In 1960, the Department of Geodesy of Agricultural Equipment was established at the Department of Water Reclamation of the University of Agriculture in Krakow with four departments. The organisation of the Department of Geodetic Agricultural Equipment was taken care of by Ignacy Rabczuk, M.Sc., Eng., who graduated from the Measurement Department of the Lviv University of Technology. The first seat was a premises in a building at ul. St. Marka 37 in Krakow, and there the unit began its activity in the academic year 1963/64. Moving in 1964 to the so-called ‘Jubilee Building’ at al. Mickiewicz 24/28 was associated with the period when its basic shape was being formed. At that time, the study programme included lectures and classes in the following subjects: Land register, Geodesy of agricultural land facilities (GUTR), Geodesy of forest land facilities, Design of housing estate areas, field exercises, internships, seminars and diploma theses promotion. In 1965, the first class of students graduated from the Department of Geodesy of Agricultural Devices. Out of 34 graduates, 25 graduates were promoted at the Department.
In 1968, the Faculty of Water Reclamation of the WSR in Kraków obtained the right to confer doctoral degrees in technical sciences, which enabled many employees of the Department to open doctoral dissertations. In 1970, in connection with the organisational reform, the Department was merged with the Department of Planning and Organisation of Agricultural Areas, located at Plac Wolności 8, creating a unit called the Department of Planning and Arrangement of Rural Areas. The position of manager was successively held by former employees of KPiOTR, Assoc. Prof. Bolesław Król, PhD and after his premature death in 1978, Lubomir Pawłowski, PhD, Eng. and from 1980 Assoc. Prof. Christopher Koreleski, PhD. During the period of KPiUTW activity, the GUTR team was separated, which was mainly enlarged by graduates of the Faculty.
Another organisational change at the University in 1981 reactivated the unit. The Department of Geodetic Arrangement of Rural Areas was established, headed by Andrzej Solecki. The staff of this faculty was mainly composed of employees from the former Department.
In 1983, the Department moved to a new building of the Faculty of Forestry at Al. 29 Listopada 46. In the period 1984-1987, Andrzej Solecki was the vice-dean for geodesy and cartography. After 4 years, the faculty moved again, this time to a tenement house at ul. 18 Stycznia 6 (now ul. Królewska).
In 1989, the Senate of the Agricultural University of Krakow appointed Andrzej Solecki to the position of professor of the AU in the Department headed by him.
Since 1991, after the adoption of a resolution by the General Council of Higher Education on the fields of study, the name of the entire Faculty was changed, which now reads: Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy.
In 1993, after 46 years of work at the University and 40 years at the GUTW Department, Andrzej Solecki retired. The professor – the master and mentor of the whole team – died a year later. Karol Noga became the new manager in 1996, appointed to the position of Professor of AR (1996-2001), who held this function simultaneously with the function of vice-dean in the period 1996-1999.
At the end of 1999, four departments of Geodesy and Cartography were moved to the building at ul. Balicka 253A. The head of the Department in the same year was (appointed to the position of Professor of AR in 2001) Assoc. Prof. Stanislaw Harasimowicz, PhD. After five years, he is re-elected to this position for a second term. In 2000, the Department was renamed the Department of Geodetic Arrangement of Rural Areas.
In 2003, Urszula Litwin became the deputy dean of the field of geodesy and cartography.
In 2004 Karol Noga received the title of professor of technical sciences.
In 2005, Assoc. Prof. Urszula Litwin, PhD, Eng. was appointed to the position of Professor of AR.
In 2008, the Academy was transformed into the University of Agriculture. In the same year, Prof. Urszula Litwin became the Head of the Department, and a year later Prof. Stanisław Harasimowicz received the title of professor of technical sciences.
History of the Department of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (1964-2009)
The Department of Photogrammetry was established at the Department of Geodesy and Agricultural Equipment in 1964. The organiser, supervisor, and from 1968 the first head of the Department — was Mark Kowalski, PhD, Eng. In 1966, the head of the Department was the promoter of the first diploma thesis in photogrammetry entitled ‘Determining the usefulness of photogrammetric images for determining slopes in a difficult terrain configuration’, authored by Emilia Rojkowska (Wrona).
In 1970, as part of the changes in the structure of the units of the Geodesy Department, the Institute of Geodesy was established, which included, among others, the Department of Photogrammetry, and its head was still Marek Kowalski, PhD, Eng., who after being nominated as an associate professor, became the vice-director of the Institute.
In 1980, there was another change in the organisation of the Department’s units, the Institute of Geodesy was dissolved and the previously existing units were re-created. The Department changed its name to the Department of Photogrammetry and Photointerpretation, headed by Assoc. Prof. Marek Kowalski, PhD, Eng., and Assistant Professors – Tadeusz Wrona, PhD, Eng., Zbigniew Wegrzyn, PhD, Eng.
The 1980s saw a slow, gradual development of the Department, both in terms of equipment with photographic and photogrammetric equipment, as well as personnel.
In 1991, the Head of the Department was prof. Assoc. Prof. Zbigniew Sitek, PhD, Eng. He managed the Department until 1993, and after his retirement, the position of the head of the Department was entrusted to Assoc. Prof. Jerzy Butowtt, PhD, Eng. from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw.
In 1996, the Department of Photogrammetry and Photointerpretation was renamed the Department of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
After the retirement of Prof. Jerzy Butowtt in 1998, the function of the head of the Department was entrusted to Tadeusz Wrona, PhD, Eng., which he held until 2000.
On 1 March, 2000, the head of the Department was Professor Oleksandr Dorozhynskyy, PhD, Eng., from the National University ‘Lviv Polytechnic’. In May 2000, the Department changed its name to: Department of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
In 2001, the first joint scientific and technical conference was organized with the Lviv Polytechnic, entitled ‘Cadastre, Photogrammetry, Geoinformatics – modern technologies and development prospects’. Every two years, such a conference was organised alternately by the University of Agriculture in Krakow or the Lviv University of Technology. The exception was 2004, when the Department organised a one-day jubilee conference on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of this unit.
On 1 September, 2009, the Department was merged with the Department of Geodetic Arrangement of Rural Areas by order of the Rector of the University of Agriculture No. 24/2009 of 15 July, 2009, resulting in the creation of the Department of Agricultural Geodesy, Cadastre and Photogrammetry.
From the very beginning of its operation until 2019, the head of the department was Professor Urszula Litwin, PhD, Eng., who in 2010 received the title of professor of technical sciences from the President of the Republic of Poland. In June 2019, the head of the Department was Assoc. Prof. Jarosław Janus, PhD.
