Don't miss the opportunity to experience the flavor of the Mediterranean!. Barcelona, the host city of IGARSS'07, is one of the most emblematic spots of this part of the world. It is Spain's second largest city and the economic, historical and administrative capital of Catalonia, a small country of six million inhabitants, more than a thousand years of history and a culture and language of its own. In Barcelona you will enjoy the unique cultural and artistic ambience of Catalonia, including Modernism, Architecture and South-European culture and cuisine.

The IGARSS'07 local organizing committee is working hard to set up a high quality technical program as well as social tours. The selected conference venue is the new "Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona" (CCIB), located in one of the newest parts of the city and near the sea front. After a hard day of interesting technical sessions, in just a few minutes you can be admiring the immensity of the sea wandering by the nearby beach. The host hotel is the "AC", located at walking distance of the conference center and offering all the comfort and services of modern hotels. A large selection of other hotels scattered around the city, including the historical part, have also been pre-reserved. For those who prefer seeking their own lodging Barcelona offers a large variety of options, ranging from low price hotels to the most exclusive ones.

The theme of this year symposium -"Sensing and Understanding our Planet"- suggests what remote sensing scientific activity should ultimately achieve: Information gathered by all sensors and techniques must be wisely used mainly to understand our Earth. This will improve prediction of natural disasters or global climate change and provide tools to prevent their consequences. Moreover, understanding Earth is needed to devise ways for using natural resources in a sustained way. Goal 7 of the UN millennium goals commits us to "Ensure environmental sustainability" and this is not just a nice sentence. According to the UN report, achieving the goal will require greater attention to the plight of the poor, whose day-to-day subsistence is often directly linked to the natural resources. As experts on the leading-edge technologies of Earth observation, we should play a prominent role in achieving this goal, as IGARSS is the forum where tools and technological advances for understanding our planet are presented. This is our contribution to the important task of assuring people of all around the world access to resources for their subsistence without endangering the fragile equilibrium of our planet.

The wide variety of topics suggested for the conference range from fundamental concepts to engineering techniques applied to sensor design or data processing and from general applications in all Earth environments to specific on-going or future missions. I invite all researches in any aspect related to Geoscience and Remote Sensing, even not specifically listed in the suggested topics, to join us in the most important yearly event of the field.

I look forward to seeing you in Barcelona. Barcelona is waiting for you.

Ignasi Corbella
General Chairman
April, 2006