meetings on general medical photogrammetry is not 
reasonable, as we get technically so diverse. Perhaps the 
Working Group should try to concentrate its efforts, or its 
meetings, on a certain topic area - and possibly in 
conjunction with a medical group in that area. We need to 
work and communicate with the medical specialists, not the 
photogrammetrists, in a chosen specialised areas, such as 
spinal deformity. While Turner-Smith (Dr. A.R. Turner- 
Smith, King’s College London, personal communication, 
1994) has warned that, "there is a tendency for potent 
areas of medical photogrammetry to form their own, 
clinically based meetings (back surface and spine shape, 
motion analysis - particularly gait analysis)....", Herron 
(1990), in an introduction to the proceedings of the most 
recent (and so far the last) meeting in the biostereometrics 
series, pointed out that, "The goal of this meeting was to 
bring together various exponents of biostereometrics 
technology and applications for the purpose of presenting 
and discussing information about recent developments. 
However, such is the diversity of the subject to-day that it 
is no longer possible to embrace all aspects in one short 
meeting. ...". It seems overall that we should hold 
meetings on one area of the body, or one type of 
measurement technique. 
The success of the non-photogrammetrists is perhaps due 
to their association with biomedical engineers in 
commercial organisations. 
Grün (Prof. A. Grün, ETH-Zurich, personal communication, 
1994) has pointed out that the Working Group must 
communicate relevant medical photogrammetry matters to 
interested ISPRS members. This, along with Grün's 
comment that the Working Group membership has 
significant expertise and should remain the principal 
medical photogrammetry society, means that the Group 
must be active in its involvement in ISPRS and 
Commission V activities and in its own communications. 
Looking beyond medical measurement, it is apparent that 
non-photogrammetrists are heavily involved in 
developments of industrial measuring methods, and that 
few architects have used architectural photogrammetry. It 
may be reassuring to realise that many problems faced by 
medical photogrammetry are faced in other spheres of 
photogrammetry, especially in close-range photogrammetry. 
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
The evidence about the use of medical photogrammetry is 
sometimes contradictory, and as with most discussion, 
there ae often two sides to each argument. However, 
some conclusions should be drawn and recommendations 
should be made. The general conclusion is that there are 
numerous worthwhile, beneficial and rewarding applications 
of external bodily measurement for patient diagnosis, 
treatment and monitoring in medical and health studies. 
Even so, it is true that medical digital photogrammetry has 
a level of ineffectuality considering the effort applied, and 
photogrammetry is not widely encountered in the world's 
medical institutions. Photogrammetrists need to be certain 
that their development work will ultimately see real use. 
But, there are many applications for which digital 
photogrammetry has few realistic alternatives. There are 
also certain medical measurement tasks (notably motion 
analysis) for which demand is high. 
The measuring techniques need to be suited to use close 
to the interested medical practitioner, not in a remote 
laboratory. Once the measurement methods have been 
developed, usage rates are high. 
For more widespread acceptance of photogrammetric 
procedures, automation through the use of digital 
techniques is often crucial. However, progress in digital 
technology has meant that photogrammetric developments 
have now been carried out by both photogrammetrists and 
by non-photogrammetrists. 
There are those in the photogrammetric or medical 
professions who have been successful at implementing 
and/or employing photogrammetric techniques. The 
productive areas of medical photogrammetry so far lie in 
gait and scoliosis studies, but in these fields there have 
been commercial developments which deserve to be 
identified. The photogrammetric development needed for 
successful implementation - commercial or otherwise - is 
extensive and has only been successfully carried out by 
commercial organisations or by research groups of 
significant size. 
Photogrammetrists should consider concentrating on 
measurement involving the matching of corresponding 
points and must equally recognise the advantages of 
alternatives to photogrammetry and consider their use. 
Other optical techniques are useful and viable, and they 
deserve some recognition and serious consideration. 
Although the Working Group has been a successful and 
productive component of Commission V, the opening up of 
photogrammetry to non-photogrammetrists in the digital 
era, demands that it assists photogrammetrists by helping 
open channels of communication to the broader medical 
community. This may be achieved by encouraging 
attendance at bio-medical conferences and by submitting 
papers to bio-medical journals, and by contact with 
bio-medical engineers or other groups experienced in the 
problems and the demands of development of medical 
instrumentation. The Working Group should concentrate 
on providing and utilising networks which foster such 
interaction with willing bio-medical professionals. 
366 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B5. Vienna 1996 
  
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