INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY 
AND REMOTE SENSING 
COMMISSION 1 WORKING GROUP 5 
SPECIFICATION FOR VERTICAL AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY 
RESULTS OF A QUESTIONNAIRE 
by F J Worton The Royal Photographic Society, 
The Octagon, Milsom Street, Bath, UK 
ABSTRACT 
A specification for vertical aerial photography was presented 
to and adopted by the ISPRS at the Rio de Janeiro Congress in 
1984, for a trial period of four years (ITC Journal 1985). 
It is intended that, in the light of experience, a revised 
version of the specification adopted at Rio should be 
presented to Congress at Kyoto in 1988. In order that 
practical and constructive amendments may be made, a 
questionnaire was sent to all ISPRS Commission 1 national 
correspondents concerning the use of the specification in 
their countries. 
The ISPRS specification is, in fact, a modified version of the 
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors  (RICS) vertical 
aerial photography specification. Significant differences 
between the two specifications occur in only four clauses. 
For convenience, the national correspondents were presented 
with a side-by-side comparison of the two specifications. The 
results show how the specification adopted at Rio might be 
revised with the greatest measure of agreement of the 
countries responding to the questionnaire. 
INTRODUCTION 
The United Kingdom has been very active in developing aerial 
photography specifications, some as long ago as 1953. Over 
the past 10 years attempts have been made to construct a 
specification that would find universal acceptance (Worton 
1978). The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' 
specification is the result of work carried through by the 
British Air Survey Association (BASA) and the Photogrammetric 
Society. This specification Was debated in the 
Photogrammetric Society (Photogrammetric Record 1979) and 
discussed and reviewed by delegates to the ISPRS Congress at 
Hamburg 1980, with a wide measure of agreement. 
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