The early 1960s was the period when a new discipline – INTERPRETATION OF AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS – PHOTOINTERPRETATION – was introduced into the curricula of
the University of Warsaw’s Institute of Geography on the
initiative of doc. Bogodar Winid. According to him, mgr Andrzej
Ciołkosz played an important role because “…while improving
his knowledge and organising the Laboratory, he
recruited colleagues and junior students interested in the discipline”.
In the summer of 1964, the Laboratory of Aerial Photographs
Interpretation (PIZL) was set up. In addition to
Andrzej Ciołkosz, its first team included: Zbigniew Goljaszewski,
mgr inż. Bohdan Kukla and mgr Jan R. Olędzki, with
mgr K. Trafas, mgr Maksymilian Skotnicki and mgr Lidia
Lemisiewicz as important contributors.
The initial years of Andrzej Ciołkosz’s work in the Laboratory
had several aspects. The first was organisational activity, which involved gathering
the equipment needed for classes and seminars. Initially,
the Laboratory had only two Wild stereoscopes and
several “museum pieces”: one Drobyshev stereograph, one
Leningrad 6x6 cm converter, and two US Army surplus Sketch
Master optical converters. It was therefore necessary to accumulate
a sufficient number of stereoscopes, optical converters
as well as simple drawing and computing instruments,
which was quite quickly done. The required aerial photographs
were obtained from the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography,
State Photogrammetric Enterprise and the General
Staff Academy.
Another aspect of his work at the University of Warsaw
was developing the curricula, writing textbooks and running
classes. Andrzej Ciołkosz prepared a programme of lectures
and classes in geographical interpretation of aerial photographs,
with an emphasis on the photogrammetric, geodesic and topographical foundations of photointerpretation. This
work ultimately led to the publication fo the first course book
written by the team of the Laboratory of Photointerpretation,
which later provided the basis for writing a manual for classes
in geographical interpretation of aerial photographs, whose
new editions were published in 1976 and 1999. Andrzej
Ciołkosz also co-authored the first monograph on thematic
interpretation of aerial photographs: Zastosowanie zdjęć lotniczych
w geografii [Application of aerial photographs in geography].
The experiences that he gained in teaching were
used by him and dr A. Kęsik in writing the course book entitled:
Podstawy geograficznej interpretacji zdjęć lotniczych
[Foundations of geographical interpretation of aerial photographs],
which became a blueprint for the first Polish textbook
in interpretation of aerial photographs, inspired by Andrzej
Ciołkosz, and written with Jerzy Miszalski and Jan Olędzki:
Interpretacja zdjęć lotniczych [Interpretation of aerial photographs],
published by PWN in 1978. As the field of interpretation
of aerial photographs developed, along with photointerpretation
and remote sensing, Andrzej Ciołkosz, in keeping
with contemporary trends in teaching remote sensing, wrote
(together with Andrzej Kęsik) the textbook entitled Teledetekcja
satelitarna [Satellite remote sensing]. This was the first
Polish textbook on satellite remote sensing and application of
photographs taken from orbital heights in geographical research.
As digital imaging was introduced into photointerpretation
on an increasingly wider scale, he wrote (together with
dr Anna Jakomulska) a textbook on the foundations of digital
analysis of satellite images, published in 2004.
During his work at the University of Warsaw, Andrzej
Ciołkosz devoted a great deal of attention to conducting classes.
Starting from 1966 onwards, he held lectures and classes
in basic photointerpretation, which were quite famous for
their innovative form – particularly the lectures which were
illustrated by high-quality and well-chosen slides, a novelty
at the time, eagerly accepted by students. In the first years
of teaching the interpretation of aerial photographs for geographical
purposes at the University of Warsaw’s Institute of
Geography, he also held lectures and classes for students preparing
their master’s theses in regional geography of the
world, economic geography and cartography. Later, he conducted
classes in methods of obtaining remote sensing information
and MA seminars in geoinformatics.
