Heerbrugg, Switzerland, 9 September 2015 — The Leica Geosystems Geospatial Solutions Division is very pleased to announce that the Carl Pulfrich Award 2015 has been awarded to Dr. Christoph Strecha. With developing algorithms in the areas of feature detection and 3D reconstructions using computer vision (CV) and UAV photogrammetry, Strecha has significantly influenced theory and practice alike. The Carl Pulfrich Award is a prestigious award for honouring cutting-edge innovations and developments in geodesy, photogrammetry and the Earth sciences.
The academic Earth imaging community was encouraged to submit nominations for the biennial award. Nominees were considered on the basis of experience, activities in field of photogrammetry and remote sensing, and contributions to the advancement of all aspects of the Earth imaging field. Applied work involving hardware systems, software solutions or innovative service activities were considered as well.
Receiving four highly-qualified nominations, Strecha was selected by the 10-member jury and awarded the Carl Pulfrich Award 2015. Strecha is a physicist and holds a doctorate in the field of computer vision. In 2012, he founded Pix4D Sa based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Since 2015, he is also the managing director of Pix4D Inc., San Francisco, Calif., USA.
His pioneering work in the development of feature detectors in computer vision, the maintenance of benchmarks for CV and photogrammetry as well as the practical application of 3D reconstructions using UAV Photogrammetry are commended with this worldwide recognised award.
“For my work to be recognised with the prestigious Carl Pulfrich Award is a great honour. The goal of my work is to make photogrammetry more accessible and used for a much wider audience,” said Strecha. “The key to this is the combination of computer vision algorithms with modern photogrammetry, which results in fully automated workflows with optimal accuracy. This award substantiates my and my team’s hard work and dedication to push the applications of photogrammetry to become mainstream.”
The chairman of the 2015 jury, Prof. Dr. Dieter Fritsch, adds, “The work of Christoph Strecha in computer vision and photogrammetry as well as his engagement in technology transfer are very impressive. By supervising benchmarks and Pix4D, he has made a great contribution worldwide for the cooperation between computer vision and photogrammetry.”
The tribute will be given by Dr. Juergen Dold, president and CEO of Hexagon Geosystems, at the Carl Pulfrich Award Ceremony 2015 during the 55th Photogrammetric Week today in the University of Stuttgart.
For more detailed information on the 2015 Carl Pulfrich Award visit: http://www.leica-geosystems.com/carlpulfrichaward.
Detailed information and the programme of the 55th Photogrammetric Week 2015 at: http://www.ifp.uni-stuttgart.de/phowo/index.en.html .
