Geomatics. Geomatics is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as the "discipline concerned with the collection, distribution, storage, analysis, processing, presentation of geographic data or geographic information". Under another definition, it consists of products, services and tools involved in the collection, integration and management of geographic (geospatial) data. Surveying engineering was the widely used name for geomatic(s) engineering in the past. Geomatics was placed by the UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems under the branch of technical geography.

History and etymology 

The term was proposed in French ("géomatique") at the end of the 1960s by scientist Bernard Dubuisson to reflect at the time recent changes in the jobs of surveyor and photogrammetrist. The term was first employed in a French Ministry of Public Works memorandum dated 1 June 1971 instituting a "standing committee of geomatics" in the government.

The term was popularised in English by French-Canadian surveyor Michel Paradis in his The little Geodesist that could article, in 1981 and in a keynote address at the centennial congress of the Canadian Institute of Surveying (now known as the Canadian Institute of Geomatics) in April 1982. He claimed that at the end of the 20th century the needs for geographical information would reach a scope without precedent in history and that, in order to address these needs, it was necessary to integrate in a new discipline both the traditional disciplines of land surveying and the new tools and techniques of data capture, manipulation, storage and diffusion.

Geomatics includes the tools and techniques used in land surveying, remote sensing, cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), global navigation satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou), photogrammetry, geophysics, geography, and related forms of earth mapping. The term was originally used in Canada but has since been adopted by the International Organization for Standardization, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and many other international authorities, although some (especially in the United States) have shown a preference for the term geospatial technology, which may be defined as synonym of "geospatial information and communications technology".

Although many definitions of geomatics, such as the above, appear to encompass the entire discipline relating to geographic information – including geodesy, geographic information systems, remote sensing, satellite navigation, and cartography –, the term is almost exclusively restricted to the perspective of surveying and engineering toward geographic information. Geoinformatics and Geographic information science has been proposed as alternative comprehensive term; however, their popularity is, like geomatics, largely dependent on country.

The related field of hydrogeomatics covers the area associated with surveying work carried out on, above or below the surface of the sea or other areas of water. The older term of hydrographics was considered too specific to the preparation of marine charts, and failed to include the broader concept of positioning or measurements in all marine environments. The use of different data processing technologies in hydrography does not change the purpose of its research.Health geomatics can improve our understanding of the important relationship between location and health, and thus assist us in Public Health tasks like disease prevention, and also in better healthcare service planning. An important area of research is the use of open data in planning lifesaving activities. Mining geomatics is the use of information systems to integrate and process spatial data for monitoring, modelling, visualisation and design of mining operations. 

A growing number of university departments which were once titled "surveying", "survey engineering" or "topographic science" have re-titled themselves using the terms "geomatics" or "geomatics engineering", while others have switched to program titles such as "spatial information technology", and similar names.

The rapid progress and increased visibility of geomatics since the 1990s has been made possible by advances in computer hardware, computer science, and software engineering, as well as by airborne and space observation remote-sensing technologies.

 Geomatics engineering 

Geomatics engineering is a rapidly developing engineering discipline which focuses on spatial information (i.e. information that has a location). The location is the primary factor used to integrate a very wide range of data for spatial analysis and visualization. Geomatics engineers design, develop, and operate systems for collecting and analyzing spatial information about the land, the oceans, natural resources, and manmade features.

Geomatics engineers apply engineering principles to spatial information and implement relational data structures involving measurement sciences, thus using geomatics and acting as spatial information engineers. Geomatics engineers manage local, regional, national and global spatial data infrastructures. Geomatics engineering also involves aspects of Computer Engineering, Software Engineering and Civil Engineering.

 Applications 
Application areas include: 
Aeromagnetic surveys
Airborne geophysics
Air navigation services
Archaeological excavation and survey for GIS applications
Coastal zone management and mapping
Disaster informatics for disaster risk reduction and response
The environment
Infrastructure management
Land management and reform
Natural resource monitoring and development
Seismic Interpretation
Subdivision planning
Urban and regional planning
Oceanography
Meteorology
Parks
Resource Management
Climate Change/Environmental Monitoring

Areas of knowledge
Geomatics integrates science and technology from both new and traditional disciplines:
Geodesy
Geodynamics
Global positioning system (GPS) or global navigation satellite system (GNSS)
Surveying (including land, cadastral, aerial, mining and engineering surveying)
Hydrography
Navigation
Location-based services
Cartography and digital mapping
Geographic information systems (GIS), spatial database management and geographic information technology (GeoIT)
Spatial analysis, spatial data mining and knowledge discovery, and spatial statistics
Computer-aided design (CAD) and scientific visualization
Geovisualization, Geovisual Analytics, Visual communication design, graphic design and multimedia technology
Remote sensing
Digital Earth
Image processing
Photogrammetry 
Computer vision
Land information systems (LIS) 
Land management, cadastre, real property law
Applications programming
Project management
Land Surveying
LIDAR
Digital terrain modelling

 See also 
 Geographic Information Science
 Geoinformatics

References

Further readingGeomatics Canada Ottawa: Natural Resources Canada ISSN 1491-5480

 Yvan Bédard, "Geomatics" in Karen Kemp (2008), Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science, Sage. 
 Yvan Bédard (2007), "Geomatics": 26 years of history already!, Geomatica'', 61(3):269–272. 

 "Geomatics", Chap. 1 in Mario A. Gomarasca (2009) Basics of Geomatics, Springer.
 "Geomatics", sec. 1.3 in Mathias Lemmens (2011), Geo-information: Technologies, Applications and the Environment, Springer.

External links

International Master's Program Geomatics at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences
Namibia's Geomatics Program 
Bachelor of Science in Geomatics  at Nicholls State University
Geomatics program at the University of Florida
Canada's Northwest Territories Centre for Geomatics 
UK's Environment Agency Geomatics Group
GIM International Lemmer, the Netherlands: Geodetical Information & Trading Centre ISSN 1566-9076
  Géomètres sans Frontières : Association de géometres pour aide au développement.
 School of Rural and Surveying Engineering at National Technical University of Athens (MEng)

Geographical technology
 
Science and technology
Geographic data and information fields of study
Geodesy