It is a great pleasure for me to welcome to this website, an open forum of the Spanish Society of Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (SECFT), any person with an interest in cartography, photogrammetry and remote sensing, and, in the broadest sense, geographical information and related technologies.
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We want these pages to become an essential point of reference for the SECFT’s activities. From here, we expect to provide current information of interest to our members and to anyone who may be interested in national and international cartographic activities and in the new developments in the field of geographical information.
We live in an increasingly internationalised world in which profound changes are taking place in terms of the availability of territorial data, accelerated by the great advance in space and information technologies.
The SECFT must assume responsibility for contributing to awareness of major technological projects of a geographical nature and those which result from advances in information technology -- for example: the new perspectives and developments in the field of cartography and editing of geographical databases; the observation of the Earth from space; the implantation of new generation, high-resolution artificial satellites; new global navigation and positioning systems; the development of geographical information systems and the GSDI Association’s initiative for the establishment of Global Spatial Data Infrastructure.
Today, it brings us great satisfaction to see how notable advances are being made in the development of legislation related to geographical information and cartography: both in the European Union, with the Inspire Directive, and in Spain, with the establishment and government regulation of a National Cartographic System which bestows upon the Directorate-General of the National Geographic Institute a highly important role in its maintenance and operation.
It has taken many years of work to achieve these legal controls, now in force, which make a priority of the free availability of cartography and geographic information, as well as the necessary precision, updates and coordination when obtaining data, and the immediate availability of data to public and private organisations and to citizens.
Finally, I want to welcome any suggestions that anyone, either organisations or private citizens, would like to make in order to improve the fulfilment of our responsibilities in SECFT.
Ramón M. Lorenzo Martínez
President of the Spanish Society of Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (SECFT)
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1. To promote and implement the development of projects and activities in the cartographic and geographic information fields, at local and international levels, for the benefit of the Spanish cartographic sector and for the optimal development of Spanish public and private organisations related to cartography and modern geographic information technologies.
In particular, to give our support and collaboration to the National Geographic Institute in its capacity as operator and guardian of the National Cartographic System.
2. To organise cartography conventions, meetings and seminars on these subjects in collaboration with other cartographic organisations, universities and the Spanish business sector.
3. To publicise local and international initiatives related to the Society’s functions.
4. To prepare the Society’s quarterly newsletter, with information about Spanish cartographic activities.
5. To participate in the work of the ICA and ISPRS Commissions.
6. To organise the participation of Spanish cartography in the international map exhibitions held in association with the ICA ´s conferences.
7. To represent Spanish cartography in the ICA’s and ISPRS’s international conventions.
8. To propose Spanish candidates for the Boards of Directors, Executive Committees and Commission Presidencies of these societies.
9. To prepare and present reports on the activities carried out by Spanish cartographers during the periods prior to the conventions and their presentation and distribution in these societies’ General Meetings.
10. To organise meetings of the ICA’s and ISPRS’s commissions in Spain and, when appropriate, propose Spain’s candidacy as host for the international conventions of these organisations.
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About SECFT
The Spanish Society of Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (SECFT) is currently an ASSOCIATION under the Organic Law 1/2002, dated 22nd of March, and its complementary regulations, with legal status and full capacity to act, and is not for profit.
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At its creation, the two existing international societies in the field were taken into account --the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the International Society of Photometry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) --both of which it represents in Spain. It was wisely decided that the society’s designation should precisely reflect the names of both these organisations to cover, at a national level, their international scope of action.
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Objectives
The Society’s aims are the following:
1. Encourage the scientific and technical progress of Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
2. Promote knowledge and practical applications of the aforementioned subjects in Spain.
3. Promote the collaboration of professionals related to these subjects and provide them with information on the subjects´ development and evolution, techniques for the their application and the instruments which they use.
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Our history
The Spanish Society of Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (SECFT) was founded in 1977 with the purpose of integrating into a single society the activities carried out until then by the Royal Geographic Society (RSG) in the field of photogrammetry and by the Spanish Seminar of Cartographic Studies of the Spanish Association for the Progress of Science in the field of cartography.
In 1926, Spain was invited by the Board of Directors of the 2nd International Photogrammetry Convention, which took place in Berlin, to create a chapter of the international society in our country.
And thus was created, in 1927, the Incorporating Board for the Spanish Society of Photogrammetry, which was active until 1936. Later, from 1940 to 1977, it was the Royal Geographic Society which was in charge of representing Spain in the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS).
On the other hand, the Spanish Association for the Progress of Science created the Spanish Seminar of Cartography in 1957, which represented our country in the meeting held in Bern in 1959, during which the International Cartographic Association (ICA) was founded. As a result of this, Spain appears among the Association’s thirteen founding countries.
This is the history of the creation of the SECFT and the origins of the Society that has, in fact, given continuity to the associative work carried out since 1927 in the field of Photogrammetry and Cartography.
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ORGANISATION OF ICA CONFERENCES
Spain organised the International Cartographic Conferences in Madrid (1974), Barcelona (1995) and A Coruña (2005), becoming the only country in the world to have hosted three international ICA conferences.
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