From May 13 to 17 the city of Milan hosted the world’s largest Earth Observation conference, the ESA Living Planet Symposium. Over 4000 participants (remote sensing experts, national and international companies, students, organizations and agencies from all over the world) were debating on state-of-the-art technologies and applications in the Earth Observation domain. And right in the middle of it: nearly 40 EAGLEs from all generations, excited to be part of this huge event.
But one by one and from the start: We arrived in Milan already two days before the conference using that free time to explore the city and visit the most popular places like the fortress and of course the famous cathedral.
Since it was the first conference for most of us, we had high expectations – and we were not disappointed. The scientific program and its hundreds of talks covered all the current driving topics with many specific application examples but also the introduction of new methods within the data analysis domain. In addition, lots of interesting posters were presented in the evenings, where also some EAGLEs contributed as you can read in the previous blogpost. Overall, socializing was a big part and it was very interesting to get in contact with the different speakers, presenters and companies during the breaks to discuss, ask questions and exchange knowledge. Some of us even got themselves some internships!
Besides getting the most information possible at the conference, we were of course enjoying the Italian way of life by eating tasty pizza and being daily customers of what is perhaps the best ice cream parlor you could imagine right around the corner of our hotel. After the Symposium, several EAGLEs took the chance and didn’t go back straight to Würzburg but to different destinations like Venice and other Italian cities, the Alps and Munich.
Overall, it was a very nice and inspiring week and it was very impressive to see what the Earth Observation community is capable of and we are proud to be a part of it. Also having all EAGLE generations together was very fun since some people don’t drop by in Würzburg very often due to their internships for example. We’re also looking forward to the next Living Planet Symposium in three years where hopefully many of us will present some awesome work.
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Written by Jakob Rieser