AN INTEGRATED MAPPING SYSTEM 
  
Fıc. 2. Nistri Stereoplotter before modification. 
man-hours. At present terrain models are not 
in widespread use despite their great utility, 
because of the labor and cost of preparing the 
masters. 
d. Rationalization of the mapping process in 
anticipation of automatic profiling develop- 
ments. The profiling operation, in general, re- 
quires a minimum of human judgment. It re- 
quires highly skilled stereoscopic perception, 
but judgment is necessary only where there 
are features above ground which should not 
be contoured, such as trees and buildings. The 
profiling operation can be made automatic, 
and the admittedly primitive versions of such 
instruments are already on the market. The 
compilation of planimetric features, on the 
other hand, cannot be freed from dependence 
on judgment. As long as the output of the 
photogrammetric process is to be a map, 
rather than a contoured orthophotograph, 
people will have to look at the photographs 
and trace out the planimetry. By separating 
the work which can be automated from that 
which cannot, the Integrated Mapping Sys- 
tem will facilitate the eventual introduction 
of automatic profiling. The authors wish to 
point out here that the equipment being built 
now to test the system does not include auto- 
matic profiling. 
II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND FUNCTIONAL 
DESCRIPTION OF THE EQUIPMENT 
Tests of profile scanning made with the 
Zeiss Stereoplanigraph showed that it was 
feasible, but laborious. Then it became evi- 
dent that the act of profile scanning could be 
expedited by a memory-driven servo assist, 
in which the memory of the adjacent previous 
profile serves as a first approximation to the 
succeeding profile being scanned. 
A Nistri Model VI Stereoplotter was pur- 
chased because it combines the anaglyphic 
projection system used in the AMS stereo- 
plotting equipment with coordinatograph 
operation which would lend itself to memory- 
aided profiling. It was decided that the modi- 
fication of the instrument for the combined 
functions of profile scanning, contour plot 
production and orthophotograph printing 
could best be done under a single contract. 
The equipment under development still 
looks like the Nistri Stereoplotter. (Figure 2 
is a photograph of that instrument before 
modification.) The platen which bears the 
measuring mark and the coordinatometer 
which drives the platen have been extensively 
modified. The platen can be interchanged 
with a miniature Vidicon tube which is the 
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