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.
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.
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).
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.
Gruen's group's major scientific achievements include (in chronological order):
Studies to the processing of amateur photographs (including his PhD thesis "Reconstruction of rotation surfaces from single images")
System calibration by self-calibration with additional parameters
Reliability studies and blunder detection in bundle systems
Algorithms for sequential estimation in bundle systems (on-line triangulation)
Geometrically constrained multi-image least squares image matching
CCD-camera based measurement systems in close-range photogrammetry ("videogrammetry")
Development of the new concept of a Digital Photogrammetric Station with the first pilot system (DIPS1)
Digital ortho-image generation on general low-cost computers
PTV system for the measurement of flow structures
First practical test for the integration of GPS and (simulated) INS observations into a photogrammetric bundle block, including self-calibration
LSB-Snakes for line feature extraction
CyberCity Modeler for semi-automated 3D city modeling
3D modeling and tracking of clouds from satellite and terrestrial imaging sensors
3D modeling in Archaeology and Cultural/Natural Heritage (among those are the Nasca geoglyphs, Mount Everest, Ayers Rock, the reconstruction of the Great Buddha of Bamyian, etc.)
Implementation and testing of new sensor and trajectory models for aerial and satellite Linear Array cameras, including self-calibration, for calibration, geo-referencing, validation
Advanced image matching for DSM generation
3D Least Squares Surface and Intensity matching
UAV photogrammetry
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.
