[IGSMAIL-4247]: GB Meeting Summary

[John.Dow at esa.int]

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IGS Electronic Mail      28 Jan 09:12:21 PST 2003      Message Number 4247
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Author: John M. Dow

Dear IGS Colleagues,

It is already more than a month since the IGS Governing Board met in San
Francisco. I owe you a short status report on the decisions taken there, and
some information on where we are heading in the IGS.

1. The Board confirmed the proposal made at the previous meeting for the
position of next Analysis Centre Coordinator: Gerd Gend of GFZ will take over
this task for the next 4 years (2003-2006). Robert Weber was thanked for his
service as AC Coordinator for the past 2 years, especially in view of his
willingness to step in at very short notice and help the Bern AC complete its 4
year commitment.

2. As you may have read in IGSMail No.4193 ("Habemus Papam!", by Gerhard
Beutler), I was elected to the position of Governing Board Chair for the same
period, taking over this position from Chris Reigber. A special reception was
held in the evening of the GB meeting to honour Chris and the other Board
members relinquishing their positions (R. Weber, J. Feltens).

3. Following a proposal of Jim Ray which had also been discussed at the Potsdam
GB meeting, it was agreed to terminate the current Time Transfer Pilot Project
and to set up a new "Clock Product Centre". Ken Senior was provisionally
nominated as Product Coordinator, pending agreement of his organisation.

4. The Galileo/GNSS Working Group charter was approved, with Robert Weber as WG
Chair. A work plan is to be defined by February.

5. The revised LEO WG charter was approved, with Henno Boomkamp as WG Chair.
Both of these charters should soon be on the IGS web site, but anyone interested
can contact the chairpersons directly (rweber at luna.tuwien.ac.at,
henno.boomkamp at esa.int).

6. The handover of the chairmanship of the Ionosphere WG from Joachim Feltens to
Manuel Hernandez-Pajares of the Polytechnic University of Catalunya, Spain
(manuel at mat.upc.es) was approved.

7. A number of revisions to the IGS Terms of Reference were agreed. These mainly
concern the development and transitions of Working Groups and Pilot Projects.

8. The Terms of Reference of the Real Time, Ionosphere, Reference Frame and
Troposphere WG's and of the IGLOS (Glonass) Pilot Project were extended to the
end of 2003.

9. It was decided that at the time of the next GB meeting (early April, in
conjunction with the EGU/AGU meeting in Nice) a number of WG meetings should be
convened. In particular, meetings of the RT, GNSS, TIGA and LEO groups are
foreseen, and others are encouraged.

10. An ad hoc meeting of the Governing Board will take place in Sapporo, Japan
during the IUGG meeting in July 2003. IGS participation is planned in a
symposium organised there by IAG on the "Integrated Global Geodetic Observing
System" (IGGOS).

11. The next IGS Workshop will take place in Bern, Switzerland in February or
March 2004. We shall be celebrating 10 years of IGS as an operational service of
the IAG. This workshop is being organised by Gerhard Beutler and colleagues, and
will cover all elements of IGS (networks, analysis, products, special projects,
applications, ...).

12. The work of implementing the IGS Strategic Plan is proceeding, with the help
of a Strategic Planning Implementation Committee, which met on the morning
following the GB meeting (13 December).

Let me add a few words on how I see the IGS and my role in the next few years.

I believe that the IGS must strive to continue to be the reference for high-end
users of Global Navigation Satellite Systems and be a respected, independent
partner in their development and exploitation. My main objectives for the IGS as
Governing Board Chairman will be:

- to maintain the delicate balance between a routine operational service with
high reliability and availability, and an innovative research organisation, by
(a) facilitating ways to improve the end-to-end service being provided to users
of IGS products and better identifying and extending the community of IGS users;
and (b) strengthening the activities of the Working Groups, promoting new
activities and renewing them as appropriate;

- to ensure that the IGS provides the reference for the Galileo Development and
Validation Phase and to define roles for the IGS in the context of the new
Global Navigation Satellite Systems;

- to implement the Strategic Plan, regularly review progress and the plan
itself, and update it as necessary; in particular to consolidate and strengthen
the Central Bureau.

Exciting things are taking place in the world of Global Navigation Satellite
Systems and the IGS is at the forefront in many central aspects of the
exploitation of these systems.

I am looking forward very much to working with you to achieve these objectives.

Best wishes,
John M. Dow.