BUSINESS GEOMATICS IN CANADA

Geomatics is an umbrella term that encompasses a range of inter-disciplinary techniques and technologies for the acquisition, management, analysis and visualization of spatial data - has developed into a prominent research and development-based industry.

The geomatics industry has a long tradition in Canada spanning over a century, for example, The Canadian Institute of Geomatics was founded in 1882. More recently, the Canadian government has been investing in geomatics research (e.g., the GEOIDE Network), highly qualified personnel development (e.g., Geomatics Professional Development Program Canada), and the dissemination of spatial data through the internet (e.g., investing CDN$60 million in the GeoConnections web-based initiative). Geomatics is now one of Canada's fastest growing areas in the information/knowledge-based economy. Geomatics has traditionally been limited to applications in the physical sphere, such as, environmental management, land reform, development planning, infrastructure management, natural resource monitoring and development, and coastal zone management and mapping. Geomatics Canada define 'geomatics' as:

"...the science and technology of gathering, analyzing, interpreting, distributing and using geographic information. Geomatics encompasses a broad range of disciplines that can be brought together to create a detailed but understandable picture of the [human] and physical world and our place in it."

Source - Geomatics Canada

The disciplines include surveying and mapping, geodesy; and, more recent interests such as remote sensing (which would include the more traditional photogrammetry), geographic information systems (or science), and new techniques in GPS (which lies broadly at the intellectual intersection of geodesy and navigation). Two features that each of these disciplines have in common are that: they are concerned with information that has spatial properties and can therefore be geo-referenced in some way, usually with global coordinates (latitude and longitude); and, their utility has undergone a renaissance since 1990 due to the rapid development of computing and visualization technologies (usually through stand-alone or networked PCs). Thus, disciplines that were once the interest of a mathematically and technically oriented few are now more accessible. With this greater accessibility, applications have become more widespread and are now diffusing into the marketing arena, as witnessed by the growing interest in geomatics amongst retail and service-based (including telecommunication) organizations in Canada.

Nowhere is this development more evident than with the adoption of geographic information system (GIS) technologies. GIS involves the organized integration of hardware, software, geo-referenced digital information, and visualization technologies, to capture, store (usually in the form of relational databases), up-date, manipulate, analyze, and display (in 2D or 3D form) all forms of spatial information. Though most uses of GIS throughout the world are fairly routine - the most common being for land registry systems, and mapping - there is increasing emphasis on its application in strategic planning and decision-making (Goodchild, 2000).

An example of the benefits to be gained by developing new approaches to the mapping of business data is illustrated below. The first map depicts customer sales data for a retail establishment based in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) using a traditional GIS approach. The second, illustrates the interpretative gain resulting from 3D mapping of the same underlying data. The adapted GIS system used in this example provides the user with the ability to quickly manipulate the level of Z-axis exaggeration and to explore the map from any perspective. Business Geomatics is focused on developing theory, techniques and technologies to aid business decision-makers.

TRADITIONAL GIS APPROACH	GEOVISUALIZATION APPROACH