
Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography
General description
VUGTK was founded in 1954 and it’s the only research institute for the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre. 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 and cadastre, photogrammetry and remote sensing, cartography, development and production of specialized measuring tools. The institute runs an Authorized Metrological Centre, Accredited Calibration Laboratory, Surveying Library. The Institute holds state accreditation as an educational institution.
Key Research Facilities, Infrastructure and Equipment
- Geodetic Observatory Pecný: experimental geodetic research facility equipped with devices for astrometric, gravimetric and GPS observations, tidal forces laboratory and thermal chamber. It’s also equipped for testing of geodetic instruments, GPS devices and gravimeters. The observatory is part of the reference GPS network of the Czech Republic and a station in new European reference frame GPS – EUREF.
- Server and SW applications for geodata transmission
- A0++ scanning equipment
- Total station Leica MS50
- Number of other geodetic and cartographic devices
Contact person
Contact us to know more about our location and work environment. Please use the main contact for questions related to administrative matters. Please contact the supervisors/group leaders of respective research groups regarding feasibility of your research proposal with regard to the research group activities.

Jiří Drozda
DirectorYour future supervisors

Jiří Lechner

Jiří Lechner
From 1977 to the present time, I have been working at the Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography in the fields of engineering geodesy, standardization and metrology. During my professional activity: – I have participated on development, production, installation and maintenance of measuring systems for the Temelín power plant (ETE),- I have participated on activities of technical standardization committee No. 24 “Geometric accuracy of buildings”, especially in the implementation of European standards (EN and ISO) and revision of existing technical standards (ČSN),- I am the author of several ČSN standards,- I am the guarantor of the state standard of length 25 m to 1450 m,- I participate in raising the qualifications of officially authorized surveying engineers,- I am the author and co-author of more than 100 publications, including patents and industrial designs.
The postdoctoral fellow will join the research team at the Department of Metrology and Engineering Geodesy of the Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography, v.v.i. and will participate in:
1) planning and implementation of surveying activities to ensure the metrological traceability of the state standard of lengths 25 m to 1450 m,
2) the research of the application of new procedures for the creation of geographic data in the complex design of landscape modifications.
Within the metrological traceability of the state standard of lengths 25 m to 1450 m (SE), the analysis of the influence of the external environment on the stability of the SE will be solved based on the monitoring of the temperature regime of the external environment, the soil moisture regime, changes in the length parameters of the standard and the inclinations of individual pillars. This activity is part of cooperation within the European international association of metrologists EURAMET.
As part of the application of new procedures for the creation of geographic data in the complex design of land improvements to the landscape, new requirements for the real estate cadastre will be incorporated into existing technologies to prevent possible negative effects of water (water retention in the landscape, floods, exogenous processes, etc.) and for the creation of geographic data for planning retention measures and measures to prevent flooding in the landscape.
The results of the research will serve for their use in the design of complex land improvements with the aim of improving the ecology of the environment and effective use of the environment according to contemporary requirements for the soil regime.

Jan Douša

Jan Douša
I have been working at the Geodetic Observatory Pecný of the RIGTC since 1996. I also worked at the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ in Germany during 2009-2011. As a head of the GNSS group, my research interests are developing and exploiting high-accuracy post-processing or real-time analyses of GNSS data in scientific, public, or commercial domains: precise positioning and velocity estimation (reference frames, geodynamics, geohazards, kinematic positioning), modeling and monitoring of the atmosphere (nowcasting, meteorology, climatology, space weather applications), generating global or regional products for GNSS precise geodetic applications (satellites orbits, satellite clock corrections, ionospheric and tropospheric delays).
The successful candidate will be affiliated to the Department of Geodesy and Geodynamics at the Geodetic Observatory Pecny (GOP) in Ondřejov.
The Postdoctoral fellow will join the team that is focused on developing and exploiting high-accuracy analyses of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) observations in support of precise positioning and velocity estimates (reference frames, geodynamics, geohazards, kinematic positioning), developing algorithms and processing strategies for the Precise Point Positioning method as well as a network solution (fast integer ambiguity resolution, multi-frequency and multi-constellation analyses, utilization of uncombined and undifferenced observations, real-time and offline data pre-processing, outliers detecting and mitigating, IGS RTS and Galileo HAS services exploiting and completing), generating global and regional products for GNSS precise real-time services (satellites orbits and clocks corrections, code & phase hardware biases, ionospheric and tropospheric delays), GNSS performance monitoring (Galileo’s Open & High Accuracy Services), monitoring and modeling of atmospheric effects on GNSS signal (water vapor content for meteorology and climatology, space weather).
Based on long-term liaisons of the GOP with the international community, the fellow may step into collaboration with international scientific organizations, e.g. IGS, EUREF, EPOS, E-GVAP, or institutions/partners even from commercial domain, e.g. EUSPA, ESA, G-Nut Software, NAVMATIX. The expected outputs of the fellowship are high-level scientific publications as well as applied research outputs such as developing and potentially commercializing the software, solutions, and services.
Areas of knowledge of the applicant that can fit optimally to our research group consists of knowledges in space geodesy, signal processing, astronomy, atmosphere physics, artificial intelligence, time-series analysis, and statistical methods. The following additional skills or experience of the applicant would be good to have: programming language (c++/c, perl or python, bash), linux practice (shell scripting, automating, and visualizing). Independent work and thinking, proactive attitude and problem solving, and teamwork are all key personal characteristics that are expected from the successful applicant.