Latest Upgrades to Analytical Stereoplotters 
from ZEISS Oberkochen 
by D. Hobbie, Oberkochen, F. R. Germany 
1. Introduction 
The Planicomp trademark of Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, has become a standard 
term in the world of photogrammetry. Originally intended as the name of an 
instrument when the Zeiss Analytical Stereoplotter was introduced in 1976, 
Planicomp now stands for a fully developed yet growing system family for 
analytical photogrammetry. The long-term stability of the original Zeiss 
Planicomp concept is proven above all by the facts that modern upgrades 
can normally be incorporated even in the first, ten year old instruments, 
and that some of the newest enhancements enable the Planicomp Analytical 
Plotter to be used also for digital procedures. 
This paper continues the papers presented at the 1984 ISPRS Congress in 
Rio de Janeiro /1,2,3/ and covers the newest developments in the Planicomp 
family. 
2. Planicomp Hardware 
  
The Planicomp viewer design has remained virtually unchanged since its 
conception. Its unique combination of professional handling features is 
still unsurpassed: 
- Direct program control by means of a handy, special photogrammetric 
control panel. 
- Joystick for continuous, progressive and omnidirectional fast motion. 
- Floating mark optionally luminous or black without loss of precision. 
- Computer-controlled switching between ortho/pseudo and binocular single- 
photo viewing. 
- Direct viewing of left and right photos for overviews. 
- High viewing quality. 
The zoom version of the viewer has a viewing quality of up to 200 line 
pairs per mm. 
Using various HP 1000 computer versions, custom systems can be assembled 
which range from the low-cost C 140 Planicomp workhorse with a standard 
Micro 26 computer (Fig. 1) up to the C 110 Analytical Plotting Center with 
a custom A 900 processor and a computing speed that is comparable to the 
VAX 11/780. 
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