Introduction 
The first Working Group of the Commission IV of the International 
Society for Photogrammetry for the development of the Application 
of Photogrammetry to Highway planning and design was established 
during the Congress in London in 1960. The Working Group has since 
then been active in its field of interest and has reported to the 
ISP-congress in Lisabon 1964, Lausanne 1968 and in Ottawa in 1972. 
Between the congresses several meetings or conferences have been 
arranged in Checkoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, 
Germany, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. The main 
activities of the Working Group have been devoted to stimulating 
the application of photogrammetry in combination with aerial photo- 
interpretation, field surveying, electronic data precessing and 
automatic plotting to Highway planning and design all over the 
world. 
Distribution of information on progress and mistakes is the best 
way of supporting and stimulating the introduction of a new and 
improved technique in an old routine. Most of the meetings of the 
Working Group since 1960 have therefore had discussions of the 
experiences and ideas from different countries and different orga- 
nizations and Universities on the agenda. The application of pho- 
togrammetry to Highway planning and design generally is a question 
of forming a logical and simple system of photogrammetric technique 
with other sciences. The activities of the Working Group have been 
more directed towards the development of systems than the develop- 
ment of the photogrammetric technique alone. 
In 1960 when the activities started there was all over the world 
a strong demand for an improved technique for the planning and de- 
sign of transportation facilities. The importance of the develop- 
ment of an effective transportation system as well for persons 
as for goods, received a very heavy weight in the discussion of 
the economic development of the countries. The speed of the traf- 
fic had an increasing trend and the demands on traffic safety were 
also going upwards. New geometrical elements were introduced in 
the specifications of highway alignment and the highway planning 
and designing engineers found that they needed improved possibili- 
ties of acquiring topographic, geologic and other information. 
They also needed better tools for the transformation of the data 
into a form so they could judge different alternative solutions 
effectively and then present their choice to the decisionmakers 
and the constructors in an understandable way. 
Information System 
  
It was found that the application of photogrammetry combined with 
photointerpretation, surveying, electronic data processing and 
automatic plotting gave a good response to the requirements from 
the highway planning and design engineers. The system of the com- 
bined tools or aids must, however, be built up in a simple and lo- 
gical form for being accepted. The modern technique that was deve- 
loped created an important problem of introduction and training. 
Today the demands for further improvement of the technique for high- 
way and railway planning and design is just as strong as before. 
The whole process of planning and design has become more complex 
than ever before. The reason is that the public awareness of the