Relatively new research ?elds such as ambient intelligence, intelligent envir- ments, ubiquitous computing, and wearable devices have emerged in recent years. These ?elds are related by a common theme: making use of novel technologies to enhance user experience by providing user-centric intelligent environments, - moving computers from the desktop and making computing available anywhere and anytime. It must be said that the concept of intelligent environments is not new and beganwithhomeautomation. Thechoiceofnameforthe?eldvariessomewhatfrom continent to continent in the English-speaking world. In general intelligent space is synonymous to intelligent environments or smart spaces of which smart homes is a sub?eld. In this collection, the terms intelligent environments and ambient int- ligence are used interchangeably throughout. Such environments are made possible by permeating living spaces with intelligent technology that enhances quality of life. In particular, advances in technologies such as miniaturized sensors, advances in communication and networking technology including high-bandwidth wireless devices and the reduction in power consumption have made possible the concept of intelligent environments. Environments such as a home, an of?ce, a shopping mall, and a travel port utilize data provided by users to adapt the environment to meet the user's needs and improve human-machine interactions. The user information is gathered either via wearable devices or by pervasive sensors or a combination of both. Intelligent environments brings together a number of research ?elds from computer science, such as arti?cial intelligence, computer vision, machine learning, and robotics as well as engineering and architecture.

It is with greatpleasure that we present the proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC 2009), which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. ISVC o?ers a common umbrella for the four main areas of visual c- puting includingvision,graphics,visualization,andvirtualreality.Thegoalisto provide a forum for researchers, scientists, engineers, and practitioners throu- out the world to present their latest research ?ndings, ideas, developments, and applications in the broader area of visual computing. This year, the program consisted of 16 oral sessions, one poster session, 7 special tracks, and 6 keynote presentations. Also, this year ISVC hosted the Third Semantic Robot Vision Challenge.The responseto the call for papers was verygood;wereceivedover320submissionsfor themainsymposiumfromwhich we accepted 97 papers for oral presentation and 63 papers for poster presen- tion. Special track papers were solicited separately through the Organizing and Program Committees of each track. A total of 40 papers were accepted for oral presentation and 15 papers for poster presentation in the special tracks. All papers were reviewed with an emphasis on potential to contribute to the state of the art in the ?eld. Selection criteria included accuracy and originality of ideas, clarity and signi?cance of results, and presentation quality. The review process was quite rigorous, involving two to three independent blind reviews followed by several days of discussion. During the discussion period we tried to correct anomalies and errors that might have existed in the initial reviews.