendix describes procedures for admitting new members, approving events to be sponsored or co-sponsored, and registering for the General Assembly. Membership fees must be paid up to the end of the year before the Congress to be eligible to vote. The Secretary General distributes General Assembly documents in digital form one month before the Congress. Digital voting uses a personal device and the email address registered for each member organisation, with voting slips as an alternative. The document states that the General Assembly registration guidelines were last updated as of 2016.
Purpose for ISPRS Council Members
The document is intended to guide the work of ISPRS Council Members in their roles, as stated in its introduction. It combines role-specific task lists, contact tables, award schedules and procedures so that Council Members can carry out their duties during each inter-congress period.