Klaus-Peter Schwarz, lAG President The University of Calgary The
Scientific Assembly of the International Association of Geodesy (lAG)
was held from September 3 to 9, 1997 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in
conjunction with the 18th Brazilean Congress of Carthography. This was
the first time that one ofthe major lAG meetings took place in Brazil.
It provided an opportunity to showcase the progress of geodetic work in
South America through campaigns such as SIRGAS. It also provided an
opportunity for a large group of international experts to present the
state of the art in ge- odesy and geodynamis and to interact with their
hosts on possibilities of future coopera- tion. For the lAG, it
continued a trend, started in Beijing four years ago, to hold major
geodetic meetings outside of Europe and North America. The International
Geoid School which was held in Sao Paulo following this meeting showed
another facet of this grow- ing internationalization ofIAG activities
and services. The scientific program of the meeting consisted of three
symposia and two special ses- sions, namely Symposium 1: Advances in
Positioning and Reference Frames Symposium 2: Gravity and Geoid
Symposium 3: Geodynamics Special Session 1: lAG Services Special Session
2: Geodesy in Antartica. Papers presented at the first symposium are
published in volume 1 of these proceedings, while papers of symposia 2
and 3 as well as special session 2 are contained in volume 2. Papers
presented at special session 1 will be published separately.
