ABSTRACT
Geodesy is geomatics and geomatics is geodesy. Well, not really. Geomatics is a fairly new umbrella term being used to describe both a body of knowledge and the scope of professional activities having to do with the generation, manipulation, storage, and use of spatial data. In a nonexclusive way, geomatics includes traditional disciplines such as surveying, mapping, geodesy, and photogrammetry. It also overlaps with other newer disciplines such as remote sensing, imaging, and information sciences. Of all such disciplines, geodesy provides the geometrical foundation for the rest. A literal meaning of the word geodesy is “dividing the Earth,” and geodesy, as a discipline of inquiry, has been concerned with learning more about the size and shape of the Earth since the dawn of civilization.
