About ITC
Charting today's global challenges with the use of geo-information and earth observations.
ITC (International Training Centre for Aerial Survey), was founded in 1950 by then Prime Minister Schermerhorn of the Netherlands as the country's contribution to the United Nations Development Assistance Programme (UNDAP). Its activities focused on aerial photography and map making, with the goal of establishing analog and later digital topographic and geographic mapping systems for countries without a spatial infrastructure.
In 2010 ITC became the faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente.
The world has changed since our founding over 70 years ago. We started out as local mapmakers. The knowledge, tools and network we developed along the way have turned us into global sense makers.
Mission and vision
Our mission is capacity development, where we apply, share and facilitate the effective use of geo-information and earth observation knowledge and tools for tackling wicked global problems. We aim to enable our many partners worldwide to track and trace the impact – and the shifting causes and frontiers – of today's global challenges. We are here to identify and understand vulnerability and use geospatial solutions to convert it into resilience, thereby contributing to the establishment of sustainable living environments anchored in an inclusive society.
Our vision is of a world in which researchers, educators, and students collaborate across disciplinary and geographic divides with governmental and non-governmental organisations, institutes, businesses, and local populations to surmount today's complex global challenges and contribute to sustainable, fair, and digital societies.
Our home base
ITC has been reallocated several times during its history. The most prominent move was from Delft to Enschede in 1971. At that time the Dutch administration’s policy was to relocated different governmental institutions from the western part of the country to the north, east, and south to stimulated the economy in those parts. The most recent move was to the campus of the University of Twente in 2023.
