Mission & History
Mission of VÚGTK, v.v.i.
The institute’s mission is basic and applied research in geodesy and cadastre, developing and testing new technologies, methods and software and professional consultation in areas of: creation and maintenance of Cadastre information system, geodesy and geodynamics, metrology and standardization in geodesy an cadastre, photogrammetry and remote sensing, cartography, development and production of specialized measuring tools.
Most of the institute’s finances come from institutional funding. Previously allocated by the founder, i.e. ČÚZK, these money are now distributed by the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports according to evaluation based on RIV – Information Register of R&D results. The founder doesn’t provide any financial aid currently.
Institutional funds don’t cover the entirety of the institute’s expenses. The rest comes from grants, contract projects etc. Most important providers are the Technological Agency of Czech Republic, Ministry of Education Youth and Sports, Grant Agency of Czech Republic, European Space Agency, Ministry of Culture of Czech Republic and Czech Office for Standards, Metrology and, Testing.
History of VÚGTK, v.v.i.
Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography was founded in 1954 and its structure changed little since. In 1959 Bedřich Patočka created the institute’s logo, trademarked in 1970.
In 1965 Geodetic Observation Pecný, until then part of the Geodetic and Topographic Institute, was incorporated into VÚGTK.
Between 1975 and 1996 the Institute has been running the International Centre for Recent Crustal Movements (ICRCM), an operational group of International Association of Geodesy. The centre accumulated, interpreted and distributed information about recent crustal movements and integrated them with other geophysical and geological information producing various visualizations, analysis and catalogues. It also provided support to projects concerned with recent crustal movements, consultation and training services and internships especially to researchers from developing countries. In 1977 – 1989 the centre was publishing Bulletin. International Centre on Recent Crustal Movements periodical (available in Surveying Library of VÚGTK).
Since 2007 VÚGTK has been registered as a public research institute with Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre as founder.
In 1979 the institute opened a new building, built in part by the institute’s employees. This building took over as the seat for most of VÚGTK’s departments, up until then spread around several building in Prague. Only Geodetic Observation Pecný stayed in its original place in Ondřejov and development workshop stayed in Bořivojova street in Prague.