Development of German-Ukrainian cooperations for education and research in photogrammetry and laser scanning

ABSTRACT

Since 2011 an intensive international cooperation has been in place between the Institute for Applied Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics (IAPG) at the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Oldenburg, Germany, and various Ukrainian universities. Following an initial contact by Prof. Gottfried Konecny, the first visit was organized, and was followed by many more. In subsequent years an intensive cooperation was established particularly with the National University for Construction and Architecture (KNUCA) in Kiev. In addition to architects and civil engineers, KNUCA also trains geodesists, geo-information scientists and landscape planners. The cooperation today includes the reciprocal exchange of scientists and students, research projects, courses and cooperation at many other levels. In addition, a commercial company has been established, SPM3D LLC, which now employs more than 14 engineers in the field of 3D acquisition, point cloud processing and modeling. This article summarizes the history of the cooperation and presents the results of associated student projects. In addition, results of joint work on the development of a virtual laser scanner are presented, part of a German-Ukrainian initiative to digitize teaching.

KEYWORDS:

• Internationalization
• technology transfer
• curricula reform
• photogrammetry
• laser scanning
• e-learning

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following individuals for their support in various ways (in alphabetical order): Maria Chizhova, Mona Hess, Sergej Mogilny, Tanja Kvartych, Denys Gorkovchuk, Julia Gorkovchuk, Gottfried Konecny, Roman Shults, Darius Popovas, Jurij Karpinskij, Andrea Menn, Ilze Peksa.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the Funds for Internationalization from the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, the Jade University of Applied Sciences and the DAAD [grant number 61471272]. Their support is kindly appreciated.

Notes on contributors

Thomas Luhmann

Thomas Luhmann is a professor at Jade University of Applied Sciences, Oldenburg, Germany. He received his PhD degree from University of Hanover under the supervision of Prof. Gottfried Konecny and Prof. Wilfried Wester-Ebbinghaus. His research interests cover all aspects of close-range photogrammetry.