A presentation by Dr Bob Williams - retired topographic surveyor and cartographer. Fortuna was the 'home' of the Royal Australian Survey Corps' Army Survey Regiment and was an amazing place that deserves being recognised for its role in the development of computer mapping.

1. Dr R.J.Williams
Presentation produced
9 November 2007
Military Mapmakers of Fortuna
A Digital Mapping Perspective

2. An Odyssey …
v FORTUNA
v The wartime home of Allied (then Land) Headquarters Cartographic Company
v EMBRACING CHANGE
v From analogue to analytical techniques
v COMPUTER - ASSISTED MAPPING
v World leading technology
v THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION
v Innovation along with reviews, project delays, etc, etc …
v REFERENCES
Slide 1

3. Fortuna1942 - …
By late 1941 as Japan extended its control throughout Indo-China, resolving the accommodation problem of Allied
Headquarters Cartographic Company became more urgent. Suddenly, the threat of invasion was very real, and the
security of vital assets a top priority. The dangers of over concentration of military installations had been revealed in
Britain during German bombing raids in autumn 1940. Among many buildings severely damaged in raids on
Southhampton in England were those occupied by Ordnance Survey. Fortunately, much of the original material relating
to the survey of Great Britain had been duplicated and safely stored underground, but duplication wasn’t complete and
much valuable material had been lost. Now the steady Japanese advance made the bombing of Melbourne no longer a
remote possibility, and in accordance with a general policy of dispersion, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major
General Rowell instructed Major Sarll, “in the interests of security of plant and to provide against possible damage of
air attack’, to investigate suitable safer accommodation for AHQ Cartographic Company.
In late 1941 Fortuna was chosen as the site for the AHQ Cartographic Company. The unit’s movement to Fortuna was
completed by 11th June 1942. AHQ Cartographic was renamed Land Headquarters Cartographic Company during 1942, then
renamed Army Headquarters Cartographic Company in 1946.
In October 1955, in recognition of ‘survey’s’ national role, the AHQ Survey Regiment was established. In 1973, a further name
change occurred with establishment of the Army Survey Regiment.
G OFFICE
AHQ CARTO
COMPANY
Once
George Lansell’s
dressing room.
Draughting room
AHQ CARTO
COMPANY
Slide 2
§

4. Embracing Change1968 - 1975
“Without the AUTOMAP I system we wouldn’t have gone to AUTOMAP II. And if we hadn’t gone to AUTOMAP II
they wouldn’t be putting PARARE in now. The Regiment played a big part in developing digital cartography for all
of Australia and perhaps in some part, the world”.
Colonel Don Swiney MBE
EMBRACING CHANGE - Digital Mapping 1975-1985
IBM MINI COMPUTER – IBM 1130
Allowed programs to be written for the
automatic plotting of grids and graticules
1969
CAMBRIDGE STEREO-COMPARATOR
Permitted accurate observations to be
measured on aerial photography for the
purpose of aerotriangulation of strips of
photography.
Used as ‘proof of concept’ for analytical
photogrammetry.
First invented in the UK in 1930s
1968
CARL ZEISS JENA STEREO-COMPARATOR
Used to measure three dimensional photo
coordinates from film diapositives. The
capability was needed to provide
aerotriangulation data for WILD B8
stereoplotters.
1969
Slide 3
§

5. Automap I
DIGITIZATION OF
STEREO PHOTOGRAPHY
DIGITISATION OF
EXISTING DOCUMENTS
DIGITISATION OF
EXISTING DOCUMENTS
DISK
STORAGE
EDITING OF
DIGITIZED DATA
GRAPHICAL VERIFICATION
OF DIGITAL DATA
DATA BASE
Magnetic Tapes
MAP GENERATION
DATA MANIPULATION
FINAL
GRAPHIC OUTPUT
1976 - 1984
Computer - assisted mapping
Slide 4

