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RÉVISION DES CARTES 
ZEISS EQUIPMENT FOR MAP REVISION 
Dr. Helmut SCHNEIDER 
Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen 
In the course of the past few years, Carl Zeiss of Oberkochen have developed and put on 
the market a photogrammetric plotting system covering the entire range of aerial surveying. In 
the stereoplotting field, the hard core of this equipment system in the range of the three mecha- 
nical-projection instruments Planimat, Planicart and Planitop and the optical-projection Double 
Projector. 
The use of a system of three mechanical plotters is undoubtedly the most economical 
approach. Thus, a suitable machine is always available, whatever the type of plotting work requi- 
red. In this system, the Planimat is the most universal instrument, that is, in addition to its 
being a precision plotter it allows the use of a large number of peripheral units, such as the 
Ecomat-11 coordinate recording unit, the GZ-1 Orthoprojector, a system for plotting digital ter- 
rain models, a system for plotting terrestrial photography, the EC-5 Correlator and direct con- 
nection to computer with the new Interface I-1. 
The Planicart in turn has been designed for plotting at any scale and for digitization. Since 
special importance has been attached to a wide magnification range, there is a lot of freedom in 
selecting the model scale and thus for plotting directly on the integral tracing table. 
The range of small and medium-scale plotting is covered by the Planitop. Like the Pla- 
nimat and the Planicart, the Planitop is suited for digitization. However, its primary application 
is graphical plotting for the production of topographic maps. 
Figure 1 gives a diagrammatic picture of this situation. The large number of peripheral 
units for the Planimat illustrates the universal applicability of this instrument. The Planicart and 
Planitop are clearly designed primarily for map production. Consequently, they offer fewer output 
possibilities, which considerably reduces their price. 
A valuation of the technical features of the equipment for practical work will be found in [1]. 
Common features of the equipment 
  
A few essential design principles are common to the entire line of Planimat, Planicart 
and Planitop. 
  
a) Mechanical projection - The mathematical geometric solution should be simple and easily under- 
stood. In addition, production should be simple and inexpensive. Carl Zeiss of Oberkochen believe, 
that for the time being, this is possible only by the principle of mechanical projection. This also 
ensures high stability of ádjustment and resistance to wear so that servicing requirements are 
minimal. 
  
b) Fixed optical viewing system - In each of the three instruments, the photographs are moved by 
spatial guide rods, while the viewing optical system remains stationary. This ensures high viewing 
quality which increases the recognizability of detail and the measuring accuracy in the instrument. 
More than in any of the other instruments, this principle has been applied in the Planitop which 
is the first plotter without any moving part in the optical system. 
  
c) Internal tracing table - The internal tracing table is one of the most important features of all 
Zeiss plotters. It is primarily used for direct plotting at the model scale. This is of great advan- 
tage above all for map revision because it allows a direct comparison between the existing map 
and the up-to-date stereo model. In addition, an internal tracing table makes it possible to obtain 
a graphical image of plotted ground detail during digitization of a model. This qualitative record 
is extremely useful for the operator because it can serve to check on progress of the work. The 
internal tracing table is used for the purpose and the graphical record in a mere byproduct. 
  
d) Focal-length range - In each of the instruments under discussion, the focal-length range extends 
from 85 mm to 310 mm. This allows any focal-length between super-wide and normal angle gene- 
rally used today to be set on the instruments. In the Planimat, the focal-length setting can be 
varied continuously, whilst in the two other instruments it is set in steps. 
  
  
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