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INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING 
Commission VI 
Symposium held in Mainz, FR Germany, 22-25 September 1982 
STANDARDS OF COMPETENCE 
Comments on Outline 01.82 and on the Questionnaire (Q1-Q11) 
Q10 Again I have partially answered this - it is a subject for a "white paper" 
or "working group". 
Q11 I believe the ASP should develop a list of people, perhaps Al Quinn would 
be a person interested. 
  
  
From : Dr. Frederick J. Doyle, President ISPRS; U.S. Geological Survey 516; 
Reston, VA. 22092, U.S.A. 
I have had some difficulty in deciding whether this letter should be upon ISPRS 
stationery, USGS stationery, or perhaps COMPASS stationery. I finally elected 
for ISPRS because the problem is immediate there, although I think in the. long 
run it may be more important in the United States. 
Sometime ago I had suggested to Jürgen Hothmer, President of ISPRS Commission 
VI, that it might be useful for the Society to establish Standards of Competence 
for recognition of professional photogrammetrists or remote sensing specialists. 
I had picked up this idea from a publication of the International Hydrographic 
Bureau, B.P. 345, Monaco, entitled Standards of Competence for Hydrographic Sur- 
  
veyors. It simply sets forth what the IHB considers to be minimum educational 
and work experience. IHB will evaluate educational programs from around the world, 
and if they meet the standards, will issue some kind of certificate either to 
the school or to its graduates. The Committee on Hydrographic Surveying within 
ACSM has adopted these standards also. 
In ISPRS, Jürgen Hothmer has prepared the enclosed outline 01.82. This is aimed 
primarily at promoting papers and discussion at the Commission VI Symposium which 
will be held in Mainz, Germany, September 22 - 25 (see enclosed brochure). Jürgen 
will be pleased to receive any contribution you may want to make. He would be 
even more pleased if you can arrange to attend his Symposium. 
There is one point on which I do not agree with him. Paragraph 5 in outline 01.82 
implies establishment of Standards of Competence for geographers, geologists, 
foresters, etc. I believe it would be highly presumtuous for us to try to establish 
standards for other disciplines. We will do well to get our own house in order 
before trying to tell other disciplines what they should do. 
You are all aware of the proposed amalgamation of the American Society of Photo- 
grammetry and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping under the aegis of 
COMPASS. I, myself strongly favour this consolidation and I hope that it will 
eventually lead to a recognition that geodesy, surveying, photogrammetry, carto- 
graphy, and remote sensing all constitute one profession, just as pediatrics, 
orthopedics, neurosurgery, gynecology, etc., all constitute the profession of 
medicine. One of the items in this consolidation plan relates to graded membership. 
The only reasonable basis for such graduation must be Standards of Competence. 
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