Geodetic Science and Surveying

The rich educational environment and multi-faceted research of the geodetic science and surveying faculty strengthen its high quality, which together with its small size, offers a challenging and stimulating learning environment for graduate students. Our program emphasizes the quest for excellence, and the high-quality faculty members offer the best education possible that includes involving our students in world-class research programs. The program is jointly administered by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science in the College of Engineering and the School of Earth Sciences in the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The graduate program is the most prominent in the United States and one of the best worldwide. Since 1951, some of the most influential and effective geodetic science professionals in the world have graduated from this program.

Opportunities for Students

Geodetic science and surveying offers an extensive graduate research program that features exciting opportunities for students to receive financial assistance for their research work and to gain professional work experience while taking classes. More than 90 percent of our graduate students are funded by research projects.

The program features master’s and doctoral degrees in the following primary areas of specialization:

Geodesy
Photogrammetry/Image Understanding
Mapping/Geographic Information Science
Mathematical and Statistical Methods (Ph.D. only)

Each year, many of our graduate students receive national and international awards for their research work. These awards are sponsored by professional organizations and industry, such as the Institute of Navigation, American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, and Topcon Positioning Systems.

About the Department and School

The mission of the geodetic science and surveying program is to educate future geodetic scientists, geospatial analysts and GIS professionals in service to society through research and education, focusing on modern and better ways of sensing, modeling and mapping the earth and its environments, as well as the surrounding planets; to serve the professional societies in geodetic science and geospatial technology; and to contribute to the intellectual and creative purposes of the university and geodetic science profession nationwide and worldwide. The geodetic science and surveying program has 54 graduate students, 10 regular faculty, two adjunct faculty and numerous postdoctoral researchers and visiting scientists.

Research

Geodetic science and surveying at Ohio State has a history of more than 50 years of groundbreaking research. It is considered one of the top research institutions in North America, and one of the best in the world, excelling both in research and education in geodetic science and engineering, including geodesy, photogrammetry, image understanding and remote sensing, mapping and GIS, and geodynamics. The synergistic cooperation between GSS and research institutions across the Ohio State campus, especially the Center for Mapping, Byrd Polar Research Center, ElectroScience Laboratory, Ohio Supercomputer Center, Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory, as well as strong ties to government and industry, provide a rich environment for interdisciplinary research involving high-precision navigation and spatial data acquisition and processing.

The GSS community at Ohio State has a long tradition of promoting collaborative research and leading advanced research in several areas of geodetic science, such as satellite and inertial geodesy, Global Positioning System, inertial navigation systems, digital photogrammetry, remote sensing, mobile mapping, multisensor system integration, Mars exploration, GPS-meteorology, satellite/airborne altimetry and laser ranging, gravimetry and geodynamics, and intelligent database design. Ohio State pioneered the concept of Mobile Mapping Systems, now widely used throughout the world. Similarly, Ohio State experimented with airborne systems and has developed the first high-accuracy integrated GPS/INS navigation system for direct-orientation of various airborne sensors, such as frame and line CCD, LiDAR, or multi/hyperspectral cameras. Our GPS research team developed and implemented algorithms for network-based GPS positioning, currently an on-line service provided by the National Geodetic Survey as OPUS-RS. The geodynamics team is funded to build a GPS network (GNET) in Greenland as part of the U.S. component of the International Polar Year. GNET will be used to study past and present changes in ice mass.

We use remote sensing, particularly interferometric SAR, to measure centimeter-scale changes in wetland water surfaces to measure and subsequently model flow hydraulics. The Ohio State Mapping &GIS Laboratory supports NASA’s Mars Exploration Mission by providing Spirit and Opportunity rover locations and landing site mapping products.

Our research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, National Geodetic Survey, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Defense, and Department of Transportation.

Research Facilities

We maintain extensive, state-of-the-art computing, laboratory and field instrumentation facilities in support of graduate education. Dedicated research laboratories, such as the Satellite Positioning and Inertial Navigation (SPIN) Laboratory, GIS and Mapping Laboratory, Photogrammetric Laboratory, and the Laboratory for Space Geodesy and Remote Sensing, contain state-of-the-art GPS, inertial and imaging instrumentation and high-end software that support each of the areas of specialization within the graduate program.

Beyond the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science and the School of Earth Sciences, the prime computer facility on campus is the Ohio Supercomputer Center. It provides research computing support using Silicon Graphics Power Challenge, CRAY T3E and CRAY YMP computers and a number of laboratories for advanced visualization.

Graduate Applications

Applications to Ohio State University must be submitted online. Please visit the Ohio State University Office of Graduate Admissions Web site to apply online with a credit card. Also, the civil and environmental engineering department’s Web site provides links to the university admissions Internet site.