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A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR AERIAL MAPPING 
A new aerial mapping system is presently under development in the 
U. S. Map data acquisition is a time consuming laborious job which is 
plagued by the tedious difficulties of acquiring dense networks of 
ground control in all types of terrain. Aerial mapping aircraft are 
also faced with the problem of finding cloud free areas. The aerial 
photographer knows that on the rare day that he is able to arrive in the 
project area and finds clear weather that he must accomplish the maximum 
aerial photography possible. 
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All these problems were given serious consideration when a new mapping 
and survey aircraft was to be developed. Could the new aircraft do more 
in survey data acquisition? Could it accomplish more when it found a clear 
area? Could the clear areas be located and if they were, would the 
aircraft have the range speed and endurance to take maximum advantage of 
the situation. 
Answers to some of the questions were found in the Boeing RC-135, an 
aircraft very similar to the well known commercial jet airliner the 707. 
The high speed jet aircraft will provide an extremely stable platform 
for the most intricate and sophisticated system ever developed for aerial 
surveying and cartographic mapping. 
This new aircraft will reach an altitude greater than 50,000 feet. 
* At a true air speed of about 600 miles per hour plus its long endurance 
will result in exceptionally high mission accomplishments. 
The mapping and surveying system being developed will consist of a 
new 6" focal length mapping camera, an inertial platform so precise that 
it will record the true vertical of each exposure to less than 30" of arc, 
and a new electronic surveying system that will give instantaneous ranging 
of distance from the aircraft to as many as four widely separated ground 
stations. These plus many other innovations will be incorporated in this 
new system. The result expected from the new system is to secure in 
addition to the mapping photography, most of the control data required for 
large scale maps (1/50,000). 
The article attempts to explain some of the intricacies of this 
sophisticated system and then gives the views of the author on an 
operational concept to rapidly acquire data to meet the map deficiencies 
that face the world today.