resulted simply from the fact that the camera and sensor systems in 
existence today, with their increased resolution, dynamic range, and area 
coverage, are literally burying photo interpreters with photographic imagery. 
This is true, not exclusively for military intelligence activities where 
it has been obvious for some time, but for newly developed civilian applications 
as well. For example, in 1966 the Surveyor 1 moon lander transmitted back to 
the earth over 11,000 photographs of the lunar surface in a period of 28 earth 
(3) 
Surveyor 6 similarly transmitted 20,000 photographs in eleven days 
(4) 
days. 
this past year, November 9-20. Closer to home we find, for example, that 
developing techniques in multiband photography for natural resource analysis 
are utilizing multi-lens cameras (e.g., 9 lens) resulting in multiple photo- 
graphic signatures of the same terrain all of which require analysis. 
The trend is evident. A greater number of sciences and disciplines 
are utilizing photography at an ever increasing rate for innumerable purposes. 
The data gathering capabilities even now are exceeding the capabilities 
to reduce this data into useful information within a reasonable time frame. 
Also, the required skill levels of the personnel performing the interpretative 
tasks are becoming increasingly greater as the required image analyses become 
more scientific in nature. The circumstances exist, therefore, from both 
an academic and economic viewpoint for the research toward and development 
of automatic equipment and systems to assist the practitioners of photo 
interpretation. 
These circumstances have resulted in many diverse efforts as 
subsequent paragraphs of this report will indicate. One reason such diversity 
"Interpretation of Surveyor 1 Lunar Photos", H. E. Holt, E. C. Morris, 
Photogrammetric Engineering, Vol. 33, No. 12, Dec. 1967. 
Aviation Week and Space Technology, McGraw-Hill, 330 W. 42nd Street, 
New York, N. Y., Nov. 27, 1967. 
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