Research

In this working group we are dealing with measurement and evaluation methods that are implemented directly from the ground. Engineering surveying is one of the classical methods, whereby individual points can be recorded with the help of highly accurate angle and distance measurement technology. Well known are certainly the geodesists who survey land and buildings. Although we do not work in cadastral surveying, we often use the same equipment. In all evaluation methods, the determination of the achievable accuracy plays a central role, because only then reliable statements can be made.

Many methods of terrestrial surveying are tactile, which means we have to be on site and often have access to the objects to be documented. In remote sensing and photogrammetry we work contactlessly, because images are used which are captured by satellites, airplanes or flying robots. This procedure has the advantage that large areas can be documented without having to enter them. For example, satellites are able to cover several thousand square meters of the earth's surface every day. Airplanes and flying robots may be able to cover smaller areas, but they are more flexible with regard to the time of deployment and the precise planning of the flight. Modern methods from remote sensing and photogrammetry allow us to automatically map land cover, but also to model objects in 3D. In addition to the aspect of automation, we are constantly dealing with questions about the accuracy to be achieved.

Geoinformatics is concerned with the acquisition, representation and analysis of spatial data using informatics and geostatistical methods. This includes almost everything that has to do with the questions 'where?', 'where to?', 'how big?' but also 'how is it here?' or 'is it possible there? Geoinformatics uses not only geodata from the neighbouring disciplines of terrestrial or remote sensing surveying, but also semantic, i.e. topic-related data. By synoptic analyses of geometry, topology and semantics, the planning of a building or the evaluation of an environmentally relevant impairment is possible under consideration of certain conditions, such as legal requirements. The access and analysis of the data is increasingly spread over the Internet.

The AG Geoinformatik at the IGP is particularly concerned with the planning support of the energy transition and the urban ultra-fine dust pollution that has become a matter of public interest due to the Diesel affair. Since the source data is increasingly available in distributed form on the Internet, the corresponding methods for exchanging the data are also considered. This research and development is perfected by the work on the international OGC standard CityGML for semantically attributed 3D city models.