Definition of Geomatics

Geomatics /??jŽ????madiks/?ÿ noun?ÿ See Surveying

In the old days Land Surveyors had to do everything manually.

Now Geomatics (a contraction of Geodetic and Automatic) Engineers simply press the F5 key on their keyboard which starts the automatic surveying process. They have a lot of free time.

"Geomatics" is the science of geodetic measurement.?ÿ "Geomatics Engineering" is geomatics lite, a dumbed-down version that can be grasped by engineers.

It's frippery, consarnit! Pure frippery.

I've waited so long to reuse this, "That is definitely chimps flying rockets."

What stands out to me is the emphasis on data management, integration, and analysis.

The definition of "land surveying" (in the other pinned thread) is more detailed with respect to data collection but pretty light on management and analysis, beyond determination of boundaries.

It's been interesting to see the changes even in the short (~17 years) I have been involved in this profession/industry, especially as the tech sector and the power of "big data" has grown.

The license is a single tool in my geomatics toolbox. It allows me to place legal boundaries on the ground and publicly record my observations and opinions of them, but it doesn't (and shouldn't) restrict me from performing other geomatics services.

There's always going to be some need for "land surveying" as it relates to boundary determination, but geomatics and geospatial database analytics have really taken off and are quickly outpacing boundary work. That's where the future is - geodetic database maintenance, analysis and extraction, from a variety of sources, not necessarily total stations or GNSS receivers. Being able to maintain that database with rich attributes and metadata that can be queried and analyzed is critical.

PNEZD points in CAD drawing files, with 3- or 4-letter feature codes, no metadata, no geodetic reference, and no cross-referencing is useless for the future of geospatial data products.

@rover83 About a decade ago when I was the editor of Professional Surveyor Magazine (RIP) I wrote a column about keeping in mind that the definitions of the practice of land surveying and the business of land surveying were not always the same thing.

The practice of surveying can be defined as the activities that are regulated by the individual licensing bodies of the states...The business of surveying encompasses the activities regulated as the practice of surveying as well as ancillary services performed daily by surveyorsƒ??that the unique combination of education and knowledge in both legal matters and measurement sciences enables them to perform.

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I think the survey program I went through changed names a few times over the last 15 years. When I graduated it was called geomatics engineering or something. I've had people ask what my degree is and I always hesitate to tell them geomatics because nobody has a clue what that is. I've seen enough confused looks where now days I usually just say land survey. People still don't know exactly what that is but at least they recognize the words.?ÿ

Geomatics is one of the subsets of Surveying, primarily involving property boundaries.

The name for college courses was adopted with the notion that parents of potential students would be more impressed with the technical sound of the word.

One daughter has a university diploma that says she majored in Crime and Delinquency.?ÿ Considering the specific university (AKA Snob Hill), most students there should receive such a diploma.

Posted by: @holy-cow

Snob Hill

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Posted by: @holy-cow

One daughter has a university diploma that says she majored in Crime and Delinquency.?ÿ Considering the specific university (AKA Snob Hill), most students there should receive such a diploma.

I tell people I majored in physics:?ÿ I took up time and space.

I think the survey program I went through changed names a few times over the last 15 years. When I graduated it was called geomatics engineering or something. I've had people ask what my degree is and I always hesitate to tell them geomatics because nobody has a clue what that is. I've seen enough confused looks where now days I usually just say land survey. People still don't know exactly what that is but at least they recognize the words. 

Last time I told someone I was a Land Surveyor, they asked how much I charged to mow grass and trim the shrubs.....

ANOTHER advantage of being old. My diploma say "Land Surveying". 

Eh, considering how much data collection and analysis is going on, and how many things are shaped by geospatial data these days, "geomatics" should be a well-known term.

No one used to know what someone meant when they said they were in "data analytics". Nowadays it's pretty common.

Geomatics is not well known because a lot of folks who are in geomatics don't like to say that they are in geomatics.

I tell folks I am in geomatics, and when they ask what that means, I explain that "land surveying" is a subdiscipline of geomatics, and that myself and the firm that I work for do more than just boundary surveys.

Geo-Magicians is an appropriate appellation. Anyone who feels diminished or embarrassed to brag about being a "Land Surveyor" doesn't deserve a license.

Another example of the attempted redefining of every useful term leading to the inability to communicate.

@jacavell 

I don't deserve a license because I don't restrict myself to what is statutorily defined as the practice of land surveying? That's a new one.

I work in the field of geomatics, and land surveying is among the various professional services that myself and my colleagues offer. We hold professional land surveying licenses in order to perform those services. But it's not the only thing I do. If it was, then I would probably introduce myself as a land surveyor.

Holding the license is big responsibility, but we're not the end-all, be-all of geospatial practitioners. Broadcasting a holier-than-thou attitude doesn't help us when working with colleagues in other subdisciplines, and it most definitely doesn't help us attract members of the next generation.

@rover83 

Very good resume.

However, with a bit more history one will realize that the surveyor has always been the authority for the other "geo-subsets" and because of mainly the universities' efforts to increase the edification of their "new" curricula for surveying it was thought a new name for the study would be more marketable to the parents of potential students. This was the proposed (and widely accepted) recommendation to those schools thinking about adding the program. (I participated in several of those discussions in the period about 2000.)

If we take a clue from the oldest association for surveyors and geo-others in the world, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), there is a great deal that falls under the purview of "survey" even valuation, construction, and more.

The subject isn't that you or others with similar practices aren't providing correct, ethical, or legal services. The issue is the all-to-common practice of redefining our language, especially in ways that lower understanding to a lowest common denominator, i.e. parents who don't know anything about surveying will be more encouraging to a child if the study he follows sounds more modern and techy.

My degree says Land Surveying. My license says Land Surveyor. I could call myself a Geomaticist, but I call myself a Professional Surveyor & Mapper. I do Geodesy and use Geometry. I am not a Geologist, nor a Geographer. So why is the general public confused?