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THE ANALYTICAL STEREOPLOTTER - THE DATA GATHERER FOR 
COMPUTER ASSISTED CARTOGRAPHY AND INTEGRATED RESOURCE MAPPING 
Roger R. "Sky" Chamard 
Helava Associates, Inc. 
9688 Skye Drive 
South Jordan, Utah 84065 
ABSTRACT 
This paper explores the "in depth" use of the analytical stereoplotter 
as the "front end" of any computer assisted mapping system. The need 
for accurate data input into computer assisted mapping has too long 
been ignored in favor of "make do" data. Non-accurate data leads to 
long-range problems as the users expand on the capabilities of computer 
assisted mapping and report generation for development of action plans. 
The analytical plotter economically can be used to gather data from 
most remote sensed imagery. Through its ability to measure quickly and 
accurately, it is relatively easy to tie all data to a world coordinate 
system. The digitizing process is fast and accurate. The analytical 
plotter data output can easily be formatted into any data base require 
ment directly, without having to transfer data to existing maps for 
later digitizing. 
Different remote sensed data sources are discussed and the processes of 
converting data using the analytical plotter is outlined. The paper 
discusses how the analytical plotter also directly "front ends" into 
various mapping systems. 
THE ANALYTICAL STEREOPLOTTER 
The analytical plotter was invented some 25 years ago by Dr. U. V. 
Helava. It has been used by the military for acquiring digital infor 
mation from various types of imagery with great success. These data 
bases are probably some of the most comprehensive in existence. It has 
only been in the last few years that the analytical plotter has been 
seriously considered for commercial application. Acquisition costs 
have been reduced so they are now, pricewise, very competitive with the 
analog plotter. Modern computer technology has made the instrument 
highly reliable. Technologically, they now are starting to be 
understood by the mapping and remote sensing community.