Dieter Fritsch (born May 19, 1950 in Gemünden, Westerwald, Germany) is a German geodesist and emeritus professor of photogrammetry and surveying at the University of Stuttgart.^[1] He served as Rector of the University of Stuttgart from 2000 to 2006 and has been a researcher in the fields of photogrammetry,^[2] GIS, and geospatial sciences for over six decades.^[3]

In 1969, he obtained his university entrance qualification and studied surveying at Mainz University of Applied Sciences and the University of Bonn, graduating with distinction in 1977. He subsequently worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Theoretical Geodesy, University of Bonn. In 1982, he received his doctorate with a dissertation on digital signal processing.^[4]

In November 1983 he moved to the Chair for Photogrammetry, Technical University of Munich (TUM) as senior research assistant and lecturer. In 1990, he completed his habilitation at TUM in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and was appointed Privatdozent.^[5]

From June 1992 to March 2016, Fritsch was Full Professor at the University of Stuttgart, where he served as Director of the Institute for Photogrammetry.^[6] He chaired the Surveying Studies Commission (1992–1994), was Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Surveying (1994–1996), and led the Coordination Office for Academic Continuing Education from 1995-2000.^[1] He became Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs (1998–2000). On October 1, 2000, Fritsch served as Rector of the University of Stuttgart for a six-year term. He was elected by the Grand Senate, receiving 31 votes against 16 for the other candidate. During his tenure, he also chaired the Baden-Württemberg State Rectors' Conference (2002–2004).^[3]

• International Association of Geodesy Fellow (1987) ^[7]
• MeDiDaPrix Winner (2005) with eLearning Concept University of Stuttgart^[8]
• Honorary Alumni University of Stuttgart (2006)^[9]
• Honorary Professor Wuhan University, Wuhan, China (2007)^[3]
• ISPRS Fellow (2012)^[7]
• Honorary Member ESNC Jury Baden Wuerttemberg (2016)^[8]
• Member Sudeten German Academy of Sciences and Arts, Munich (2018)^[5]
• Bohnenberger Award (2023).^[3]

Fritsch’s research spans photogrammetry, geographic information systems (GIS), computer vision, computer graphics, statistical inference, signal processing, laser scanning, augmented reality, and virtual reality. ^[10]

He was appointed leader for the following research and industrial bodies: Chairman IAG WG 4.60 Statistical Models and Estimations (1983-87), President ISPRS Technical Commission IV Mapping and GIS (1996-2000), Member Board of Trustees GUC (since 2002), Member Board of Directors Leica Geosystems, Heerbrugg, Switzerland (2002-06), Member Apple’s University Education Forum (2006-11), Chairman The ISPRS Foundation (TIF) (2006-2016), EuroSDR Vice President Research (2009-13), Member Scientific Advisory Board Center of Excellence Laser Scanning, Academy of Finland (2014-19), and is Hexagon’s Representative UN-GGIM Private Sector Network (since 2016).^[3][2][7]

He organized the Photogrammetric Week series (1992–2015) and has supervised 40 PhD students at the University of Stuttgart, as well as more than 60 additional doctoral students internationally. His publication record includes over 460 papers and more than 20 books and proceedings.^[11]

Fritsch, together with Michael Klein and Jürgen Dold, documented a project that celebrated 100 years of geodetic and photogrammetric innovation at Heerbrugg by 3D-digitizing an iconic WILD T2 theodolite from the 1927 series. The project included the development of an interactive app for Android, iOS, and Windows devices.^[2]