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

-------------- Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan Co-Coordinator GIS-IDEAS & JVGC