Inspired by a famous speech delivered by Al Gore during his Presidential campaign in early 1998, the International Symposium for Digital Earth (ISDE) was held in Beijing in late 2009, hosted by the Chinese Government and 19 supporting organisations.

In April 2000, an international steering committee for the ISDE was established, chaired by the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Lu Yongxiang.

At its 6th Symposium in Beijing in late 2009, the ISDE’s Board agreed to begin a process to partner with the d_city network, as the world peak organisation for earth and space sciences researchers. It also has become a partner of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Both groups share many leading aerospace and geospatial technologies organisations as members.

Together, ISDE and GEO participants have potential to provide advanced urban development researchers and organisations with streams of data about the behaviours of natural environmental systems around the planet. In turn, they will in time receive modelling of urban environments – so far absent from their digital Earth simulations.

ISDE President Professor Lu Yongxiang with the Australian delegates to its Beijing 2009 conference who are supporting ISDE's partnership with the d_city network. Left to right: Professor Peter Woodgate, Davina Jackson, Professor Lu, Dr Marnie Leybourne.