RAM KUMAR MUTHUSAMY

Master of Science - Geoinformatics and Spatial Data Science

Oct 2023 - Present

University of Münster (WWU), Germany

Master's Thesis: Automated Road Crack Detection to Guide Highway Maintenance

• Developed an end-to-end GeoAI pipeline to automate pavement distress assessment across Switzerland national highway network using 10 cm high-resolution aerial imagery
• Implemented YOLOv11 with transfer learning for object detection
• Created Relative Highway Crack Density (RHCD) index - a novel spatial metric to prioritize maintenance for authorities
• Technologies: Python (GeoPandas, PyTorch), YOLOv11, Transfer Learning, Google Earth Engine

Bachelor of Engineering - Geoinformatics

Sep 2018 - Jun 2022

VOC College of Engineering, Tuticorin, India

Final Grade: 7.96 / 10

Bachelor's Thesis: Flood Inundation Mapping of Thamirabarani River Basin

• Developed comprehensive Flood Inundation Map for perennial Thamirabarani River basin (128 km) to support land-use planning and disaster mitigation
• Conducted hydrological modeling using HEC-HMS to generate runoff data and discharge hydrographs
• Performed 1D unsteady flow hydraulic analysis in HEC-RAS to simulate flood surface elevations
• Executed GIS-based terrain preprocessing using Arc Hydro Tools and HEC-GeoHMS
• Presented research paper at International Conference "Water and Environmental Management, WEM-2022" (KSCSTE-CWRDM, June 2022)
• Technologies: HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS, Arc Hydro Tools, ArcGIS, DEM preprocessing

Assessing Building Heat Resilience Using UAV and Street-View Imagery with Coupled Global Context Vision Transformer

Jan 2026

Co-Author

• Advanced deep learning approach combining UAV and street-view imagery with Vision Transformer architecture for assessing building heat resilience
• preprint

Automated Road Crack Detection to Guide Highway Maintenance

Oct 2025

Master's Thesis | University of Münster (WWU), Germany

• Developed end-to-end GeoAI pipeline to automate pavement distress assessment across Switzerland national highway network
• Implemented YOLOv11 with transfer learning using 10 cm high-resolution aerial imagery
• Created Relative Highway Crack Density (RHCD) index - a novel spatial metric to prioritize maintenance
• preprint | repo

Crime-associated Inequality in Geographical Access to Education

May 2025

Published in Cities Journal - Elsevier | Volume 160, Page 105818

• Empirical study examining how crime patterns affect geographical access to educational facilities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Authors: Steffen Knoblauch, Ram Kumar Muthusamy (Co-author), and collaborators
• paper | repo

Flood Inundation Mapping of Thamirabarani River Basin

Jun 2022

Bachelor's Thesis & Conference Paper | VOC College of Engineering, India

• Developed comprehensive Flood Inundation Map for 128 km perennial river basin to support land-use planning and disaster mitigation
• Conducted hydrological and hydraulic modeling using HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS with GIS-based terrain preprocessing
• Presented at International Conference "Water and Environmental Management, WEM-2022" (KSCSTE-CWRDM)

Research Assistant

Oct 2023 - Present

Heidelberg University / HeiGIT, Germany

• Conducted onsite geospatial research under supervision of Dr. Steffen Knoblauch and Prof. Dr. Alexander Zipf
• Co-authored research on crime-associated inequality in geographical access to education, published in Cities (2025)
• Contributed to papers on Building Heat Resilience using UAV and street-view imagery with Vision Transformer architecture
• Executed projects in Climate Action, Computer Vision, Network Analysis, and Urban Analysis
• Master's Thesis: Developing automated road crack detection system using YOLOv11 and high-resolution aerial imagery for Switzerland highway maintenance (see Education section)

Student Assistant – Computer Vision and Machine Learning

May 2023 - Sep 2023

University of Münster (CVML Group), Germany

• Contributed to HFSP project focusing on insect detection and tracking in video recordings
• Annotated and labeled ML datasets for small object detection tasks

Intern – Geospatial Mapping

May 2021 - Jun 2021

GLOINNT Solutions Pvt Ltd, India

• Analyzed electrical distribution networks to map infrastructure gaps
• Developed geospatial models to optimize distribution and performed regional gap analysis
• Created and maintained comprehensive GIS databases for corporate power networks

Inplant Training – GIS

Nov 2020 - Dec 2020

Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TANGEDCO), India

• Mapped and digitized electricity networks of South Tamil Nadu into GIS features
• Managed geospatial inventories and conducted spatial queries for regional planning
• Automated GIS feature updates to improve infrastructure planning efficiency