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Heinz Rüther was born in Germany and obtained a degree in Geodesy at
the University of Bonn and a PhD in photogrammetry at the University of Cape
Town. After two years as a research assistant at the Technical University of Munich
he became a member of the PAGEOS satellite program, a forerunner of today's
GPS, and in this capacity he worked at the Northlight Observatory in Tromso,
Norway. His research interests have been linked to the development of photogrammetry from analog to digital, and
satellite remote sensing. Throughout his career he has had a special interest
in and love for the African continent and he has worked on spatial and
space-related GIS (Geographic Information Systems) projects throughout
sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the Sahel. |
Heinz Rüther
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Besides his work in Geomatics as a tool
for mapping and the creation of Geo-information, he is interested in its
application to Environmental Management and he contributed in this area as
Scientific Coordinator in Western Tanzania.
In recent years visualisation of 3-D photogrammetric and laser scan
data has become a focal area of his research and he is applying this to
architectural structures set in their present and historical landscapes. A
long term fascination with history and African culture has resulted in the
creation of an intelligent, relational GIS-database of African Heritage
Sites, linked to 3D-visualisations. Present documented sites are in Tanzania,
Ethiopia, Mali and Ghana. He is presently Professor for Geomatics at UCT, and
holds a number of important advisory posts in UN-related agencies and global
science commissions. |
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His commitment to the development of the Geomatics (surveying and geodesy) discipline in Africa is reflected by the significant number of African postgraduate students he has supervised and his initiatives towards a Geomatics education network in Africa and the Arabian region. |
