At the beginning not everyone was of this opinion and doubts regar- 
ding the convenience and accuracy of the method were fairly widespread 
among experts, and numerous objections and criticisms were made. 
Nevertheless, whilst acknowledging the claims and advantages of the 
aerophotogrammetrical method, all were agreed in stating that it was 
very unlikely that this method could be applied in cadastral surveying. 
The main reason brought forward concerned the difficulty of locating 
the boundaries of the properties on the photographs when these boun- 
daries are often very hard to find even on the ground itself, either because 
they are designated by indefinable lines or because they are hidden by 
vegetation. 
The first experiments in the use of the « Nistri » method for cadastral 
surveys date back to 1923. 
The Società Anonima Rilevamenti Aerofotogrammetrici (S.A.R.A.) 
was entrusted by the Land Registration Authorities with the tasks of 
drawing up the map of the Cerveteri District in Rome Province. In actual 
faet it was a sort of compromise between the aerophotogrammetrical me- 
thod and the classical method. In fact, the S. A.R.A. only had to report the 
obvious topographical details which were to form the so-called frame- 
work, within which, during a second stage, expert land surveyors woul 
fill in the missing cadastral details. 
There was no altimetric representation, because it was said that this 
was of no interest to the Land Registration Authorities. The results 
obtained were, as was to be expected, anything but promising. However, 
we are bound to add that it was recognised by everyone that the main 
cause — if not the only cause — of this result was the fact that the pro- 
blem had been set out wrongly. 
This was followed by other experiments for drawing up maps of plani- 
metric details only in the areas of Fiumicino and Maccarese. In this way 
further milestones were erected on the highway of the science of aero- 
photogrammetry, but it was still not the success which we aerial surveyors 
felt so certain of attaining. 
It was finally in 1933, when the map of the Campagnano District was 
drawn up complete from both topographical and cadastral points of view 
and integrated by altimetry, that the long-awaited, complete and indispu- 
table justification came, and this was confirmed brilliantly and definitely 
by the successive aerophotogrammetrical surveys of the Districts of An- 
guillara, Trevignano, Mazzano and Formello, all of which are in the Rome 
Province. 
The new aerophotogrammetrical technique was worked out, tried 
cut and brought to fruition by my teacher, Amedeo Nistri. During those 
ten years he had found out how to make full use of the advantages and 
essential technical qualities of the Photocartograph. 
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