In 1839 François Arago invented photography, which in 1859 was used by the French colonel Aimé Laussedat for the preparation of topographical plans, who had already begun to use perspectives drawn by means of a camera lucida or camera lucida for the same purpose in 1846. In 1852 Laussedat began working to replace the camera lucida with the camera obscura until building a prototype of what would later become a phototheodolite in 1859. The procedure used by Laussedat was what is known as intersection photogrammetry..

In 1858 Albrecht Meydenbauer used the procedure of intersections from photographs to survey architectural works and called it photogrammetry. The Laussedar and Maydenbauer trials had problems regarding the identification of the same point in two photographs.

In 1901 Carl Pulfrich") eliminated the problem of identifying homologous points with the birth of the Pulfrich stereocomparator, which also allows the measurement of coordinates and parallax with high precision.

In 1914 the von Orel stereoautograph appeared, built on the basis of Pulfrich's stereocomparator to which a device of mechanical strips was attached that transmitted the values ​​of the coordinates of the points of the frames, allowing the continuous tracing of the cartographic features.

In 1920, in Argentina, the *stereograph") was built, perfected in 1926. Different models of this device have served for many years in the National Geographic Institute "Instituto Geográfico Nacional (Argentina)") and in the private company "Instituto Fototopográfico Argentino", owned by the inventors. A perfected stereograph device was invented by two Spanish mathematician brothers, José María") and Antonio Torroja and Miret").[4]​.

In 1923 De la Puente mentions in his book the construction of the cartographer by the Spanish colonel Jesús Ordovás. In 1950 the instrument was still in use at the Geographic Institute "with excellent performance."

Aerial photogrammetry.

In 1897, the Austrian T. Scheimpflug began his important work on rectification, a technique that would become widely used and, in 1898, he laid the foundations for the idea of ​​double projection.

In 1899 S. Finsterwalder proposed solving the problem of orientation in three steps: internal orientation, relative orientation and absolute orientation.

In 1915 Gasser, with the ideas of Scheimpflug, built his Double Projector, the first device suitable for aerial photographs with good functioning. The observation of the images projected on the measuring table was done by the anaglyphic method.

In 1920 Nistri built his Photocartograph, also with the anaglyphic system.

In 1921 W. Bauersfeld proposed an elegant solution to work with the Porro-Kope principle), with which Carl Zeiss built the stereoplanigraph. From 1921, Ermenegildo Santoni") in Italy took up mechanical projection with his autoreducer, which was followed by a whole series of designs.

In 1924 Otto von Gruber") solved the problem of orientations in a more systematic and complete way.

Since 1936, Wild, Switzerland produced only mechanical projection instruments and in 1960 Zeiss Oberkochen also switched to mechanical projection with instruments such as the Planimap and the Planicart.

Gasser and von Gruber also proposed and designed procedures for the concatenation of models, giving birth to aerotriangulation.

Aerial Photogrammetry acquires rapid and formidable diffusion with analogue restorative devices. The path opened by von Orel's stereoautograph in Terrestrial Photogrammetry widens considerably and the production of maps and plans of all types increases drastically.

With the advent of computing, calculations could be done at high speeds. For many years analog and analytical procedures coexisted. In the 1960s the Analytical Restorer, created by the Finnish Uki Helava, had a high cost. Only in the '80s did their price begin to resemble that of analogues. The analytical restorer brought a noticeable improvement in precision and, in addition, made it possible to use any type of photography, or even non-photographic images. Other important advantages were the ease with which systematic errors (lens distortion, dimensional variations of the film and effects of atmospheric refraction and earth curvature) could be corrected and the use of high redundancies with a least squares treatment. However, the great benefits of Analytical Photogrammetry were not in the analytical restorer, but in the change in Aerotriangulation techniques.

Analog aerotriangulation concatenated the models in one pass on analog devices. The very unfavorable error propagation had a certain advantage: the effect of double summation on the transfer errors meant that, even considering that the errors were accidental, the final deformations of the pass had a systematic appearance, and could be evaluated by using ground control points at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of each pass. The precision of these procedures was very limited because they did not respond to true least squares compensation.

The driving force behind the evolution of aerotriangulation, in this case the computer, was something that evolved day by day. Solutions that did not require expensive computers were used in the 1970s and even into the 1980s, even though they did not provide a rigorous least squares solution. The generosity of G.H. Schut, who made his programs freely available to the international photogrammetric community, had a lot to do with this. In the mid-1980s, and with the advent of personal computers, least squares block compensation programs gained significant popularity. Their price had dropped considerably and they became part of the optional software provided when purchasing an analytical restorer. The software developments for Aerial Triangulation compensation mark a milestone in the history of the design and development of photogrammetric techniques.

During this time, we are witnessing the transition from analytical to digital procedures. Digital procedures had been in common use in Remote Sensing since the 1970s, but Photogrammetry had remained almost impervious to them until well into the 1980s. The existing barrier between digital procedures and photogrammetry began to be breached in the 1990s. In recent years, image matching with subpixel precision has been achieved.

Given the difficulty of mounting digital cameras on aircraft, Photogrammetry has until now been using a hybrid procedure: obtaining photographs with the traditional analog camera and subsequent digitization using high-precision scanners. However, in recent years there have been great advances in the construction of such digital cameras with image quality and precision similar to that of traditional aerial cameras. The first models of these cameras are already on the market. Regarding the photogrammetric treatment of satellite images, images with pixel sizes compatible with small-scale cartographic accuracies have been available for several years.

Photogrammetry today faces a real challenge.

