INAUGURAL PLENARY SESSION 
11 
the opportunity of sight-seeing beyond, perhaps, what you would normally see on a 
conducted tour. In spite of all I have been saying about aerial photography, I very 
much hope — and again the weather has some influence on this — that you will have a 
chance on your visits round this country to take plenty of photographs at ground level. 
There can be no doubt of the importance of photogrammetry. If anybody had any 
doubts about this, these would surely be resolved by seeing such a large number of 
Delegates from so many countries. I believe that fifty-two countries in all are represent 
ed here today. 
It only remains for me to wish you every success in your technical deliberations 
and to declare this Congress open. (Applause). 
The President: You have already shown by your applause your appreciation of 
the honour Lord Waldegrave has done us in coming here to open our Congress. It 
remains only for me to thank him very warmly for having done so. (Applause). 
The next Item on the Agenda for this Inaugural Session is an address by the 
President of the OEEPE, Professor Solaini. He comes here not only in that capacity 
but also in his own capacity as a distinguished member of this Congress. I will now 
invite him to speak. 
Prof. L. Solaini: It is with the greatest pleasure that, as President of the Organi 
sation Européenne d’Etudes Photogrammétriques Expérimentales — OEEPE — I 
address you on this solemn occasion and present you with a brief report of the last four 
years’ activity of that Organisation. It gives me pleasure to speak to you here today of 
the results reached, of the consequent conclusions, and of our future plans and hopes. 
I feel that we are united in a single effort and by a shared wish to further progress and 
achieve quick perfection in photogrammetry. We are very anxious to speed ahead and 
so be able to give to many peoples in the world definite and rapid economical means of 
acquiring topographic maps which constitute a fundamental element for civilised 
development. 
I am not going to tell you the history of the OEEPE, or its aims and its organisa 
tion, but I hope you will allow me to stress how complementary its position is to that of 
the ISP and how useful is the existing collaboration between the two organisations. 
We must bear in mind that it is necessary to find a definite solution to certain 
problems of fundamental importance in photogrammetric applications, and it is there 
fore necessary to carry out carefully-organised research which entails considerable 
expenditure. On the other hand, institutions and people devoted to photogrammetric 
studies are rather scarce, and most of them are sharing in the activity of the ISP and 
OEEPE. Whether concerned with the Essais Contrôlés, or with the Essais on the 
Polygon of Reichenbach, these scientists are dominated by the same spirit of scientific 
investigation that gives all their studies the same type of direction, a direction quite 
independent of the body for whom those studies are made and the rules under which 
they are carried out. 
I believe this personal collaboration in an organised experimental activity to be 
most fortunate, as otherwise there would be the risk of its development being very slow 
or even coming to a standstill. We have, in fact, seen from the OEEPE’s activity that, 
though it is comparatively easy to accumulate experimental material, it is very hard to 
carry out an analysis of all the elements contained therein. 
With the OEEPE this work was at first directed by the Commission Presidents, 
and many important practical results were obtained. However, it was found impossible 
to demand additional effort from a man who generally had other duties. Moreover, the 
analysis of results has to be carried out along a variety of lines, which makes it most 
desirable to benefit from the ideas, the experience, and the work of a variety of institutes 
and scientists.