Dear GIS-IDEAS Participants and JVGC Committee Members,
It was wonderful meeting many of you at the
GIS-IDEAS 2004 Symposium held in Hanoi between
16-18 Sept, 2004 .
My sincere thanks to all of you for making the
GIS-IDEAS 2004 Symposium a great success. Many
thanks to our numerous supporters and
Local Organizing Committee for the excellent
arrangements.
The GIS-IDEAS attracted more that 150 participants working
in organizations in more than 7 countries (Vietnam, Japan,
Thailand, US, Canada, Germany, Italy etc.).
The opening ceremony was graced by the Vietnamese
Vice-Minister of Education and the Japanese Ambassador
to Vietnam.
Apart from the Keynote session with three invited
speakers (Prof. Murai, Prof. Ikeuchi and Prof. Nhuan)
A total of 50 Oral presentation and 18 poster presentations
were made. A 495 page proceedings was also brought out.
Special Issues of selected papers presented at the GIS-IDEAS
2004 symposium are planned to be published in in a scientific
journal in early 2003. It was also decided to hold the next
GIS-IDEAS Symposium in Ho Chi Minh City in 2006.
The opening ceremony was also covered by the Vietnam
National Television and Hanoi Television. Will be posting
the TV footage and some of the pictures taken at
GIS-IDEAS on the Symposium web-site soon.
Thank you all once again and looking forward
to your continued cooperation and support for
the GIS-IDEAS Symposium and other activities
of JVGC.
Raghavan
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Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan
Co-Coordinator GIS-IDEAS & JVGC