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.
Satellite geodesy is geodesy by means of artificial satellites—the measurement of the form and dimensions of Earth, the location of objects on its surface and the figure of the Earth's gravity field by means of artificial satellite techniques. It belongs to the broader field of space geodesy. Traditional astronomical geodesy is not commonly considered a part of satellite geodesy, although there is considerable overlap between the techniques.
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.
A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geopositioning. A satellite navigation system with global coverage is termed global navigation satellite system (GNSS). As of 2023, four global systems are operational: the United States's Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, and the European Space Agency's Galileo.
A positioning system is a system for determining the position of an object in space. One of the most well-known and commonly used positioning systems is the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Augmentation of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is a method of improving the navigation system's attributes, such as precision, reliability, and availability, through the integration of external information into the calculation process. There are many such systems in place, and they are generally named or described based on how the GNSS sensor receives the external information. Some systems transmit additional information about sources of error, others provide direct measurements of how much the signal was off in the past, while a third group provides additional vehicle information to be integrated in the calculation process.
The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is an American learned society devoted to photogrammetry and remote sensing. It is the United States' member organization of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Founded in 1934 as American Society of Photogrammetry and renamed in 1985, the ASPRS is a scientific association serving over 7,000 professional members around the world. As a professional body with oversight of specialists in the arts of imagery exploitation and photographic cartography. Its official journal is Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (PE&RS), known as Photogrammetric Engineering between 1937 and 1975.
GPS/INS is the use of GPS satellite signals to correct or calibrate a solution from an inertial navigation system (INS). The method is applicable for any GNSS/INS system.
Septentrio N.V. is a designer and manufacturer of high-end multi-frequency GNSS receivers. Its main target is to provide GNSS receiver boards and modules for further system integration by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Septentrio's core technology is used in various professional fields such as land and airborne surveying, mobile mapping, machine control, precision agriculture, mining, transport, offshore applications, construction, timing and geodesy etc.
Applanix, based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, develops and manufactures a line of Inertial Navigation System products. The company's Position and Orientation Systems (POS) are used worldwide for a variety of applications such as aerial survey and mapping, remote sensing, road profiling, GIS data acquisition, and hydrographic surveying.
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.
Mobile mapping is the process of collecting geospatial data from a mobile vehicle, typically fitted with a range of GNSS, photographic, radar, laser, LiDAR or any number of remote sensing systems. Such systems are composed of an integrated array of time synchronised navigation sensors and imaging sensors mounted on a mobile platform. The primary output from such systems include GIS data, digital maps, and georeferenced images and video.
The Faculty of Geodesy and Land Management is one of the sixteen faculties of University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn and prepares students to work in the following fields: digital photogrammetry and Internet photogrammetry, close range photogrammetry, engineering geodesy, satellite geodesy, higher geodesy, geomatics and spatial information systems, land management, numerical cartography, cadastral survey and common appraisal, mathematics and mathematical statistics, spatial and archeological reconstruction, positioning and navigation systems, remote sensing and photointerpretation, theory of deterministic chaos in dynamic analyses, theory of environment and real estate evaluation. Students of land management are prepared to work in local governments in the fields of real estate management and turnover, spatial planning, property counselling and expertise. Research on application of global satellite navigation systems, improving methods of acquiring, gathering and processing geodetic and satellite data and their use in special information systems as well as optimizing methods of space management are only a few examples of scientific fields of interest of the faculty employees.
Locata Corporation is a privately held technology company headquartered in Canberra, Australia, with a fully owned subsidiary in Las Vegas, Nevada. Locata has invented a local positioning system that can either replace or augment Global Positioning System (GPS) signals when they are blocked, jammed or unreliable. Government, commercial and other organizations use Locata to determine accurate positioning as a local backup to GPS.
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).
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.
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.
Washington Yotto Ochieng is a Kenyan academic who is Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. Previously, he was Head of the Centre for Transport Studies and Co-Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology(ISST) together with Deeph Chana. Ochieng is a Senior Security Science Fellow in ISST. He also serves as Director of the Engineering Geomatics Group and Chair of Positioning and Navigation Systems.
Dorota A. Grejner-Brzezińska is a Polish-American geodetic engineer known for her work on the Global Positioning System. She is University Distinguished Professor and Lowber B. Strange Endowed Chair in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering at Ohio State University, and director of the Satellite Positioning and Inertial Navigation at Ohio State, where she was also the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering and senior associate vice president for research of the university. She current serves as Vice President of the Office of Knowledge Enterprise, part of Ohio State University's Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge.
Clement Argwings Ogaja is a Kenyan author and research geodesist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Previously, he was a professor of geomatics engineering at California State University, Fresno, having also worked at Geoscience Australia in Canberra.