In 1839 François Arago invented photography, which in 1859 was used by the French colonel Aimé Laussedat for the preparation of topographical plans, who had already begun to use perspectives drawn by means of a camera lucida or camera lucida for the same purpose in 1846. In 1852 Laussedat began working to replace the camera lucida with the camera obscura until building a prototype of what would later become a phototheodolite in 1859. The procedure used by Laussedat was what is known as intersection photogrammetry..

In 1858 Albrecht Meydenbauer used the procedure of intersections from photographs to survey architectural works and called it photogrammetry. The Laussedar and Maydenbauer trials had problems regarding the identification of the same point in two photographs.

In 1901 Carl Pulfrich") eliminated the problem of identifying homologous points with the birth of the Pulfrich stereocomparator, which also allows the measurement of coordinates and parallax with high precision.

In 1914 the von Orel stereoautograph appeared, built on the basis of Pulfrich's stereocomparator to which a device of mechanical strips was attached that transmitted the values ​​of the coordinates of the points of the frames, allowing the continuous tracing of the cartographic features.

In 1920, in Argentina, the *stereograph") was built, perfected in 1926. Different models of this device have served for many years in the National Geographic Institute "Instituto Geográfico Nacional (Argentina)") and in the private company "Instituto Fototopográfico Argentino", owned by the inventors. A perfected stereograph device was invented by two Spanish mathematician brothers, José María") and Antonio Torroja and Miret").[4]​.

In 1923 De la Puente mentions in his book the construction of the cartographer by the Spanish colonel Jesús Ordovás. In 1950 the instrument was still in use at the Geographic Institute "with excellent performance."

Aerial photogrammetry.

In 1897, the Austrian T. Scheimpflug began his important work on rectification, a technique that would become widely used and, in 1898, he laid the foundations for the idea of ​​double projection.

In 1899 S. Finsterwalder proposed solving the problem of orientation in three steps: internal orientation, relative orientation and absolute orientation.

In 1915 Gasser, with the ideas of Scheimpflug, built his Double Projector, the first device suitable for aerial photographs with good functioning. The observation of the images projected on the measuring table was done by the anaglyphic method.

In 1920 Nistri built his Photocartograph, also with the anaglyphic system.

In 1921 W. Bauersfeld proposed an elegant solution to work with the Porro-Kope principle), with which Carl Zeiss built the stereoplanigraph. From 1921, Ermenegildo Santoni") in Italy took up mechanical projection with his autoreducer, which was followed by a whole series of designs.

In 1924 Otto von Gruber") solved the problem of orientations in a more systematic and complete way.

Since 1936, Wild, Switzerland produced only mechanical projection instruments and in 1960 Zeiss Oberkochen also switched to mechanical projection with instruments such as the Planimap and the Planicart.

Gasser and von Gruber also proposed and designed procedures for the concatenation of models, giving birth to aerotriangulation.

Aerial Photogrammetry acquires rapid and formidable diffusion with analogue restorative devices. The path opened by von Orel's stereoautograph in Terrestrial Photogrammetry widens considerably and the production of maps and plans of all types increases drastically.

With the advent of computing, calculations could be done at high speeds. For many years analog and analytical procedures coexisted. In the 1960s the Analytical Restorer, created by the Finnish Uki Helava, had a high cost. Only in the '80s did their price begin to resemble that of analogues. The analytical restorer brought a noticeable improvement in precision and, in addition, made it possible to use any type of photography, or even non-photographic images. Other important advantages were the ease with which systematic errors (lens distortion, dimensional variations of the film and effects of atmospheric refraction and earth curvature) could be corrected and the use of high redundancies with a least squares treatment. However, the great benefits of Analytical Photogrammetry were not in the analytical restorer, but in the change in Aerotriangulation techniques.

Analog aerotriangulation concatenated the models in one pass on analog devices. The very unfavorable error propagation had a certain advantage: the effect of double summation on the transfer errors meant that, even considering that the errors were accidental, the final deformations of the pass had a systematic appearance, and could be evaluated by using ground control points at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of each pass. The precision of these procedures was very limited because they did not respond to true least squares compensation.

The driving force behind the evolution of aerotriangulation, in this case the computer, was something that evolved day by day. Solutions that did not require expensive computers were used in the 1970s and even into the 1980s, even though they did not provide a rigorous least squares solution. The generosity of G.H. Schut, who made his programs freely available to the international photogrammetric community, had a lot to do with this. In the mid-1980s, and with the advent of personal computers, least squares block compensation programs gained significant popularity. Their price had dropped considerably and they became part of the optional software provided when purchasing an analytical restorer. The software developments for Aerial Triangulation compensation mark a milestone in the history of the design and development of photogrammetric techniques.

During this time, we are witnessing the transition from analytical to digital procedures. Digital procedures had been in common use in Remote Sensing since the 1970s, but Photogrammetry had remained almost impervious to them until well into the 1980s. The existing barrier between digital procedures and photogrammetry began to be breached in the 1990s. In recent years, image matching with subpixel precision has been achieved.

Given the difficulty of mounting digital cameras on aircraft, Photogrammetry has until now been using a hybrid procedure: obtaining photographs with the traditional analog camera and subsequent digitization using high-precision scanners. However, in recent years there have been great advances in the construction of such digital cameras with image quality and precision similar to that of traditional aerial cameras. The first models of these cameras are already on the market. Regarding the photogrammetric treatment of satellite images, images with pixel sizes compatible with small-scale cartographic accuracies have been available for several years.

Photogrammetry today faces a real challenge.