Yr hand, 
of main 
/ are at 
> image. 
vidth is 
che sen- 
) f these 
1erefore 
vication 
erefore 
) f such 
a to be 
ne image 
ed. Iso- 
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3 
of some 
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ular in 
to come 
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rols for 
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ditional 
).for: a 
sidering 
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th which 
quickly 
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be sup- 
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es. The 
because 
S are 
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'e avai- 
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tuations 
is to be 
5, there 
projects 
arth of 
id carto- 
je result 
map pro- 
equately. 
duction, even from aerial photographs, still have 
to be carried out by foreign mapping organizations. 
Since a much greater skill is required when using 
space images, it is very doubtful whether mapping 
projects involving the use of these images can be 
executed with the current manpower capability of 
most of the countries. 
6. CONCLUSION 
The information content of the SPOT image used in 
this study would not be sufficient for full revi- 
sion of the 1:50,000 topographic maps of the test 
areas. Road tracks, for example, are generally not 
detectable on the image. 
Although the situation in the test areas may not 
be representative of all areas in developing coun- 
tries, it no doubt provides an insight into typi- 
cal problems of  undermapped areas. Where areal 
development is rapid and unplanned, as is the case 
in most developing countries, space images, at 
their present spatial resolutions, may be unsui- 
table for revision of any map more than 5 years 
old, otherwise, the ground verification would be 
too tedious. 
There are a couple of other problems mentioned 
above which may make operational use of space 
images difficult in most developing countries. 
However, if the importance of maps to development 
could be fully appreciated, and more effort made 
to enhance the practice of surveying and mapping, 
these problems would be significantly reduced. 
With the launching of SPOT, there is a general 
awareness of the potentials of space images. If 
future sensors could combine the geometric qua- 
lity of SPOT with an improved spatial resolution, 
most developing countries could be in the position 
to take advantage of mapping from space imagery in 
future. 
7. REFERENCES 
Jacobsen, Karsten , 1990. Cartographic Potential 
of Space Images. Proceedings of the ISPRS Com- 
mission II Sysmposium, Dresden 
Konecny,G.,P. Lohmann,H. Engel and E. Kruck,1987. 
Evaluation of SPOT imagery on analytical photo- 
grammetric instruments. Phot. Eng. and Remote Sen- 
Sing, Vol. 53, No. 9, pp. 1223-1230 
Westin,T., 1990. Precision rectification of SPOT 
imagery. Phot. Engineering and Remote Sensing, 
Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 247-255 
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