INAUGURAL PLENARY SESSION
13
plies the possession of uniform experimental data. It may seem sometimes that rules
intended to guarantee the objectivity of results are useless in scientific research at so
high a level as the studies of the OEEPE. Yet it was decided to maintain them be
cause their existence gave everyone the assurance that his results would be accepted
without question while allowing the OEEPE to establish definite results on the im
portant problems which are being studied.
For the carrying out of measures we shall have to rely on the rules enacted and
on the spirit of collaboration, as well as on the scientific resolve of the institutes taking
part in experiments.
The problem is not easy; at least it was not so at the outset. However, the idea
of collaboration is increasingly accepted by all testing experts.
To collect and set in order all experimental data is a difficult task, for the simple
reason that each experiment involves a tremendous number of figures which have to
be accurately checked. For instance, Commission A collected the results of over 100
bridgings, each one of them with more than 100 control points, bringing the total up to
well over 100,000 different numbers to be checked. Moreover, if we take into account
that, according to the aim of research work, its classification and interpretation must
follow different lines, we shall then realise how very hard is the task of the Presidents of
Commissions, even if they do it most willingly and patiently.
We come now finally to the interpretation of results, which I have already men
tioned and on which I do not intend to dwell, except perhaps to emphasise once again
the necessity for the closest possible collaboration in this field. In fact, it is quite un
thinkable that a university body or a scientific research centre should be forced down
to the level of simply carrying out orders, or that a single person should be entrusted
with the task of finally analysing and synthetising. How to make collaboration possible,
without endangering the unity of research, is something which must be studied case by
case. It is not always easy to achieve.
I regret having slightly enlarged on general questions, but I believe them to be
important at a moment when international co-operation is on its up-trend. It is neces
sary to know the way experimental results have been secured in order to be able to
appreciate their value.
My words may, therefore, serve as a sort of introduction to what the Presidents
of OEEPE’s scientific Commissions are shortly going to say during Congress, even
if the short time at my disposal does not allow me to give you more details about the
complexity of the work being done by our organisation.
Let me now briefly tell you the OEEPE position. Commissions A, B and C have
finished their first experimental cycle, by using the photographic material of the Italian
and Swiss polygons for Commission A, that of Vorarlberg in Austria for Commission B,
large-scale triangulation, and that of Oberriet in Switzerland for Commission C. As
already stated, the report of Commission C has been published in Photogrammetria,
while that of Commission A is about to be published. As for Commission B, the experi
mental material collected up to now is still too scanty to allow statistically valid conclu
sions, and it was thought preferable to publish a report at a later date.
I am not going to delve into an examination of the results. They will be
summarised by the Commission President. 1 wish, however, to state that, though definite
goals may not have been reached in the progress of photogrammetry, some very essen
tial and definite facts have been established in the field of research. Precision limits have
been ascertained beyond doubt, thus eliminating certain generally-accepted wrong
beliefs and preparing the ground for better and more thorough tests on the basis of the
positive results achieved. This is work which we intend to do in the second cycle which
has already begun.
Commission A has obtained excellent photographic material on which observa-
