DEVELOPMENTS TO 1972
The subject of automated systems in photo-
grammetry has been regularly treated in recent
congresses of the International Society for Pho-
togrammetry. In 1964, an invited paper « Au-
tomatic Photogrammetric Instruments» was
given at Lisbon (Esten, 1964). In 1968, more
invited papers were presented at Lausanne, in-
cluding « Automatic, Analytic, and Allied Pho-
togrammetric Equipment » (Nowicki, 1968)
and « Automation in Photogrammetry » (Lo-
renz, 1968). These papers were invited by Com-
mission II.
During the latest congress (1972) in Otta-
wa, there were both invited and presented pa-
pers on the general subject of automation at
the technical sessions of both Commissions II
and IV. Invited papers for Commission II in-
cluded : «Developments in Photogrammetric
Instrumentation in North America» (Bucci,
1972); «Recent Instrument Development in
Europe and Asia» (Makarovic, 1972) ; and
« Automated and Analytical Instruments »
(Lorenz, 1972). An invited paper on « Digiti-
sing of Photogrammetric Instruments for Car-
tographic Applications » (Petrie, 1972) was de-
livered to both Commissions II and IV. An in-
vited paper for Commission IV (Dubuisson,
1972) covered « Contribution of Photogramme-
try to Automated Data Processing » and contai-
ned concise reports by five authors. The two
commissions (II and IV) distributed in addi
tion 15 presented papers on topics related to
automation.
As Commission II deals with instrumenta-
tion and Commission IV deals with applica-
tions, there is bound to be an overlap in the
scope of the two commissions, as joint sessions
attest. One can scarcely discuss the applications
of a system without mentioning the instru-
ments that make the application possible, or
discuss instrumentation without mentioning
the application for which the instruments are
constructed. Accordingly, this paper will be
addressed principally to applications of auto-
mated photogrammetry, leaving the technical
details of instrumentation, as far as practical to
Mr. Yoritomo's paper.
The resolutions passed at the end of the 1972
congress recommended continuing the monito-
ring of efforts in automation and reporting on
2
it during this (1976) congress. Before dwelling
on the details of what has taken place since the
Ottawa congress, it is perhaps useful to summa-
rize the status of photogrammetric automation
at that time, and again we will see that appli-
cations are closely tied to instrumentation.
Concerning instrumentation, the conclusion
at Ottawa was that, in general, development of
new equipment during the period 1968-72 was
rather limited, attributed to the economic slow-
down of the period on one hand, and the in-
creased emphasis on automation on the other.
Consequently, the accent was on developing
new applications by optimizing available ins-
truments and extending their capabilities by
means of attachments and other peripheral
components. Since this paper is concerned with
automation, only systems incorporating some
kind of automation are mentioned. These are
generally classified in three groups.
Mensuration
The 1972 developments in mensuration con-
cerned automatic prepositioning, automatic
image scanning and correlation, and computer
assistance. As examples, the OMI TAg/P com-
puter-assisted comparator, the H. Dell Foster
RSS 600 Mono-Digital Comparator, and the
Mann type 2405 automatic (stellar) comparator
may be mentioned.
Stereocompilation
Two new compilation instruments, the hy-
brid stereoplotter and the image space stereo-
plotter, were described at Ottawa. The hybrid
stereoplotter uses any conventional (optical-
mechanical) stereoplotting system to solve the
projective equations, and a digital system to
correct for the stereoplotter's inaccuracies, to
account for mathematically defined systematic
effects, and to provide final relative and abso-
lute orientation. In the image-space plotter, the
operator first compiles the stereomodel, which
is recorded digitally, and later a graphic plot
is produced offline with a computer incorpo-
rating all desired corrections.
In addition to the two new instruments,
other developments discussed in 1972 included
an electronic correlator for the Planimat, radar
imagery restitution equipment, stereocompila-
tion digitizers, and a system for stereo-ortho-
photo.