Walter Timo de Vries

Professor Walter Timo de Vries serves as Chair of Land Management and Dean of Studies for Geodesy and Geoinformatics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he has been advancing the field since 2015. His distinguished career began with a geodetic engineering degree from the Technical University of Delft in 1988, followed by a Ph.D. from Rotterdam, and includes over two decades of influential work at the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation at the University of Twente. His expertise spans responsible and smart land management, cadastral systems development, land consolidation, and capacity building in land administration. As director of TUM's Master and Ph.D. programs in Land Management and Land Tenure, he has pioneered the concept of 'Human Geodesy' while leading numerous international projects across Asia, Africa, and South America. His research focuses on smart land management, urban and rural development, public restrictions cadastres, and capacity development for land policy. He has made significant contributions to academic literature through over 100 peer-reviewed publications and several influential books on responsible land administration and smart land management. His work includes developing and structuring the MOOC "Introduction of Land Management," demonstrating his commitment to expanding access to land management education globally. Through his research, teaching, and international collaborations, he continues to shape the future of land management and geospatial innovation while mentoring the next generation of professionals in the field.