I won't quibble with Pete's statement that photographs on maps look crappy when they're scanned - I know there's a degradation in quality w/ each step of printing or scanning.
That said, if a map is processed electronically from measurer to registrar (and thence to the USATF server) the quality can be maintained, especially if color photos are used.
I am NOT, however, advocating an exception to the "no photos" edict on course cert maps. However, it might be worthwhile to create a separate "race director's cut" that does have photos for those who are verbally challenged, like some RDs seems to be.
I regularly measure courses for a race director who can not read maps no matter how detailed. Every race of his I've measured I get a phone call the day before (or sometimes race morning) asking for the location of various points on the course. Since I started putting photos on the maps, the phone calls have stopped. This is truly a case where one picture is worth a thousand words (in this case, words I don't have to listen to).
Original Post