  We present and discuss new CCD-based photometric material in the UBVI
pass-bands for nine Galactic star clusters located inside the solar ring, for
which no CCD data are currently available. They are: IC 2714, NGC 4052,
ESO131SC09, NGC 5284, NGC 5316, NGC 5715, VdB-Hagen ~164, NGC 6268, and Czernik
38. We first perform star counts by combining our optical photometry wi th
2MASS, and derive cluster sizes and radial density profiles. The fundamental
parameters - age, reddening and distance- are then inferred from the analysis
of the star distribution in color-color and color-magnitude diagrams of only
the spatially selected likely members. Our analysis shows that ESO131SC09, NGC
5284, and VdB-Hagen 164 are most probably not clusters, but random enhancements
of a few bright stars along the line of sight, with prop erties much similar to
open cluster remnants. The remaining clusters are physical groups, and are all
younger than about 1 Gyr . We use the newly derived set of parameters, in
particular distance and reddening, to investigate their position in the Galaxy
in the context of the spiral structure of the Milky Way. We find that the
youngest clusters (IC 2714, NGC 5316, and NGC 6268) are located close to or
inside the Carina-Sagittarius arm, and are therefore {\i t bona fide} spiral
structure tracers. On the other hand, the oldest (Czernik 38, NGC 4052, and NGC
5715) are floating in the inter-arm space between the Carina-Sagittarius and
the more distant Scutum-Crux arm. Interestingly enough, the oldest clusters of
this sample - Czernik 38 and NGC 5715- are among the few known open clusters to
be older or as old as the Hyades in the inner Galactic disk, where star
clusters are not expected to survive for a long time, because of the strong
tidal field and the higher probability of close encounters .
