15th International Symposium
Informatics for Environmental Protection

October 10–12, 2001, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

The 15th symposium is intended both to document progress made in the traditional work fields of environmental informatics and to introduce new issues as indicated by the main theme. Accordingly, this call for papers outlines two topical areas for which contributions can be submitted, the first one covering the usual issues of environmental information processing and the second one reflecting this year‘s main theme.

Environmental information processing refers to systems and methods for computer-supported processing of information related to the environment or to activities in the area of environmental protection, research, planning and risk assessment. This includes activities in the public sector (such as biotope mapping or pollution control) as well as in the private sector (such as environmental management or emissions monitoring in industry). Topics of interest include, but are not limited to (more detailed list):

• Environmental Information Systems and Networks
• Environmental Decision Support Systems
• Telemetry and Remote Sensing; Earth Observation
• Spatial Data Processing; Geographic Information Systems(GIS)
• Integrating Environmental Data across Organizations, Regions or Disciplines
• Modelling and Simulation of Ecological or Socio-technical Systems
• Intelligent Management of Natural and Man-made Risks and Environmental Emergencies

Sustainable Development and the emerging Information Society are two major visions that characterize the beginning of the new century. Topical area II addresses the interrelation between these two visions. It extends topical area I in two ways: from environment to sustainable development and from information processing to information society. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to (more detailed list):

• Dematerialization, Immaterialization, and Information Society Technologies
• Environmental and Social Impacts of the Digital Revolution/New Media
• Technology Assessment (TA) for Information Society Technologies
• Computer-supported Sustainability Impact Assessment
• Sustainability Management; Sustainability Reporting; Triple Bottom Line Approach
• Security Risks in the Information Society
• Conflict Resolution in the Information Society
• The Rebound Effect in the New Economy
• The Global Digital Divide and its National Counterparts

• Regular contribution: 30 min. presentation including discussion. Publication of the full paper (max. 10 pages) in the proceedings.
• Poster presentation: Poster in the exhibition hall during the conference and optional 5 min. announcement of the poster in a topically related session.
• Workshop: Working group on a specific topic (1/4 or 1/2 conference day), organized by the submitting person or group, publication in the proceedings is optional.
• Tutorial: Intensive training courses on a specific topic, given by the submitting person or group.

Conference languages are English and German. Contributions in German should treat a subject that fits thematically into the D-A-CH section of the conference.

The designation D-A-CH is used by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) as an umbrella term for the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, most part of Switzerland). Although we take this term for convenience, other German-speaking regions are included as well. The D-A-CH section of the symposium includes sessions, workshops and other activities that are of specific interest within the German-speaking area, e.g. environmental information systems operated by public authorities in this area, language-specific topics or issues of bilateral co-operation. This section will form at least one continuous German language track during the conference.

Send a 2-4 page abstract describing your intended contribution by e-mail to the conference secretariat no later than January 31, 2001. The program committee will notify authors upon provisional acceptance in April 2001. For regular contributions, final acceptance will be decided upon on the basis of full papers in July 2001. Authors are not exempted from conference fees.

Regular contributions will be published in the proceedings by Metropolis Verlag, Marburg. The program committee plans to select the best papers for additional post-conference publication in a relevant journal.

An exhibition accompanying the conference will give commercial and non-commercial organizations the opportunity to present products and services which are related to the conference theme. If you are interested in having a stand, please contact the conference secretary.

The conference will be held at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Rämistrasse 101, CH-8006 Zürich.

• Expert Committee 4.6 «Informatics in Environmental Protection» of the German Informatics Society (GI-FA 4.6)
• Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA)
• University of Applied Sciences Solothurn Northwestern Switzerland (FHSO)

Co-operating Organizations

• Swiss Federation of Information Processing Societies (SVI/FSI)
• Swiss Informaticians Society (SI)
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich
• Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS)
• European Commission, Directorate-General Information Society

Prof. Dr. Lorenz M. Hilty
Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA) and University of Applied Sciences Solothurn Northwestern Switzerland (FHSO)
lorenz.hilty@empa.ch

Program Committee

Organization Committee

• Regula Fussenegger, EMPA St.Gallen
• Irmgard Heiber, European Commission, Brussels
• Lorenz M. Hilty, EMPA St.Gallen/FHSO, Olten
• Roland Hischier, EMPA St.Gallen
• Inge Reichart, EMPA St.Gallen
• Thomas Ruddy, FHSO, Olten
• Rainer Züst, Zürcher Hochschule Winterthur/ETH Zürich

Regula Fussenegger
EMPA St.Gallen
Lerchenfeldstrasse 5
CH-9014 St.Gallen