4 Introduction: What is Geomatics?
Geomatics is a subset of study in the discipline of Geography. Geography is the study of the arrangement, interaction, and change of both physical/natural features and human activity on and near Earth’s surface. Human activity affects, and is affected by, the environment; geography is interested in these interactions, but also individual features or distributions of features. Geomatics involves a wide range of methods and technologies for collecting, managing, and analyzing data about Earth and the phenomena arranged on and near its surface. An important component of Geomatics is Geographic Information Systems (GIS); GIS uses spatial data to explore geographic phenomena. GIS includes communicating and visualizing spatial data; these aspects of GIS are commonly (and historically) associated with the field of cartography (the art and science of map making).
This text will cover many topics related to Geomatics, GIS, and Cartography. In addition to Geomatics, GIS, and Cartography, some of the topics that will be covered include:
Geodesy: The study of Earth’s size and shape, one goal of which is the definition of geodetic datums (models of Earth size and shape).
Remote Sensing & Aerial Photography: Making physical observations without direct contact or touch; aerial photography is limited to those observations made with photographic technology, while remote sensing is often associated with digital images, although the two share many common concepts and methods.
Global Position System (GPS): A system composed of earth orbiting satellites that produce accurate time signals that are used to determine precise and accurate location on Earth’s surface using a mathematical technique called trilateration (not to be confused with triangulation). see https://gisgeography.com/trilateration-triangulation-gps/
Geographic Information Science: The study and extension of GIS capabilities. While this topic emerged in the 1990s, GIS could not exist without the various advances in what we know about Earth as an object of study, how to systematically simplify it, and how we might examine the patterns that emerge from presenting reality using models (simplified representations).
First “Law” of Geography
In 1970, the geographer and cartographer Waldo Tobler coined the 1st law of geography (Tobler, 1970); the “1st Law” states: Everything is related to everything, but near things are more related. In many ways this pithy statement summarizes why GIS, geomatics, and mapping are possible. In geography, because the world is so large and the physical and social landscapes are so complicated, it is necessary to model and represent what we know. One of the first steps toward mapping is making models of Earth that simplify its size and shape. When we want to map phenomena that are arranged across Earth’s surface, we need to generalize and combine individual observations. Given the fact that the physical landscape varies continuously, and not abru