1.6 
  
  
88° 
  
During the rainy season you can also observe deep cloudiness. 
As a result of the conditions of the climate and of the rainfall to which we have pre- 
viously alluded, you can encounter large areas covered by tropical forests and some others 
covered with a type of temperate forest. 
Plains with xerophyte vegetation are also present. It is natural that the inspection of 
these different zones requires various methods which therefore complicate the task. 
The network of communications, made up mainly of railroads and highways, has been 
one of the concerns of present day governments, but its integration does not permit 
easy access to all points of the country; it would also be taken into account many of 
the lands that interest us are located in inaccessible places. It should also be taken into 
account that Mexico is a country under growing development and that there is competition 
going on between the specialized technicians of different fields such as those trained in 
topographical surveying. 
We must anticipate that many of the limitations that we have been mentioning disappear, 
if one thinks of aerial photography as a substitute for land methods. Since the advan- 
tages of photogrammetric methods are well known to all the delegates in this convention, 
we shall limit ourselves to point out those which are determining factors for the task 
of locating land in the Mexican Republic. 
The locating of the areas should be carried out by methods which supply information 
to the interested authorities, but which are in such a way indisputable that they satisfy the 
parties concerned. Photogrammetry amply fulfills this task. We have experienced that many 
persons who objet to the conclusions based on maps rapidly accept those deduced from 
an aerial photograph. 
On the other land, the type of surveying should be in strict agreement, in -so far as 
precision is concerned, with the value of the lands and the magnitude of the areas attac- 
ked. Thus, it would turn out to be inconvenient and bothersome to use polygonal surveys 
with theodolite and stadia, which are of a slow advantage and high cost invoice, and 
be advisable to manage large surfaces with photogrammetrical procedures. 
Finally, we should say that the task of locating the land can be carried out in a fast 
way staying on the property only for a while thus having the advantage of avoiding any 
frictions with the property owners. 
Ill. ALTERNATIVES FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEM AND THE CHOOSING OF THE FINAL 
SOLUTION 
Taking into consideration the time stablished for solving the land tenure problems, the 
Department of Agrarian Affairs was faced with the need of an inmediate and practical re- 
solution of the problem, for which a certain number of meetings were held, with the at- 
tendance of technicians from the Department itself and a certain number of private firms, 
which enthusiastically went on to make out the corresponding analysis, having themselves 
considered the following points: 
1. Locating by land methods. 
2. Locating by photogrammetrical methods. 
3. locating by a combination of land methods and photogrammetrical ones. 
The conclusions at which they arrived are the following: 
1.—LAND METHODS. In order to solve the problem of the locating of areas, in an allotted 
time, it was considered necessary to organize 1,200 topographical crews, which would de- 
dicate themselves to travel all over the territory and to survey the boundaries of all the 
properties and untitled lands which they could locate, in order to base the relative legal 
counsel; the classification of the areas under study was also necessary, since the treatment 
of the surfaces is different, according to whether they are irrigated, temporal or summel 
pasture lands. While deliberation was going on a campaing of personnel recruiting was 
initiated. Nevertheless, in a short time, it was stated that such an enormous number 
of technicians was not readily available, since only a low number of persons answered the 
calls of the Agrarian Department (1). 
It should be noted that being unable to count with the necessary technicians, it was 
necessary to encrease the time limit for the carrying out of the task. But, as though this 
was not enough, the following limitations, after studying the land method, were stated. 
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