(410)
made and it is only necessary to measure short distances to the nearest reseau
intersection.
The computation necessary for this technique is quite considerable when
undertaken with manually operated computing machines. This work has now
been much simplified. The most significant development however, is in the use
of electronic computing machinery to undertake these computations. The com-
putations have been found particularly suitable for electronic computing which
can undertake the stereogram solution in a matter of three minutes, and may
also be able to undertake the adjustment of the stereograms in large blocks as
separate operations. This is a very recent development which promises great
things. It is obvious from fundamental considerations that the accuracy achieved
by this technique must exceed that which could be obtained by plotting machin-
ery since there are no sources of error from complicated mechanisms, nor ap-
proximations involved in the matching of optical systems such as are necessary
in the plotting machine technique. Further, the use of the electronic computor
now makes the whole process extremely rapid.
Consideration is being given to the possibility of equipping the observing
instrument with an automatic booking device which could actually record the
readings and perhaps punch the cards for feeding into the computing machine,
and if further experiments develop as smoothly as it is anticipated, the whole
process will become not only the most accurate photogrammetric process extant
but also one of the speediest and it may well become economically possible to
use it not only for large scale work but also for much smaller scales where it
would recommend itself on account of its rapidity. Much of this development is
due to the work of Mr. J. G. F. Lawrence at the Ordnance Survey.
I would hasten to point out that the development of this technique could
not in any way spell doom to plotting machines which still remain necessary for
the delineation of the detail and the contours, where this is undertaken by
photogrammetric means.
A new plotting machine is being developed in this country by E. H. Thomp-
son, now Professor of Photogrammetry at University College London. This
instrument is conceived to be in every way as accurate as any existing machine
but simpler in construction, less bulky, easier to erect and adjust, and may well
be less expensive.
6. The major requirements for research.
On the continent of Europe a great deal of effort is being given to consid-
cration of the adjustment of aerial triangulations observed in plotting machines,
and it has been advanced that this is the major problem confronting photo-
grammetrists. However, as Van der Weele has pointed out, one cannot design
an adequate adjustment technique without first understanding all the sources
of error. Many of these arise in the plotting instruments themselves so that it is
likely that there would be a different adjustment technique for every different
type of observing instrument used.
I am strongly of the opinion that the most pressing need for research is not
to try to adapt our photogrammetry to any existing plotting machines, but to
concentrate on understanding and reducing the many different sources of error
in photogrammetry which limit obtainable accuracy. The adjustment technique
must fit the system one chooses, so that there could never, in my opinion, be