52 
them to a 
han civil 
ctices are 
ed length, 
rs in most 
3 example) 
cussion is 
cation of 
countries, 
is rnainly 
cts. Here 
n the most 
ments are 
ind their 
''ticular iv 
rm, legal 
arried out 
Dries such 
the same 
ique that 
caused by 
protect 
uries-old 
gress. I 
when the 
e 1 ectro- 
f i cations 
e " . 
ly in the 
1 domain, 
s outside 
?. remote 
iif f erent 
), often 
economic 
sms, even 
the real 
, embrace 
lasting 
1 by the 
lere were 
maps so 
icientiy 
lence in 
our ranks have had serious consequences. Regrettably, there 
seems to be no remedy in sight:. 
At this point one must not overlook the often dubious role 
played by many governmental "foreign aid" programs and similar 
projects of international banking and specialized institutions. 
It is well known that many of the aid programs of the rich 
countries are primarily designed to help their own economy and 
industries. Thus the donor countries employ their own "experts" 
and companies, and force the recipient countries to accept the 
donor's concepts and solutions, which often are of questionable 
value. This is done with a total disregard of local conditions 
and requirements. The tragedy is particularly accute when the 
donor country is familiar only with methods and practices that 
are seriously out-of-date. 
No better is the record of international institutions (such 
as the United Nations) that exist and operate thanks to world 
wide public support. It should be pointed out that these 
institutions often do not seem to have access to internationally 
recognized experts because their hiring structure, being 
politically controlled, forces the employment of technicians 
proposed by member countries according to a system of national 
quotas. 
As a result, there is little visible effect of billions of 
dollars spent on all kind of aid programs which are bravely 
publicized as valuable contributions towards society, 
particularly its poor cousins. Personally I have never seen a 
critical review of these publically supported projects in our 
field. However, they may exist. 
Let us now turn to a few examples of the world situation in 
those surveying and mapping activities that might lead to the 
establishment of a general, modern and dynamic land information 
system of a multipurpose use. In doing this it is practical to 
distinguish three categories of countries since, obviously, the 
situation concerning the subject of the present discussion varies 
drastically among countries. 
Category I: In this category we find the leading countries 
in our field, such as Switzerland, Austria and Germany. These 
are countries of a very long tradition in surveying and mapping, 
including photogrammetry, with solid university education in the 
field. Their basic surveying and mapping operation, the 
cadastre, seems unduly complex and precise (at least in areas of 
lower land value). It employs by far the largest part of 
technical cadres, but the results of cadastral operations 
(including the coordinates and detailed maps) serve many 
purposes. One can therefore present valid arguments on behalf