Welcome to EARSeL-Urban Remote Sensing Special Interest Group (SIG-URS)

European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories (EARSeL) is a scientific network of European remote sensing institutes, coming from both academia and the commercial/industrial sector. EARSeL is unique in that it represents the interests of these institutes rather than individuals, although individual membership is possible. Currently, there are about 250 member laboratories.

EARSeL was founded in 1977 under the auspices of the European Space Agency (ESA), the Council of Europe and the European Commission (EC). These agencies as well as others, are supporting its activities. EARSeL is run by a Council of elected national representatives from each country where there are member laboratories and an executive Bureau, elected by the Council.

The main scientific efforts of EARSeL are concentrated in Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These SIGs form the foundation of the activities of EARSeL and its ‘raison d’être’. They encourage co-operation and foster innovative applications of remote sensing. The science is at its highest level, the state-of-the-art is well established and advances are being made and are foreseen.The SIGs organise workshops and specialist meetings. Papers presented at these meetings are published as proceedings. Conclusions and specific recommendations are presented to the sponsoring agencies and other relevant institution

Urban environments are characterized by highly dynamic changes in biophysical and socio-economic domains, and management of urban environments involves procedures of mapping and monitoring which require reliable information base and robust analytical technologies. Remote sensing and GIS, given their cost-effectiveness and technological soundness, are increasingly being used for development of useful source of information and for decision making in support of a wide array of urban applications. This Urban Remote Sensing Special Interest Group (SIG) focuses on GI applications in urban and suburban environments and invites interested people to join the SIG and share their experience and knowledge with others.

Dr. Valerie Graw (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, Chair)

Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Topan (Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University, Türkiye, Co-chair)