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comparatively simple (if unfamiliar to medical practitioners)
three-dimensional co-ordinate transformation. Indeed, in a
survey reply, Osterwalder reported currently using "very
simple almost primitive tools" including a measuring tape,
in daily diagnosis and treatment, noting that equipment
used in future would be more accurate and time saving -
and not simply more impressive! We must be careful to
bear in mind the end users' requirements.
iv) Photogrammetry faces most competition from
measurement which can be carried out utilising targets
while photogrammetric methods involving measurements on
surfaces via a random network of points can more easily be
undertaken by photogrammetrists, who therefore should
consider concentrating on measurement involving the
matching of corresponding points.
v) Although in many cases of real need in external medical
measurement, realistic alternatives to photogrammetry have
not been advanced, photogrammetry does face strong
competition in certain applications from "non-
photogrammetric" alternatives, usually optical techniques,
which deserve some recognition and consideration, and the
importance of the alternatives should be assessed.
vi) It must be accepted that medical practitioners are
bombarded with other technologies, and photogrammetry
is not always vital. Announcements for the new journal,
Biomedical Optics, from SPIE, for example, describes the
scope of the journal does not mention photogrammetry in
a long list of its topics of coverage. It is argued that
surface measurement must have qualities which allow it to
compete with other attractive technologies.
Communication. The above points do not fully explain
any failure of photogrammetry to be more widely used.
Frequently, the discussion on this matter relates to the
problems caused by the need to communicate with the
medical profession. It is of course crucial to understand
exactly what the medical practitioner wants, to understand
exactly what the requirements and demand are for medical
measurement. Photogrammetrists pursuing medical
measurement need to recognise the full requirements of the
medical practitioner. These requirements may relate to
accuracy or cost or convenience or other matters.
Photogrammetrists need also to ensure that the medical
worker understand clearly the capabilities and limitations to
photogrammetry. Especially important is the need to
provide meaningful medical parameters or other information
which is easily interpretable, and making the effort needed
to find acceptable means of supplying useable information.
Poor communication with the medical profession can
obviously lead to wasted work in which the exact and
complete requirements of the end-user are not clear.
ltis also arguable that better communication can pinpoint
demand and opportunities which are otherwise not
foreseeable, but which can be uncovered by contact with
those in another profession. It can lead to missed
opportunities, such as in real-time monitoring of surgery
365
(see Tredwell et al., 1995), or perhaps even in the lucrative
area of assisting sports training.
Photogrammetrists need the direct help of the medical
profession. The Working Group needs not only the
contact, but also the acceptance of the medical profession.
There remain some less obvious but useful areas of
measurement which have not been tackled by
photogrammetrists, but which deserve to be investigated,
and which may be discovered by contact with medical
practitioners.
Communication should not only be directly with the medical
profession but also with bio-medical engineers and other
technologists who are often more closely involved with
measurement and whose education and
scientific/engineering background makes communication
less complicated.
In some ways, photogrammetrists have made themselves
remote. Adams (1994, personal communication) warns
that, "We have the unhappy knack of making our discipline
sound so complicated and intricate that we scare off our
customers who then go and re-invent ‘our’ wheel."
Photogrammetrists need to be clear about their own skills.
The skill of the photogrammetrist has essentially meant an
ability to deal with three-dimensions and with precision and
accuracy.
Overall, the current communication must be improved. To
date photogrammetrists have been under-represented at
relevant bio-medical conferences. Trinder (J.C. Trinder,
University of New South Wales, personal communication,
1994) has reported that the meeting on scoliosis in Toronto
in 1992 "did not include too many photogrammetrists". The
report on the last International Symposium on Three
Dimensional Scoliotic Deformities combined with
International Symposium on Surface Topography and
Spinal Deformity", held in 1994 in Pescara, Italy, noted that,
"Attendance appeared to derive largely from the medical
profession, but with a significant number who could be
categorised as bio-mechanical engineers or scientists.
Very few would have classed themselves as
photogrammetrists", (Mitchell, 1995).
Whether these outcomes are due to a lack of desire on the
part of photogrammetrists to attend or whether it is due to
ignorance of the existence of the meetings is impossible to
be certain about. However, it seems reasonable to
conclude that photogrammetrists interested in
measurement should know of these conferences and
attend. The Working Group should publicise the existence
of such meetings.
However, we must be careful about the meetings. One
concept that appears to be prevalent is that to hold
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B5. Vienna 1996