6. Automap 11976 - 1984
Standard Products
Future Applications of the Database
1: 25 000 scale topographic maps
1: 50 000 scale topographic maps
1:100 000 scale topographic maps
1:250 000 Joint Operations Graphic [1 only]
Terrain modelling
Command support systems
Enhanced force effectiveness
BROCHURES PUBLISHED 1978-1982
DEF/MISC/5157A December 1978 DEF/MISC/5157C August 1980
3665-III STRICKLAND was the
first map published using the
AUTOMAP I system.
Compilation was by digital
photogrammetric methods.
“AUTOMAP I initiated automated cartography in Australia and heralded the future for mapping. It engendered such
excitement in defence, mapping and academic circles within Australia and overseas that many international and
Australian visitors came to the Regiment to study the new system in action”.
Computer - assisted mapping
Slide 5
§

7. Automap I1976 - 1984
Computer - assisted mapping
“The real importance of Automap 1 was ‘the experience it gave to go on to the next step’. Automap
initiated automated cartography in Australia and heralded the future for mapping. It engendered such
excitement in defence, mapping and academic circles within Australia and overseas that many
international and Australian visitors came to the Regiment to study the new system in action, and other
organisations followed the lead of the Survey Corps. According to John Cattell, OC of Air Survey
Squadron when Automap 1 was introduced, Regiment leadership was reflected in the number and
quality of technical papers presented at national mapping conferences and those leaving the army were
keenly sought for jobs in wider industry where they now influence mapping development in Australia”. §
During the period 1977 to 1979 there were many visits to the Regiment,
including visits by
Hon. D.J. Killen, Minister for Defence;
Prof. Kamecny, Uni of Hanover;
Dr. G. Bervoets, Uni of Melbourne;
Dr. R. Boyle, Uni of Saskatoon;
Dr. Berling, Managing Director of Zeiss Jena;
Hon. H.R. Hamer, Premier of Victoria and 5 MPs;
Maj Gen R.A. Grey, Chief of Operations – Army;
Lt Gen D.B. Dunstan, Chief of the General Staff;
Lt Gen Bulrit, Director of Education Research, Thailand
Col E.K. Johnson, Military attache US Embassy. §
Slide 6

8. Automap II
DEF/MISC/5157E
December 1982
1981 - 1993
STEREOPLOTTER with GRAPHIC SUPERIMPOSITION
GRAPHIC EDIT WORKSTATION
Computer - assisted mapping
Slide 7

9. Automap II1981 - 1993
Standard Products
Future Applications of the Database
1: 25 000 scale topographic maps
1: 50 000 scale topographic maps
1:100 000 scale topographic maps
Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED)
This map was produced on Automap II and shows the award
winning computer generated stipples developed at the Survey
Regiment. The text was also digitally generated and positioned.
Future applications of the database:
v “Permit the transportation Officer to point to a bridge and have the system return the width, allowable
load and structural components of the bridge
v Permit the Medical Officer to point to all hospitals in an area and have the number of beds currently
available
v Permit the Commander to point to a geographical area and have the system return enemy unit
designations, location, strength and equipment status, and have the system designed to permit data
base update so that the information returned is current and accurate”
MAJOR John Charland (USA)
Military Applications of Digital Data
presented to
Austra Carto - ICA Conference
Perth 1984
AUTOMAP II was intended to have a RDMS (Relational Database Management System). This
would have permitted a ‘new’ range of applications, as demonstrated by:
Expectations are high that digital terrain models have a significant role to play in a number of diverse
areas of interest to the Defence Force. Areas of immediate impact are command, control and
communications; artillery and other weapon systems; training, simulation and war gaming; terrain
analysis; manned and unmanned navigation systems; and map production. (para. 605)
Royal Australian Survey Corps
Digital Terrain Modelling:
An Overview
15 April 1985
Computer - assisted mapping
Slide 8

10. Automap II1981 - 1993
Computer - assisted mapping
603. Applications. Perhaps the most significant military
breakthrough related to computer technology of the future will
be the rendering of integrated circuitry invulnerable to enemy
sabotage. This, combined with high speed, secure data
communications to the field, will permit the transfer of vital
information about the terrain and its effects in real time to the
ground commander currently operating on that terrain.
Intervisibility and mobility computations and realistic
computer-generated views will be components of this
information.
604. A more profound area of application is expected in the field of
airborne navigation systems. It will include both military and
civilian aircraft, particularly low-flying manned and unmanned
weapon systems. In all these cases, DTMs will afford real time
information about the terrain below and the effects of distant
terrain on the aircraft whether it is using terrain matching for
navigation or making use of natural cover to avoid enemy
detection.
Royal Australian Survey Corps
Digital Terrain Modelling:
An Overview
15 April 1985
Slide 9

