The 2005 Photogrammetric Award (Fairchild) is awarded to Prof. Dr.-Ing Wolfgang Förstner in honor of his major contributions to the science of photogrammetry, by helping to establish the increasingly important ties between photogrammetry, digital image processing, and computer vision. The award will be presented during the upcoming ASPRS 2005 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, March 7-11.
Educated at the Technical University of Stuttgart and Stuttgart University, Förstner received his Dr-Ing.habil. in 1989. From 1977 until 1989 he was an associate professor at the Institute of Photogrammetry, Stuttgart University, and since 1990, has been a full professor for Photogrammetry and the director of the Institute for Photogrammetry at Bonn University. Förstner has been responsible for a number of major theoretical and practical innovations. His theoretical analysis and empirical verification of the accuracy of differential image matching showed the potential of achieving accuracies below 0.1 pixel and the dependence of the accuracy on the textural content of the image. One of his most well-known accomplishments is the development of the Förstner operator, an interest operator which can be used to identify unique points in an image and also to obtain local image descriptors, including classification into junctions and circular symmetric features. His recent work has been directed toward the integration of statistical techniques such as error propagation and statistical testing, widely used in photogrammetry, into projective geometry formulations. This integration promises to add a rigorous statistical basis to many of the current computer vision algorithms and to provide a more formal basis for many photogrammetric operations.
Förstner is currently (2004-2008) President of ISPRS Commission III, and has served as Vice-President of the German Association for Pattern Recognition (DAGM) and as President of Commission F “Fundamental Problems in Photogrammetry” of the European Organization of Experimental Photogrammetric Studies. He has been on the editorial boards of several technical journals, including ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing, GIM International Journal for Geomatics, and Zeitschrift für Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung, and has served as Chair, Co-chair, or on the program committee of numerous conferences.
As a professor, he has supervised over 110 Diplom-theses and 15 doctoral theses. He made major contributions to the recently-published Fifth Edition of the ASPRS Manual of Photogrammetry and has contributed several chapters to other books. His papers have been published in a wide range of technical journals, including statistical and computer vision journals outside the field of photogrammetry. He is a multiple winner of the DAGM award and was the recipient of the Gino Cassinis Award of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) in 2000. In the commercial arena, he has developed concepts for commercial software such as InduSurf (marketed by Carl Zeiss), and Match-T and InJect, both sold by INPHO.
This brief listing of his accomplishments can only suggest the breadth of Förstner’s contributions; this Photogrammetric Award is intended to attest to the quality and depth of his work and his impact on the field of photogrammetry.
The Photogrammetric Award (Fairchild) was established in 1943 to stimulate the development of the art of aerial photogrammetry in the United States. This award was originally sponsored by the Loral Fairchild Corporation and is now supported by Lockheed Martin. It includes an engraved plaque.
Founded in 1934, ASPRS is an international professional organization of 6,000 geospatial data professionals. ASPRS is devoted to advancing knowledge and improving understanding of the mapping sciences to promote responsible application of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems and supporting technologies. For additional information about www.asprs.org.