of Geospatial Information and Technology
by George F. Hepner, ASPRS President
For most of
you who do not know me, I am George Hepner, the incoming president of ASPRS.
This is the first time that the incoming president is addressing the membership
in a large plenary session. The intent is to allow you to get to know me a
bit, and to open a direct line of communication between the new ASPRS president
and the membership as a whole.
The focus of this session is the Future of the Remote Sensing-Geospatial Information Industry. I will present a few comments relevant to the role of ASPRS in the future of the industry and our profession.
As this is a first time event, I have been losing sleep lately worrying about
what to say to all of you. I have decided to address issues of responsibility
within our profession, and society that I feel are intricately related to
our future.
I am honored and feel so very privileged to have been elected to serve the
ASPRS as president. This podium is very far from my origins. I grew up in
a small town in northern Ohio, living across the street from the cutlery factory
where my father worked all of his life as a pattern maker. His father worked
there before him. It was a fine situation for me to grow up in, but very different
from my life now.
I was fortunate to go to college and become involved in a field of study that has undergone immense scientific and technological progress in recent years. Although I have worked hard over the years, I recognize that serendipity is very much a part of why I am standing at this podium today. In several instances, I was at the proper place at the proper time. I had great support from my colleagues, students, wife, and son. A great part of this serendipity was having the mentoring, education as a professional, and the personal contacts provided by my involvement with ASPRS. For all of these reasons, I recognize that I am extremely privileged and fortunate to be here.
I would suggest that we all are fortunate and privileged. We are in a nation that has fostered our education and the development of our talents. We are in a profession that is dynamic and relevant to many current issues, such as economic development, our nation's defense, and the preservation of the global environment. We are involved in shaping the future of the world. We are privileged.
Over the years, I have learned that with privilege comes responsibility. I suggest that there is a responsibility for all of us to look beyond our specific personal agendas and betterment. We need to have a broader vision that enhances the common goals, and the collective betterment of those around us and of those to follow us in the future. This sense of responsibility and obligation that I am suggesting we all embrace is revealed at several levels of endeavor. Make no mistake, the future of our profession and the greater society is related to these endeavors at every level.
We need to employ our professional and technical expertise with wisdom. For example, we need to recognize that our science and technology has the power to enhance global peace and security, but should not jeopardize our constitutional freedoms with undue surveillance and intrusion into private lives. We need to maintain a culture in our profession that fosters the open exchange of data and information with minimal restraint. In this manner, the creation of knowledge is maximized, and everyone in the world is able to benefit from advances in the science and technology of geospatial information.
At a more personal level, our responsibility involves participation and giving back to our profession, and our professional society. ASPRS is the leading remote sensing and geospatial information organization in the world. We, as members, profit from not only the business and personal contacts, conferences, workshops, certification programs, publications and other tangible benefits of membership, but ASPRS also provides a highly credible vehicle for each of us to have input to Congress, national and international agencies, programs and policies that affect our collective future. The current high levels of recognition and stature enjoyed by ASPRS, and all of the support activities that go on, result from the efforts of member volunteers working with a limited number of paid Headquarters staff. The volunteer effort of ASPRS is an awesome enterprise. We, the members, are the instruments of that enterprise and the beneficiaries as well.
I ask you to devote an average of 10 minutes a day: one hour per week, to improving yourself professionally and improving ASPRS through your effort in the regions, professional divisions, committees, and national ASPRS leadership positions. You received a form in your registration package titled "Committee Sign-up." Please review this sheet, fill it out, and get involved in ASPRS.
At still another level of responsibility, our profession and the ASPRS needs more young people, of diverse backgrounds, to become involved in photogrammetry, mapping, GIS and remote sensing. I ask you to initiate contact with your local high school, junior college or university. Establish a way to relate your personal experiences as a professional to young people in these schools. This should be a direct, personal, and candid discussion, not simply a canned, professional presentation. I have been teaching for over 20 years. There is a great personal reward in seeing a student that I have had some role in mentoring or educating, succeed in a career and in life. I guarantee that you too will have the same sense of accomplishment from helping young people find direction in their lives. This, too, is our responsibility.
To close, I leave you with an edited passage from the English writer, John Donne written in 1624. I selected a passage that many of you are familiar with, at least portions of the passage, as it refers to the bells rung during English funerals.
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less. In the same manner, any man's death diminishes me, because I
am involved in mankind; and, therefore, never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; it tolls for thee."
- John Donne, Meditation XVII from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Nunc
lento sonitu dicunt, morieris 1624
The passage suggests that we all live and die as individuals, but there exists a shared human destiny for us all. A shared destiny that requires a common vision and commitment to the future by each of us, for the good of us all. Also, I selected this familiar passage as a means to embed a cue in your mind. My hope is that every time you hear or see a bell - a church bell, a school bell, or a Taco Bell - it will remind you of my request for your responsible involvement in our common journey into the future as humans, and as members of ASPRS.
Copyright © 2001 American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing
5410 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 210, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-2160
http://www.asprs.org, for
assistance select here.
(15 June 2001)