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and technology. Those who presented papers there on some of the 
most modern and highly sophisticated forms of photo interpretation 
and remote sensing technology were gratified to find that their 
presentations were regarded, for the most part, as the highlights 
of the meeting. As another example, the United Nations organization 
has in recent years sponsored at least three "Regional Cartographic 
Conferences," and a like number of sessions at the UN's FAO Head- 
quarters in Rome, all of which have emphasized potential appli- 
cations of photo interpretation, primarily in relation to the in” 
ventory and management of natural resources and primarily for the 
improvement of lesser developed countries. 
An international development of particular interest to those 
attending the present meeting was the formation in 1952 of a 
special Commission on Photo Interpretation (Commission VII) with- 
in the International Society of Photogrammetry. In my capacity 
as the President of that commission for the first eight years, 
or so, of its existence, I can clearly recall that during that 
period the assertion frequently was made by photogrammetrists 
that photo interpretation was not of sufficient stature to merit 
its own Commission. Such an assertion is rarely, if ever, heard 
now, thanks largely to the steadily increasing stature acquired 
by photo interpretation during the post World-War II period. 
Part of the steadily increasing interest in remote sensing that 
has occurred during the past quarter century has resulted from 
the great increase that has occurred during that time in both 
the total amount and the availibility of photography and other 
types of remote sensing data. Many of the "Johnny-Come-Latelies" 
to the field of remote sensing find it hard to believe that, in 
the early 1950's photo interpreters in the United States and, 
indeed, throughout the globe, were continuing to work (as in pre- 
vious decades) almost entirely with a single type of imagery. It 
was almost invariably black-and-white vertical aerial photography, 
that had been taken at some time during the preceding 10-year 
period, probably during cloud-free midsummer high sun angle 
conditions, using panchromatic film and a "minus blue" filter, 
and employing a camera having approximately an 1-1/4" focal length 
and a 9"x9" negative size, operated from an altitude of 13,750 
feet above the terrain to give a photographic scale of 1/20,000, 
or thereabouts. While the great potential benefits of acquiring 
and interpreting multiband, multidate, and multistage photography 
were recognized, it was totally unrealistic in most instances to 
consider that such kinds of photography could all be made routinely 
available to the photo interpreter at any foreseeable future date. 
At this point let us examine quite specifically the role of 
Commission VII in relation to the photo interpretation progress 
that is about to be reported upon. 
Until Commission VII (Photo Interpretation) of the International 
Society for Photogrammetry was founded in 1952 there was no or- 
ganization which might logically serve as the international 
"clearing house" on photo interpretation matters. Prior to that 
time, therefore, there was needless duplication of effort both 
in the conduct of research and in the reporting of results and 
activities relative to the field of photo interpretation. In many