Manfred Buchroithner


Manfred Ferdinand Buchroithner is an Austrian cartographer, developer of autostereoscopic cartographic visualisations, geologist, mountain researcher and mountaineer.

Biography

After finishing college in Linz an der Donau, Austria, in 1969, he did his military service before studying geology and palaeontology as well as mineralogy and petrography at the University of Graz, Austria. In 1976 and 1977 he underwent professional training to become a certified UIAGM mountain guide. The same year he received his PhD in Graz and became research fellow there. In 1979 and 1980 he carried out postdoctoral studies in remote sensing and cartography at the ITC Enschede in the Netherlands. In 1975 he took part in a scientific expedition of several months to the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan in 1975 which molded his future career.
In 1980 he took a position at the Cartographic Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria, under Erik Arnberger. In 1983 he went as a Fulbright scholar to Fort Worth, Denver and Boulder as well as to the Stanford University. In 1984 he accomplished his habilitation in General Geology and Remote Sensing at the University of Graz. 1984 to 1992 he was employee at, and as from 1985, Head of the Institute of Digital Image Processing and Computer Graphics at Joanneum Research in Graz and taught at the University of Graz, at the Graz University of Technology and at the University of Stockholm. From 1992 to 2016 he was holding the position of Full Professor of Cartography at the Dresden University of Technology. In 1989 he was invited Visiting Professor at the University of Munich, in 2000/01 and 2002/03 at the University of Salzburg, Austria, in 2002 at the Center for Energy and Processes of the École National Supérieur des Mines de Paris in Sophia Antipolis, France, in 2015 at the Institute of Information Technology of COMSATS in Islamabad, Pakistan, and in 2015/16 at the University of Bergamo, Italy. He followed several invitations to the IIT Kanpur, India.
Major research fields of Buchroithner are true-3D visualization of geoinformation, high-mountain cartography, and remote sensing cartography; furthermore dynamic cartography with remote sensing, geographic information systems, environmental monitoring, multimedia in cartography, as well as epistomology of cartography. In 2006 he initiated the first European real-time transmission of true-3D geodata for stereoscopic vision. One of the most spectacular applications of his developments is the linking of a detailed 3D-model and visualization of the mighty Dachstein Southface with climbers' mobile phone GPS data for the support of mountain rescue actions at poor or no visibility. He initiated and led several scientific expeditions to high-alpine areas all over the world. In 1997/98 he produced the first holographic relief map worldwide and displayed it at the 1999 International Cartographic Conference in Ottawa. His developments in true-3D cartography by means of lenticular foil technology in the late 1990s led to two international patents.
In 1992 Manfred Buchroithner has been appointed as scientific advisor of the Tibetan Mount Everest National Park Qomolangma National Nature Preserve. From 1993 to 1997 he was Vice President of the European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories, where he also chaired a SIG on landslides and mudflows, and from 1999 to 2001 of EURO-STRIM. 2002–2017 Buchroithner is Vice President of the German Cartographic Society International and 2003–2017 German National Delegate to the International Cartographic Association. In 2011, in his capacity as Chairman of the German Society for the Support of Geodesy and Geoinformation, Buchroithner initiated the Wissenschaftspreis der Deutschen Geodätischen Kommission for highly qualified postdoctoral researchers. Buchroithner was instrumental in founding three Commissions of the International Cartographic Association, the Commission on Mountain Cartography, the Commission on Planetary Cartography and the Commission on Cartography in Early Warning and Crisis Management.
Manfred Buchroithner is married and has a son and a daughter.

Achievements in mountaineering

Apart from initiating and leading numerous scientific high-mountain expeditions into the ranges of High Asia and the Andes, Buchroithner was also successful as a mountaineer. He made first ascents of Koh-e Asp-e Safed and Tenzin Gyatso Peak. Buchroithner took part at the second ascend of Koh-e Bardar. In 1978 he and Rudi Brandstetter opened a new direct route
through the East Face of Nevado Rasac.
He climbed, most times solo, several 6000 m and numerous 5000 m peaks in the Andes and in the ranges of High Asia. As a rock climber he opened several new routes in the climbing sites of the Austrian Alps, both south west of Vienna and in the Grazer Bergland. He also soloed numerous rock and mixed routes in the entire Alps, Scandinavia, the Rocky Mountains, the Andes, the HKH Ranges, on Borneo and in New Zealand.
Due to his expertise both in mountaineering and cartography Buchroithner contributed to a number of Alpine Club maps that are published jointly by the Austrian and the German Alpine Club resp. was assigned responsibility for content and/or production. Examples include:

Books