International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) was founded in Beijing China in 2004. ISDE is an international organization principally promoting academic exchange, science and technology innovation, education, and international collaboration towards Digital Earth. ISDE's Founding President is Academician Yongxiang Lu, Honorary President is Academician Huadong Guo, and current President is Dr. Alessandro Annoni. The ISDE Secretariat is hosted by Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The Digital Earth initiative fits within many global organizations' missions through sharing knowledge and ideas about Digital Earth and seeking global benefits using Digital Earth technology. In 2009, the ISDE joined the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the world’s largest intergovernmental organization on using geospatial data. In 2017, the ISDE was recognized as a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU), now is the International Science Council). In August 2019, ISDE becomes a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management-Geospatial Societies (UN-GGIM GS). ISDE is now widely recognized globally as a leadership organization in geospatial information science research.

Vision and mission

The mission of ISDE is to benefit society by promoting the development and realization of Digital Earth. To achieve it, ISDE shall endeavor to:

1. Facilitate excellence in research and the development and use of appropriate technologies in the Digital Earth domain.

2. Initiate and coordinate research in the fields of Digital Earth sciences by establishing technica commissions and working groups.

3. Convene international symposia, summits, and other meetings, with lectures, communications, discussions and, as appropriate, tutorials,  exhibitions, technical visits and social events.

Main activities

To meet the demand of deep and full communication on specific academic themes, since 2006, Digital Earth Summits have been organized between the biannual symposia. After 20 years’ development, eleven symposia and eight summits have been held in 15 countries worldwide. Two milestone documents - 2009 Beijing Declaration on Digital Earth and 2019 Florence Declaration on Digital Earth were approved and released during the symposia.

Academic journals

ISDE organized Workshops on Digital Earth Vision towards 2020 and towards 2030 respectively in 2011 and 2020, which attracted quite a few scientists in the field of Digital Earth to contribute their thoughts and perspectives.  After the workshop in 2011, a position paper entitled "Next-Generation Digital Earth" was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), and another paper "Digital Earth 2020: towards the vision for the next decade" in the International Journal of Digital Earth. 

Official website:https://www.digitalearth-isde.org/

The above information is from the official website of International Society for Digital Earth.