EDUCATION IN PHOTOGRAMMETRY AT 
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 
Kurt Novak and Anton F. Schenk 
Department of Geodetic Science and Surveying 
The Ohio State University 
Columbus, Ohio USA 
Photogrammetry has a long tradition at 
The Ohio State University. World known 
scientists taught this subject at the 
Department of Geodetic Science and 
Surveying; many alumni hold influential 
positions at private companies and 
government agencies worldwide. During 
the last two years a major innovation of 
our program has been made to adapt it to 
the increasing demand of companies for 
engineers with a broad knowledge in both 
analytical mapping and digital image 
analysis. Nowadays, photogrammetry no 
longer relies on analytical and analog 
instruments for drawing line maps alone. 
It rather became the most important input 
source for geographic information 
systems (GIS) and a major contributor to 
computer vision. So a modern 
photogrammetric education must 
concentrate on advanced and automated 
methods of digital image analysis without 
leaving out the basics of analytical point 
positioning. Our graduates have the 
ability to integrate photogrammetric 
techniques in a diverse field of 
applications and compete in an 
interdisciplinary environment. At the 
Department of Geodetic Science and 
Surveying, students have a unique 
opportunity to participate in this type of 
research and profit from experience of 
faculty and professionals from a variety 
of disciplines. 
The photogrammetry program has been 
revised and upgraded to the standards of 
modern image analysis. An independent 
PhD program has been established with a 
number of high-level courses specializing 
in such diverse fields as digital signal 
analysis and pattern recognition. The 
Master’s program has new and revised 
courses as well, both on modern 
analytical and digital photogrammetric 
methods. Due to successful research in 
this field, the department was able to 
acquire the most advanced equipment 
available. Three state-of-the-art analytical 
plotters and four imaging workstations 
are available both for research and course 
work. This allows students to get 
practical experience with modern 
photogrammetric equipment and actively 
participate in research. 
In this article we want to point out the 
opportunities offered to students majoring 
in photogrammetry. We will show how- 
students are involved in advanced 
research, and how they take advantage of 
studying at a unique department that 
combines faculty from all fields of 
geodesy and mapping. Moreover, we will 
demonstrate that the funding of our 
research, which is comes from private 
industries and supplementary funds from 
NASA, allows us to support a large 
number of graduate students. This gives 
them the opportunity to get in contact 
with potential employers. 
THE DOCTORATE PROGRAM 
IN PHOTOGRAMMETRY 
Although the courses in photogrammetry 
are offered at the undergraduate, graduate 
and PhD levels, we want to concentrate 
on the PhD program which is unique in 
the following respects: 
• The offering of advanced level courses 
in digital photogrammetry, including 
such topics as digital image process 
ing, signal processing, computer 
vision and selected topics in artificial 
intelligence.