About me
John D. Brown received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University in 1978, graduating with honors and with distinction in the major. He received a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, graduating with honors.
His father Duane C. Brown was the primary early originator and developer of Industrial Photogrammetry and was responsible for many of the foundational mathematics, equipment and techniques in the field beginning as early as 1953. He later founded two firms, DBA Systems in 1963 (now part of L3Harris, a $20 billion dollar technology company), and Geodetic Services (in 1977) to focus on furtherance of the technology.
This culminated in their joint development and introduction of the STARS film photogrammetry system in 1982, a revolutionary development in Industrial Photogrammetry that led to the rapid use and acceptance of photogrammetry in industry by the early 1990s. The establishment of the CMSC in 1985 assisted in that rapid rise, serving as an ideal venue for exposure to industry.
Since 1993, John D. Brown has been president of the company, renamed Geodetic Systems (GSI), maker of the V-STARS line of digital industrial photogrammetric systems. He is the primary developer of GSI’s line of custom digital photogrammetric cameras and advanced techniques for their calibration. He also directs the overall development of GSI’s V-STARS industrial photogrammetry software package.
