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cadastral administration does not say anything about the possi
bilities of automation in regard to measuring. The writer says
among other things: "Als besonders wirksam hat sich die Auto
mation der technischen Arbeiten erwiesen". Is measuring not a
technical activity
Also, in our professional literature, there is no shortage of more
elementary information on automation. In [8] B. Hallmén gives
a general and popularised review on the purpose, organization and
working procedure of a computer. Such articles meet an urgent
need because there are still many professional colleagues who
hardly give a thought to the problems of automation in their
sphere of activity. Almost always the first stage refers to computing.
See [9] for example. On the other hand in some places, we find
automation suggested even for the stages preceeding measurement,
for example in planning or budgeting. See, for this [10] and [11].
By its nature, photogrammetry is better suited to automation in
all its stages; I have already commented on this in my last report.
As regards this point I would like to draw your attention to publi
cations [12] and [13]. For the rest, the point is of course to make the
right selection and combination of auxiliary means and systems.
See [11].
My report for the Congress in Rome was concluded by referring
to the development of automation in geodesy which was taking
place in France at that time. A great deal has resulted from this
cooperation within a short time. The smallest survey company
concerned in survey work is in a position to profit at little cost
from the advantages of automation, but in spite of this, automation
of measuring is still not given consideration. See [15].
There is little international cooperation in the field of automa
tion in geodesy. It is true that Incedata, the "International Civil
Engineering Data Association" was founded in 1956 and this orga
nisation has also tried to coordinate research activities regarding
automation in geodesy. See [16]. But this has not been very effective
so far.
Electronic circuits are steadily becoming smaller. This is apparent
from the observations made by C. Dugas in [17]. This is of course
important for the direct automatic recording of measurements in
field instruments, where bulkiness and weight play an important
part. The use of micro-circuits in the modern computer results in
higher speeds; a weak point in this procedure is the peripheral
equipment. To a certain extent, this equipment must operate at
higher speeds if it is to remain in balance with the computer. For
that reason Philips developed (see [18]) a papertape reader, without
buffer, capable of reading 2500 characters per second, which, in
other words, means it would be able to "digest" the contents of a
pocket book within 3 minutes. It is obvious that particularly high
demands are made in the construction of such equipment in order
to obtain the desired standard of operation, security and reliability.
