49 
By cadastral surveying I mean the mathematical definition 
of parcels of land in a uniform, country-wide system that uses 
a coordinate system and large-scale multipurpose maps together 
with permanent registers containing number of pertinent 
informations, among them alphabetic register of land owners and 
numerical register of parcels. 
By legal surveying I mean the measuring of parcels of land 
to provide their size, shape and the relative location. This 
information is usually in a form of a diagram of property 
boundries frequently accompanied by their verbal description. 
Often such diagrams show no connection to adjacent surveys. 
Skipping entirely a discussion of the relative merits of 
these quite different systems, one must notice that despite the 
impressive advancement in the technology of surveying and mapping 
both types operate using concepts formulated centuries ago. When 
accepting new techniques, (often with hesitation and resistance) 
such as, for instance, the use of computers for the processing, 
storage and display of data, no effort is made to formulate new 
operational concepts. The result is that the cadastral or legal 
survey specifications do not allow and advise the use of 
powerful, simple, fast and economical photogrammetric techniques. 
Certainly, appropriate adaptions could permit the entry of 
photogrammetry as an essential part of a dynamic multipurpose 
cadastre, constituting a general land information system. From 
such a system a multitude of other surveying and mapping products 
could be derived. Without such a system no meaningful progress 
can be made in one provision of land information systems that are 
desperately needed everywhere but particularly in many developing 
countries. At present, if anything, the situation is getting 
worse in view of the rapidly growing world population and the new 
demands resulting from socio-economic changes. The loser is 
society at large, again particularly in developing countries. 
But there are other losers. These are the members of our 
profession (photogrammetrists and surveyors alike) who through 
their own indolence and, yes, ignorance, are being forced from 
some areas of their traditional responsibility. 
In order to assess properly this embarrassing state of 
affairs, one must first take a detached and rather global view 
of scientific and technical advances in general, then look at our 
apparent incapability of solving technically trivial but 
economically important problems. Indeed we must remind ourselves 
that we are living in the era of the conquest of the moon, during 
which ama singly detailed maps of the celestial bodv were 
produced. I will pass over the often incredible possibilities 
provided by advancements in physics, chemistry, biosciences, 
medicine and engineering. I must, however, mention some of the 
eifects of these advancements on our own field. We have now a 
whole new array of instruments to record the surface of the earth 
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