Canada 1 
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY 
NATIONAL REPORT—CANADA 
The period 1952 to 1956 has been one of continued expansion and pro 
gress in photogrammetry in Canada. No radical changes in technique have 
occurred, but there has been a trend toward the use of better cameras and more 
precise plotting apparatus. The use of shoran and radar altimetry on an 
operational basis has tended to influence photogrammetric practice. 
Photography 
The Royal Canadian Air Force completed its reconnaissance photography 
for air charting with 560,000 km- of tri-camera photography bringing the total 
area covered by this photography to 5,900,000 km 2 
A marked trend towards small scale vertical photography for topo 
graphical mapping was established bv covering over 2,500,000 km 2 at altitudes 
of 9,400 to 10,000 meters to yield a scale of approximately 1/60,000. Over 
675,000 km 2 were flown for topographical mapping at scales of 1/20,000 and 
1/40,000 with an additional 152,000 km 2 for the revision of existing maps. 
Over 325,000 km 2 were flown for forestry and agriculture purposes at a scale 
of 1/15,000. Approximately 100,000 km 2 wer.e flown for various special pur 
poses such as engineering, geological interpretation, etc. Included in this was 
a small amount flown at large scale for historical research. 
Equipment and Methods 
First order photogrammetric plotters made their initial appearance in 
Canada in 1950, and there has since been a steady but slow increase in the 
number in use. The bulk of the operational time available on these instruments 
has been used to carry out aero-triangulation for 1/250,000 mapping and in 
the case of remote and sparsely settled areas also for 1/50,000. The high 
standards of accuracy normally associated with aero-triangulation in the densely 
populated districts of Europe are not always economically feasible in Canada; 
the additional skilled man power and machine time required can be used to 
better advantage on other tasks. The first order plotters, mainly Wild A7’s, while 
generally used for bridging, are employed to some extent for topographical 
plotting. Kelsh plotters are used mainly for compiling 1/50,000 from high 
altitude photography where overlap control is available. The bulk of the 
plotting load is still carried by Multiplex. This has proven to be a very practical 
and flexible instrument in handling aerial photography taken at altitudes of 
7,000 meters and less, for the compilation of 1/50,000 maps. The vast areas 
still unmapped and the character of existing photography make it probable that 
the Multiplex will continue to be a basic plotting instrument for some time to 
come. 
Mapping Progress 
The major mapping agencies in Canada are the Surveys and Mapping 
Branch of the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys and the Army 
Survey Establishment of the Department of National Defence. The province 
of British Columbia maintains a similar, though smaller, well-equipped and highly 
efficient mapping unit but while photogrammetry is employed by all the pro 
vincial governments for various specialist purposes, there is no other complete 
provincial mapping organization. There are two private mapping companies