11. Projects ….
The information revolution
1986 - 1993
AUTOMAP II had numerous innovations. The project had many
amendments to contract and (probably in early 1985) a decision was
made (probably by Mat Br - Army) to remove the RDMS from the
acquisition as a cost saving option.
A Purchase Description for AUTOMAP III was written in 1986.
Significant content was dedicated to describing “database design”
issues and “areas of application”.
The project was rejected by Mat Br – Army and this led to the initiation
of PROJECT PARARE.
The decision also highlighted the need to address old fashioned management processes. In 1985
an in-house software system, Army Survey Topographic Support System (ASTIS), was developed.
Although relatively primitive, it was the first tentative step towards collecting, storing and displaying
geographic information. Further computerisation followed in 1989 with the Army Survey
Management and Planning System (ASMAPS) which could monitor map production.
(Automap III, ASTIS, ASMAPS, Newheart)
By 1992 the outmoded technology of AUTOMAP II made maintenance increasingly difficult and
expensive. A solution had to be found to extend the productive life of AUTOMAP II until PARARE
was introduced. Defence accepted a proposal to extend AUTOMAP II’s ‘life’ by delivering
PROJECT NEWHEART in January 1993.
AUTOMAP 3
Slide 10
§
§

12. Project Parare …
The information revolution
1988 - 1996
PROJECT PARARE was named in 1988 from the Corps motto, videre parare est, and planning
began in 1989.
It was hard for many “to grasp the revolutionary new way of thinking about topographic information
in which their primary goal, the printed map, became just one of many products from a topographic
database that would provide a vastly increased military capability for the Australian Defence Force.
PROJECT PARARE was to be a digital system that could produce a variety of products from a
spatially related topographic database. Maps and charts, reports, photo products, statistics and
topologically structured spatial data would provide the topographical base reference layers for a
military geographic information system. The topographic information provided would assist with
terrain analysis, command and control systems, weapons systems, and war gaming”.
“The Defence Force was slow to realise
the potential offered by PARARE. While
the Regiment had the advantage of
American exchange officers bringing
their knowledge to bear on research in
the Technical Services Section, and
officers within the Survey Corps who
had brought back new ideas from
overseas exchange postings [and
tertiary education through Long Term
Schooling], it was difficult to influence or
interest senior officers in Canberra who
still thought of topographic data in terms
of maps”.
“A model based on phenomenology and cognition” in
Robert John Williams, Analysis of Geographic Information: A Cognitive Approach,
A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, the University of New South Wales, 1989
Slide 11
§
§

