Prof. em. Dr. Armin Gruen (born 27 April 1944 in Bad Berneck, Germany) is, since 1984, professor and head of the Chair of photogrammetry at the Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry (IGP), Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland. Since 1 August 2009, he is retired and is now with the Chair of Information Architecture, ETH Zurich Faculty of Architecture. He is currently acting as a principal investigator on the Simulation Platform of the SEC-FCL (Singapore ETH Centre - Future Cities Laboratory) in Singapore.
Academic career.
Gruen graduated 1968 as Dipl.-Ing. in Geodetic Science and obtained his doctorate degree 1974 in Photogrammetry, both from the Technical University Munich, Germany. From 1969 to 1975 he worked as Research and Teaching Associate, and until 1981 as Chief Engineer at the Institute of Photogrammetry and Cartography, Technical University Munich. From 1981 to 1984 he acted as Associate Professor at the Department of Geodetic Science and Surveying, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Gruen has held lecturing and research assignments at the Bundeswehr University Munich, Germany, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, USA, Department of Geodesy at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand, Department of Geomatics, University of Melbourne, Australia, Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, National Central University, Jhongli City, Taiwan, SCUDO program of the Politecnico di Torino and compact courses at the Politecnico di Milano – Polo Regionale di Como, both Italy, Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, CASM (Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping), Beijing, China and Shanghai Tongji University, China.
He has lectured at university level since 1969, with photogrammetry and remote sensing as major subjects, and surveying, cartography and adjustment calculus as minor subjects.
Gruen served as the head of the Department of Geodetic Sciences 1996–97 and as the dean of faculty "Rural Engineering and Surveying" of ETH Zurich (1996–98). He was promoted director of the continuing education course "Spatial Information Systems" at ETH Zurich. Through the Commission for Remote Sensing he was member of the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences. He is member of the editorial boards of several scientific journals. He has published more than 500 articles and papers and is editor and co-editor of over 21 books and conference proceedings. He has organized and co-organized/co-chaired over 35 international conferences and has served as a consultant to various government agencies, system manufacturers, and engineering firms in Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, US, and other countries. He is co-founder of CyberCity AG, Zurich, and 4DiXplorer AG, Zurich, Switzerland.
He served as the president of International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Commission V, as ISPRS council member (second vice president) and council member of the International Union of Surveys and Mapping (IUSM) and as chairman of the ISPRS Financial Commission. He was chairman of the ISPRS International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) and the ISPRS Ad-hoc Committee on "Knowledge Transfer", international member of the Fourth Academic Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing (LIESMARS), Wuhan University, China, member of the First Academic Committee of the Key Laboratory of Mapping from Space of the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping (CASM), Beijing, China and member of the executive board of the Digital Earth Society, member of the International Expert Committee for Strategic Development of Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth (CEODE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.
He was member of the Calibration/Validation team and principal investigator for the PRISM sensor on JAXA's ALOS satellite and ordinary member of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI).
Awards and honors.
Gruen's major international awards include the Otto von Gruber Gold Medal (ISPRS, 1980), Talbert Abrams Award Grand Trophy (ASPRS, 1985 and 1996), with Honorable Mention 1989, Fairchild Award (ASPRS, 1995), Miegunyah Distinguished Fellowship Award of the University of Melbourne (1999), ISPRS U.V. Helava Award (2000), E.H. Thompson Award (2005), ISPRS Brock Gold Medal Award (2008), Dr. Boon Indrabarya Gold Medal Award (2009), Yuri Gagarin Medal (Roskosmos, 2014).
He is corresponding member of the (Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Munich), Ordinary Member of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), holds honorary professorships of the Wuhan University, Wuhan, China and Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China, is honorary member of the Japan Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (JSPRS) and International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS).
Gruen is furthermore fellow professor at the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, National Central University, Jhongli City, Taiwan, visiting chair professor at the Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
See also the ETH Zurich Chair of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Staff Awards.
Research.
Gruen's group's major scientific achievements include (in chronological order):
His group's most recent major projects in 3D modeling of Cultural Heritage, based on photogrammetry, laser scanning and structured light, include:
Nasca Lines/Geoglyphs, Adobe pyramids of Tucume, Machu Picchu, Pinchango Alto, petroglyphs of Chichictara (all Peru), Mount Everest, Ayers Rock (Australia), reconstruction of the two Great Buddhas of Bamiyan, pre-Columbian site of Xochicalco (Mexico), Maya site of Copan (Honduras), Bayon/Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Drapham Dzong (Bhutan), Weary Herakles (Antalya, Turkey), Khmer Head (Rietberg Museum), Zurich 1800 city model relief, Alfred Escher memorial, St. Gallen Globe (all Zurich), Pfyffer Relief (Lucerne). See also all past and present projects at the Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry (IGP), ETH Zurich.
Gruen's main recent research interests include: automated object reconstruction with digital photogrammetric techniques, building and line feature extraction, 3D city modeling, image matching for DTM generation and object extraction, Three-Line Linear Array sensor modeling, industrial quality control using vision techniques, motion capture, body and face reconstruction for animation, imaging techniques for generation and control of VRs/VEs, especially for cultural heritage recording and modeling, 3D processing of very high resolution satellite images, photogrammetric UAV research.
As principal investigator on the Simulation Platform of the SEC-FCL (Future Cities Laboratory) project, he is mainly involved in Smart City applications of 3D/4D city models, including the generation and updating of those models from high-resolution satellite and UAV images.
Beside this he is currently working on cultural and natural heritage projects in Moscow and on Moorea Island.
Publications.
A full list of publications can be found .
See also ETH Zurich e-collection and NEBIS literature search.
References.
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