The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is an American

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership m ...

devoted to photogrammetry and

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Eart ...

. It is the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

' member organization of the

International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) is an international non-governmental organization that enhances international cooperation between the worldwide organizations with interests in the photogrammetry, remote sens ...

. Founded in 1934 as ''American Society of Photogrammetry'' and renamed in 1985, the ASPRS is a scientific association serving over 7,000 professional members around the world. As a professional body with oversight of specialists in the arts of imagery exploitation and photographic

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an i ...

. Its official journal is '' Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing'' (PE&RS), known as ''Photogrammetric Engineering'' between 1937 and 1975.

Officers

Membership

ASPRS members-individuals from private industry, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

, and

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

are analysts/specialists, educators,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

managers Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

/ administrators,

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

s/product developers, operators, technicians, trainees, marketers, and

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researcher Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

s. Employed in the disciplines of the mapping sciences, members work in the fields of

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

/Soils, Archeology,

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

Cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an i ...

Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

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Forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

/Range, Geodesy,

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

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Hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

/water Resources,

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, and

Urban Planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

/Development.

Divisions

ASPRS has six professional divisions. They are the LiDAR Division, Remote Sensing Applications Division, Professional Practice Division, Primary Data Acquisition Division, Photogrammetric Applications Division and the GIS Division. Coming soon will be a UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) Division. Each division has two elected officers, the Director and the Assistant Director. Division meetings are held at the ASPRS National conferences are attendance is open to all members.

ASPRS Accuracy Standards

On March 2, 2015 ASPRS released the new Positional Accuracy Standards for Digital Geospatial Data:

"The new ASPRS standards address recent innovations in digital imaging and non-imaging sensors, airborne GPS, inertial measurement units (IMU) and aerial triangulation (AT) technologies. Unlike prior standards, the new standards are independent of scale and contour interval, they address higher levels of accuracies achievable by the latest technologies (e.g. unmanned aerial systems and lidar mobile mapping systems), and they provide enough flexibility to be applicable to future technologies as they are developed. Finally, the new standards provide cross references to older standards, as well as detailed guidance for a wide range of potential applications."

The new standards incorporate the USGS LiDAR Base Specifications v. 1.2 released in November 2014 and are a part of the soon to be released new USACE Manual of Photogrammetry.

Publications

ASPRS publishes the academic journal ''Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing'' (''PE&RS'').

References