Geomatician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A geomatician sits at the nexus of geography and computer science.[1] A geomatician practices geomatics, by combining "geo", (the earth) with information and automation.[2]
Geomatic engineers acquire, measure, create, and process data using a geographic information system (GIS) and then model phenomena associated with places.[3] Geomaticians have alternative titles, including Geographic Information System (GIS) technologist, spatial data analyst, city/urban planner and cartographer.
Activities
Geomaticians are often found working in the public sector, in land registry, urban planning departments where they are involved in surveying and cadastral mapping. They also work in the private sector, in mapping companies, publishing houses or in remote sensing companies.[4]
Required skills
Geomaticians handle the entire value chain associated with processing geodata. Their work begins with data collection and acquisition. Geomatics specialists must be able to distinguish between topographic methods (e.g., total station or differential GPS) (which involve going to the point to be measured) and remote sensing methods (e.g., photogrammetry or lidar) (remote measurement). They must also be able to perform planimetric measurements (x, y or latitude, longitude), altimetric surveys (z or H), or satellite telemetry measurements (analysis of measurements taken from space). The collected data is then cleaned and made available for further processing.[5]
Education
Geomaticians are responsible for verifying the accuracy (spatial and temporal), completeness, and, if verification is impossible (e.g., inaccessible terrain), the plausibility of geodata. Despite attempts at automation, they are still called to calculate the location and the geographic coordinate system, then at least two coordinates: latitude and longitude, and sometimes altitude of entities (points, lines, areas) and their associated attributes (e.g., their nature, area, volume, population, and whether or not they are connected to a drinking water network). Their geodata then undergoes processing and analysis to create data models and thus databases. If necessary, the data is formatted (selection of scale, colors, line thicknesses, and legend) to create maps.
Skilled geomaticians are in short supply, and there are not sufficient professionals in the pipeline who can distinguish between different data exchange formats, convert them, and evaluate, interpret, and merge data from various sources.[6]
Related professions
- Geographer or Cartographer (same profession before the invention of computers)
- Surveyor-Topographer
- Database Administrator
- Drafter - Technical Drafter (CAD)
- Urban planner