He constantly worked to improve the subject matter of
these classes, using newest materials, methods and equipment
for analogue or computer-assisted analysis of the content of
aerial photographs and satellite images obtained during his
work in OPOLIS – the Centre for Processing Aerial Photographs
and Satellite Images of the Institute of Geodesy and
Cartography.
Under his supervision, 21 MA dissertations in the field of
remote sensing and cartography were submitted at the University
of Warsaw. In 2004, Andrzej Ciołkosz was the supervisor of
the PhD dissertation of mgr Małgorzata Krówczyńska from the
Department of Remote Sensing of Environment of the Faculty
of Geography and Regional Studies of the University of Warsaw,
entitled: “Application of spectral and structural features
of objects shown on satellite images in land use mapping” [in
Polish]. He also wrote many reviews of doctoral and postdoctoral
dissertations and prepared professorship applications.
His organisational and didactic activity did not mean that
Andrzej Ciołkosz neglected research work. He conducted research
on the structure of crops using photographic methods.
On the basis of panchromatic aerial photographs taken from
a triangulation tower in the vicinity of Lesznowola near Warsaw,
he determined the optimum period for taking aerial photographs
for the purposes of crop identification. At a later
stage, such aerial photographs were subject to microphotometric
analysis. Developing a photointerpretation key allowed
him to analyse the produced photograms. The results of crop
identification using the key were compared with the results
of field research, which allowed for evaluating the reliability
of this method.
Another publication was devoted to the application of
aerial photographs in studies on road traffic. Together with
dr Jerzy Miszalski, he developed a method of analysing road
traffic on the basis of aerial photographs specially taken for
this purpose.
With the coming of colour satellite images, Andrzej
Ciołkosz indicated the possibilities offered by such images for
enriching the content and form of small-scale general maps.
In 1968, he got involved in analysing the colours of the Earth
in satellite images taken during manned orbital spaceflights
and comparing these colours with the colours used by cartographers
in landscape maps. This allowed to identify the differences
and similarities between maps and satellite images
in rendering the representation of the Earth in different types
of small-scale maps.
Andrzej Ciołkosz also ran a number of projects commissioned
by various institutions and implemented by the University’s
Laboratory of Photointerpretation. These included
analyses of the transport infrastructure in the steelworks of
the Upper Silesian industrial district, and an analysis of the
spatial structure of selected Polish cities. He also organised
training programmes for the staff of various institutions having
an interest in the application of aerial photographs.
We should also take note of Andrzej Ciołkosz’s activity in
the Polish Geographical Society (PTG) related to the popularisation
and implementation of the new discipline in geographical
sciences, which geographical photointerpretation certainly
was in the 1960s. This activity was organisational in nature,
connected with the establishment of a problem section at the
PTG Main Board to deal with the application of aerial photographs
in teaching and research. Andrzej Ciołkosz was among
the initiators of the PTG’s Photointerpretation Committee,
in 1990 reorganised into a PTG Branch under the name of
the Remote Sensing Club. One of the Committee’s tasks was
to incorporate the teaching of photointerpretation in university
geography studies in Poland. This was done in 1966.
Another aspect of his activity was the establishment of
a forum for exchange of ideas and experiences related to the
application of aerial photographs in geographic research. This
was done via national photointerpretation conferences, initially
organised every year, and later once every two years.
The third aspect of his work was starting a specialised
publishing series. The fi rst volume of the periodical entitled
Fotointerpretacja w Geografi i [Photointerpretation in geography]
was published in 1964. Andrzej Ciołkosz was the editor
or a co-editor of the series’ fi rst six volumes. Until today, he
is a member of the Programme Council of the series, currently
named Teledetekcja środowiska [Remote sensing], whose
40th volume was put out in 2008.
He used the experiences gained in teaching at the University
of Warsaw in the lectures in remote sensing that he held
in other universities and colleges.