13. CSP, the Regiment & Parare …
The information revolution
1991 - 1996
“In May 1991, the Government introduced a Commercial Support Program (CSP) to promote the transfer of non-core support
activities from Defence to industry, emphasising that the CSP must be understood as part of wider initiatives to strengthen civil-
military relations, which would foster Australia’s strategic defence interests and its policy of self-reliance. A Defence CSP Manual
setting out a three tier implementation policy was released in November 1991. The Regiment was identified to undergo two
separate commercial support reviews: one logistic (Tier One), the other technical (Tier Two)”.
Tier One included base support operations and “the Army Survey Regiment was included in the CSP Base Support Contract for
the Central Victorian Region”.
“Regiment members found coming to terms with the technical Tier Two CSP review far more traumatic. As land surveying and
mapping, and the collection of geographic information had been identified for possible civilianisation or commercialisation it
followed logically that the Force Structure Policy and Programming Committee in considering PROJECT PARARE in May 1992
should instruct army to conduct a review ‘to determine the most cost-effective and operationally feasible means of providing
topographic support to the ADF’. The terms of reference required core and non-core capabilities to be defined and functional
support non-core activities subjected to CSP review”.
“Corp survey activities were divided into tactical and strategic level functions. Tactical level functions included the sorts of
survey and mapping tasks that survey units had carried out in wartime. The First Topographic Survey Squadron had that
responsibility. Core strategic functions were non-sovereign territory tasks carried out by the Defence Intelligence Organisation,
or other intelligence gathering survey tasks important for Australia’s security in the region, (those survey activities that pertained
to ‘denied (or potentially denied) areas’). These activities had been carried out as Defence Cooperation or rapid response tasks
by the Fourth Field Survey Squadron and the Army Survey Regiment, which also undertook non-core activities, broadly defined
as ‘topographic support covering Australian sovereign territory’. Only non-core activities would be subject to CSP review, as
core activities were vital for operational readiness and had to remain under military control”.
Three commercial tenders were submitted. The In-House Option was selected as the Preferred Commercial Option and the
contract awarded in April 1994.
The implementation of the second CSP would prove to be “painful” … A Defence decision in November 1994 to introduce
PROJECT PARARE in two phases dramatically narrowed options. Phase One would establish the Army Topographical Support
Establishment (ATSE) staffed by defence civilians to conduct digital topographic tasks of Australian sovereign territory. It was
decided that a study would be conducted to determine the ADF’s total digital requirement including examination of core strategic
non-sovereign tasks and another major capability submission would precede the implementation of Phase Two.
Slide 12
§

14. The end of an era … & Recognition …
The information revolution
1995 - 1996
“The Army Topographical Support Establishment was raised on 1 July 1995, eighty years to the day after
the formation of the Australian Survey Corps. From that day no further military appointments were made,
and the process of disbandment began. Until ATSE became fully operational, responsibility for provision of
topographic support to the ADF was to be shared between the Army Survey Regiment and the ATSE with a
gradual transfer of technical functions to the ATSE by 29 April 1996. Disbandment of the Army Survey
Regiment was to be completed by 1 December 1996 when it would be removed from the Order of Battle. Yet
another shock awaited Survey Regiment members. Numbers were so reduced by the disbandment of the
Fourth Field Survey Squadron and the Army Survey Regiment that the Survey Corps was no longer
considered viable. In September 1995, the Chief of the General Staff directed that the Royal Australian
Survey Corps was to integrate into the Corps of Royal Australian Engineers on 1 July 1996”.
“Since 1915 the Survey Corps has not just been a major contributor to the tactical success of the
Australian Army in two World Wars and other conflicts, it has played a role in the building of
this nation – the Commonwealth of Australia – and the building of other nations such as Papua
New Guinea. Without the impetus of military survey, much of this continent would have
remained unmapped, and hence much of civil infrastructure, which we take granted for today,
would have been retarded in its development”.
Chief of the General Staff LTGEN Sanderson on the occasion on the integration of RASVY into RAE
“Australians as a whole might still be blissfully unaware and hence unappreciative of the debt of gratitude owed to the
generations of surveyors who have helped make possible the enviable standard of living generally enjoyed today across the
country. Should that situation ever change, and the story receive the wider recognition that it deserves, then the part within
that tale occupied by military mapmakers is worthy of special acclaim by a grateful nation”.
C.D. Coulthard-Clark
“Australia’s Military Mapmakers”
2000
Slide 13
§
¶
¶

15. References …
Christopher Coulthard-Clark’s
Australia’s Military Mapmakers
Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2000
ISBN 0 19 551343 6
Valerie Lovejoy’s
Mapmakers of Fortuna
A History of the Army Survey Regiment
Ex-Fortuna Association, Bendigo, 2003
ISBN 0 646 42120 4
Primary Reference
Slide 14
Text [marked by § ]and photos on
Slides 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 (excluding
Figure), 10, and 11
Other References
Text [marked by ¶ ] on Slide 11
ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL JEFFERY AC CVO MC
GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
ON THE OCCASION OF THE UNVEILING OF A MEMORIAL PLAQUE COMMEMORATING
THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN SURVEY CORPS UNITS WHICH SERVED IN WAR
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL 9 JULY 2007
https://www.gg.gov.au/speech/unveiling-memorial-plaque-commemorating-royal-australian-survey-corps-units-which-served-war