Geomatics

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A surveyor's shed showing equipment used for geomatics Survey instruments-2.png
A surveyor's shed showing equipment used for 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". [1] Under another definition, it consists of products, services and tools involved in the collection, integration and management of geographic (geospatial) data. [2] 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. [3] [4]

Contents

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. [5] 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. [6]

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. [7]

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, [8] which may be defined as synonym of "geospatial information and communications technology". [9]

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.[ citation needed ] Geoinformatics and Geographic information science has been proposed as alternative comprehensive term; however, their popularity is, like geomatics, largely dependent on country. [10]

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[ by whom? ] 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. [11]

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. [12] An important area of research is the use of open data in planning lifesaving activities. [13]

Mining geomatics is the use of information systems to integrate and process spatial data for monitoring, modelling, visualisation and design of mining operations. [14]

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. [15] [16]

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

Surveyor using a total station TS by The sea.jpg
Surveyor using a total station

Geomatics engineering is a rapidly developing engineering discipline which focuses on spatial information (i.e. information that has a location). [17] 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. [18] [19]

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. [20] Geomatics engineering also involves aspects of Computer Engineering, Software Engineering and Civil Engineering. [21]

Applications

Application areas include:

Areas of knowledge

Geomatics integrates science and technology from both new and traditional disciplines:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photogrammetry</span> Taking measurements using photography

Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant imagery and other phenomena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoinformatics</span> Application of information science methods in geography and geosciences

Geoinformatics is a scientific field primarily within the domains of Computer Science and technical geography. It focuses on the programming of applications, spatial data structures, and the analysis of objects and space-time phenomena related to the surface and underneath of Earth and other celestial bodies. The field develops software and web services to model and analyse spatial data, serving the needs of geosciences and related scientific and engineering disciplines. The term is often used interchangeably with Geomatics, although the two have distinct focuses; Geomatics emphasizes acquiring spatial knowledge and leveraging information systems, not their development. At least one publication has claimed the discipline is pure computer science outside the realm of geography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geographic information science</span>

Geographic information science or geoinformation science is a scientific discipline at the crossroads of computational science, social science, and natural science that studies geographic information, including how it represents phenomena in the real world, how it represents the way humans understand the world, and how it can be captured, organized, and analyzed. It is a sub-field of geography, specifically part of technical geography. It has applications to both physical geography and human geography, although its techniques can be applied to many other fields of study as well as many different industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Cartographic Association</span> International organization

The International Cartographic Association (ICA) is an organization formed of national member organizations, to provide a forum for issues and techniques in cartography and geographic information science (GIScience). ICA was founded on June 9, 1959, in Bern, Switzerland. The first General Assembly was held in Paris in 1961. The mission of the International Cartographic Association is to promote the disciplines and professions of cartography and GIScience in an international context. To achieve these aims, the ICA works with national and international governmental and commercial bodies, and with other international scientific societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb</span>

The Faculty of Geodesy at the University of Zagreb is the only Croatian institution providing high education in Geomatics engineering and the largest faculty in this domain in southeastern Europe.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are an increasingly important component of business, healthcare, security, government, trade, media, transportation and tourism industries and operations in China. GIS software is playing an increasing role in the way Chinese companies analyze and manage business operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNSW School of Surveying and Geospatial Engineering</span>

The UNSW School of Surveying and Geospatial Engineering (SAGE), part of the UNSW Faculty of Engineering, was founded in 1970 and disestablished in 2013.

The Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, formerly Finnish Geodetic Institute is a research institute in Finland specializing in geodesy and geospatial information science and technology. It merged into the National Land Survey of Finland in 2015, when its name was changed. It is located in Masala, Kirkkonummi.

The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) is an international non-governmental organization that enhances international cooperation between the worldwide organizations with interests in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences. Originally named International Society for Photogrammetry (ISP), it was established in 1910, and is the oldest international umbrella organization in its field, which may be summarized as addressing “information from imagery”.

Prof. em. Dr. Armin Gruen is, since 1984, professor and head of the Chair of photogrammetry at the Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry (IGP), Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland. Since 1 August 2009, he is retired and is now with the Chair of Information Architecture, ETH Zurich Faculty of Architecture. He is currently acting as a principal investigator on the Simulation Platform of the SEC-FCL in Singapore.

The Faculty of Geodesy and Land Management is one of the sixteen faculties of University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Geomatics</span>

The Institute of Geomatics (IG) was a public consortium made up of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, created by Decree Law 256/1997 of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, on September 30, 1997. It was a founding member of the Associació Catalana d'Entitats de Recerca (ACER).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute</span>

The Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) is the professional association for surveyors and spatial science workers, including cartography, hydrography, remote sensing, engineering and mining surveying, photogrammetry and spatial information in Australia. The Institute's members are involved in communities of practice such as land administration, land development, natural resource management, forestry, agriculture, defence, marine environment, local government, health, education, transport, tourism, and many more. The institute deals with policy, administration, collection, measurement, analysis, interpretation, portrayal and dissemination of spatially- related land and sea information, together with associated planning, design and management.

DAT/EM Systems International is an Alaska-based company that develops digital photogrammetric mapping applications to extract and edit 3D vector terrain and object features from stereo imagery and point clouds. DAT/EM Systems International develops solutions for the photogrammetry, engineering & GIS industries.

Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth. It is also called geospatial data and information, georeferenced data and information, as well as geodata and geoinformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pix4D</span>

Pix4D is a Swiss software company that specializes in terrestrial and drone photogrammetry mapping software. It was founded in 2011 as a spinoff from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Computer Vision Lab in Switzerland. It develops a suite of software products that use photogrammetry and computer vision algorithms to transform DSLR, fisheye, RGB, thermal and multispectral images into 3D maps and 3D modeling. The company has 7 international offices, with its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Sisi Zlatanova is a Bulgarian/Dutch researcher in geospatial data, geographic information systems, and 3D modeling. She works as a professor in the faculty of the Built Environment, at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and is president of Technical Commission IV (Spatial Information Science) of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qihao Weng</span> Chinese-American scientist (born 1964)

Qihao Weng is an American geographer, urban, environmental sustainability, and remote sensing scientist. He has been a Chair Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University since July 2021, and was the Director of the Center for Urban and Environmental Change and is a professor of geography in the Department of Earth and Environmental Systems at the Indiana State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technical geography</span> Study of using and creating tools to manage spatial information

Technical geography is the branch of geography that involves using, studying, and creating tools to obtain, analyze, interpret, understand, and communicate spatial information.

Shashi Shekhar is a leading scholar of spatial computing, spatial data science, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Contributions include scalable roadmap storage methods and algorithms for eco-routing, evacuation route planning, and spatial pattern mining, along with an Encyclopedia of GIS, a Spatial Databases textbook, and a spatial computing book for professionals. Currently, he is serving as a McKnight Distinguished University Professor, a Distinguished University Teaching Professor, ADC Chair and an Associate Director of the College of Science and Engineering Data Science Initiative at the University of Minnesota.

References

  1. ↑ ISO/TR 19122:2004(en) Geographic information/Geomatics — Qualification and certification of personnel
  2. ↑ "About Us". Applied Geomatics Research Laboratory. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  3. ↑ Haidu, Ionel (2016). "What is Technical Geography – a letter from the editor". Geographia Technica. 11: 1–5. doi: 10.21163/GT_2016.111.01 .
  4. ↑ Sala, Maria (2009). Geography Volume I (1 ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: EOLSS UNESCO. ISBN   978-1-84826-960-6.
  5. ↑ "ACSG - Association canadienne des sciences géomatiques (Section Champlain) /// Des références utiles en géomatique". acsg-champlain.scg.ulaval.ca. Retrieved 2019-11-04.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ Arrêté du 27 décembre 1994 relatif à la terminologie de la télédétection aérospatiale , retrieved 2019-11-04
  7. ↑ Paradis, Michel (September 1981). "De l'arpentage à la géomatique". Le Géomètre Canadien (in French). 35 (3): 262.
  8. ↑ Boehm, Richard G.; Mohan, Audrey (2010). "Geospatial Technology: Curricular Keystone of Applied Geography". International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research. 1 (1): 26–39. doi:10.4018/jagr.2010071602. ISSN   1947-9654.
  9. ↑ Scholten, H.J.; Velde, R.; van Manen, N. (2009). Geospatial Technology and the Role of Location in Science. GeoJournal Library. Springer Netherlands. p. 1. ISBN   978-90-481-2620-0 . Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  10. ↑ Krawczyk, Artur (2022-11-09). "Proposal of Redefinition of the Terms Geomatics and Geoinformatics on the Basis of Terminological Postulates". ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. 11 (11): 557. Bibcode:2022IJGI...11..557K. doi: 10.3390/ijgi11110557 . ISSN   2220-9964.
  11. ↑ "Invited reply: Hydrography or hydrogeomatics?". Hydro International. 7: 34–37. 1 December 2003. ISSN   1385-4569 – via GITC BV.
  12. ↑ Kamel Boulos, M. N; Roudsari, A. V; Carson, E. R (2001-06-01). "Health Geomatics: An Enabling Suite of Technologies in Health and Healthcare". Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 34 (3): 195–219. doi: 10.1006/jbin.2001.1015 . ISSN   1532-0464. PMID   11723701.
  13. ↑ Gianquintieri, L.; Caiani, E. G.; Brambilla, P.; Pagliosa, A.; Villa, G. F.; Brovelli, M. A. (2019-08-23). "Open Data in Health-Geomatics: Mapping and Evaluating Publicly Accessible Defibrillators". The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. XLII-4–W14: 63–70. Bibcode:2019ISPAr4214...63G. doi: 10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W14-63-2019 . hdl: 11311/1121207 . ISSN   1682-1750.
  14. ↑ Krawczyk, Artur (July 2023). "Mining Geomatics". ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. 12 (7): 278. Bibcode:2023IJGI...12..278K. doi: 10.3390/ijgi12070278 . ISSN   2220-9964.
  15. ↑ "Geomatics engineering & geographic information systems (GIS)". University of Colorado Denver- College of Engineering. University of Colorado Denver. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  16. ↑ "White Mountains Community College- Spatial Information Technology Transcript Checklist". PDFFiller. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  17. ↑ Hazelton, N W J (September 2005). "Surveying, Geomatics, and Engineering: A 'Structure' for a Rapidly Evolving Profession". Surveying and Land Information Science. 65 (3): 211–222. ProQuest   202972772.
  18. ↑ "Department of Geomatics Engineering | Kathmandu University". Department of Geomatics Engineering. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  19. ↑ Lam, Steve Yau-Wah; Yip, Tsz Leung (February 2008). "The role of geomatics engineering in establishing the marine information system for maritime management". Maritime Policy & Management. 35 (1): 53–60. doi:10.1080/03088830701848896. hdl: 10397/27671 . S2CID   154941027.
  20. ↑ Ghosh, Jayanta Kumar; da Silva, Irineu, eds. (2020). Applications of Geomatics in Civil Engineering. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering. Vol. 33. doi:10.1007/978-981-13-7067-0. ISBN   978-981-13-7066-3.[ page needed ]
  21. ↑ "Marshall, Wesley". engineering.ucdenver.edu. Retrieved 2023-11-16.

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