Automated Photo Interpretation Research and Geo-Based Information Usage in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Most of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) Computer Assisted Photo Interpretation Research (CAPIR) program is centered around the use of the APPS-IV analytical stereo-plotter.' This computer supported photogrammetric instrument performs stereomodel set-up, threedimensional digitizing in a continuous stereo environment, data bank creation, mapping, and superposition.2 The initial Corps of Engineers demonstration of CAPIR technology, using the APPS-IV plotter, involved compilation of a digital data base (land cover fuse, topography, and structure inventory) to project economic flood damages in a reach of the Clinton River basin of Michigan. Two other demonstrations slated by the Corps involve: (1) mapping historical changes in wetlands on the Columbia River in the USACE Portland, Oregon District and (2) creating and revising digital files of the Master Plan for Ft. Lewis, Washington (Greczy, 1982, 3). A sizeable portion of the following discussion will focus on the APPS-IV system.