The alumni conference of the Master's program Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics celebrated its birthday! After conference locations in Windhoek/Namibia and Kish/Iran in the last two years, the conference returned to the HFT Stuttgart for its 10th anniversary. Nearly 100 participants celebrated the 20th anniversary of the course of study.
Numerous international experts, many of them alumni of the course, travelled to the conference to listen to the interesting lectures on the topic "Digital Landscapes: Chances for Development" and to exchange ideas in the scientific discourse. Thanks to the support of the DAAD, it was possible to invite participants from near and far, some of whom had to travel up to two days to attend.
Special thanks are due to the three keynote speakers. Prof. Dr. Christian Kreiß (University of Applied Sciences Aalen) captivated the audience with his contribution Bubbles, Busts and Crashes - Why Rising Inequality is Economically Unsustainable despite the early hour, Prof. Dr. Matthias Möller (University of Bamberg & Beuth Hochschule Berlin) reported on the latest developments in the field of satellite-based earth observation and Athina Trakas informed about the Open Geospatial Consortium. The workshops offered in the afternoons were very much in demand. A highlight was the seminar on the evaluation of sentinel satellite data held by Miguel Castro Gómez at the Copernicus Academy, as well as the workshops on various geo-information systems and data analysis held by alumni Jose Luis Gutierrez Ossio, Md. Zahid Hasan Siddiquee and Hamidreza Ostadabbas. During the various lecture sessions, more than 20 alumni reported on their current projects - be it in the context of research projects or projects from daily professional practice.
An absolute highlight was the 24h webinar "around the Globe", which had its AGSE premiere this time. So many interested people from all over the world, who had no possibility to travel to Germany, could still contribute with their presentations via video stream and participate in the discussions. The global aspect and the participants from different time zones were also taken into account by the fact that the webinar lasted late into the night on Thursday and continued early in the morning on Friday. While enjoying pizza and wine, the audience at the HFT Stuttgart in the evening had a lively professional discussion with former fellow students via video conference from Africa, Asia and America.
But there was also plenty of time for private conversations: Especially during the cosy get-together during the Icebreaker barbecue party on Thursday and the excursion to the Stuttgart 21 construction site and the subsequent visit to the beer garden on Saturday, there were enough opportunities to cultivate old friendships and make new ones. The successful concept of the AGSE conference will of course be continued - next time again at a foreign partner university of the HFT Stuttgart.
For more information, please visit the official website Applied Geoinformatics for Society and Environment (AGSE).