History of the Institute

Studies in the field of geodesy in the post-war Wroclaw were formed in 1946 when the Chair of Land Surveying was founded as a part of the Faculty of Building Engineering. The units were located at the University and Technical University - the only academic school in the city at that time.

After the Higher College of Agriculture commenced its activity in 1951 the Chair, directed by Professor Roman Hlibowicki, was moved to the Faculty of Land Melioration of the newly created college. In 1954 the Chair was renamed as the Chair of Geodesy. This unit provided a basis for a separate study programme in Wroclaw, which was educating students in the field of geodesy for agricultural appliance (1960-1991).

In February 1960 the Department of Agricultural Studies of the Ministry of Higher Education empowered Professor Roman Hlibowicki to create a study programme within the Division of Geodesy and Agricultural Appliance. In the academic year 1960/1961, along with the origin of this programme, two new units were established besides of already existing Chair of Geodesy – the Chair of Photogrammetry and the Chair of Higher Geodesy. Professor Roman Hlibowicki became the head of both of them. In 1967 he was replaced by Assistant Professor Adam Lang who took charge of the Chair of Photogrammetry and Assistant Professor Stanislaw Bezdek who headed the Chair of Higher Geodesy.

After structural reorganization in 1969 and change the status of the college to the Agricultural University the Chairs of Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Higher Geodesy were merged into one unit. The new chair was further developed in 1972 by incorporating the Chair of Mathematical Applications and Statistics and transformed into the Institute of Geodesy and Mathematical Applications (1972-1985). The Institute was directed by Professor Roman Hlibowicki. In 1981 Assistant Professor Jan Sekula became the new head of the Institute.

In 1985 one of the two institute’s departments – the Department of Geodesy and Photogrammetry was changed into the Chair of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, headed by Assistant Professor Ewa Krzywicka-Blum. The Chair comprised three departments, the Department of Photogrammetry, the Department of Engineering Geodesy, the Department of Higher Geodesy and Geodetic Computations.

In 1996 one of the first GPS permanent stations in Poland, “WROC”, was formed at the Chair. The station is a part of the European programme EUREF.

In 2002 and 2003 two laboratories were created as separate departments of the Chair, the GIS Laboratory and the Laboratory of Geodetic Technologies. At the beginning of 2006 the Chair of Geodesy and Photogrammetry was transformed into the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics.

The newly created institute has been divided into three units – the Department of Cartography, the Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics, the Department of Geodesy and Geodynamics, Department of Fundamentals of Geodesy – and two laboratories - the GIS Laboratory and the Laboratory of Geodetic Technologies.