Geo_Infomatics

Geoinformatics has been described as "the science and technology dealing with the structure and character of spatial information, its capture, its classification and qualification, its storage, processing, portrayal and dissemination, including the infrastructure necessary to secure optimal use of this information

Geomatics is a similarly used term which encompasses geoinformatics, but geomatics focuses more so on surveying. Geoinformatics has at its core the technologies supporting the processes of acquiring, analyzing and visualizing spatial data. Both geomatics and geoinformatics include and rely heavily upon the theory and practical implications of geodesy.

• Geography and earth science increasingly rely on digital spatial data acquired from remotely sensed images analyzed by geographical information systems (GIS) and visualized on paper or the computer screen.
• Geoinformatics combines geospatial analysis and modeling, development of geospatial databases, information systems design, human-computer interaction and both wired and wireless networking technologies.
• Geoinformatics uses geocomputation and geovisualization for analyzing geoinformation.

Job prospects

Major users of geoinformatics applications and therefore employers are the Central and State governments. Central government agencies are under the Department of Space - National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA Hyderabad), North East Space Application Centre, (NESAC Shillong), Regional Remote Sensing Application Centre (RRSAC Kharagpur, Dehradun, Jodhpur, Nagpur and Bangalore), Indian Space Research Organisation, (ISRO Bangalore), Advanced Data Processing Research Institute (ADRIN Hyderabad) and Space Application Centre (SAC Ahmedabad) apart from Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) and Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR).

State governments offer jobs in their individual National Informatics Centre (NIC) and Space Application Centres with various State Electricity Boards lined up to implement geoinformatics as well.With the private sector discovering the benefits of geoinformatics, there is growing demand in top companies like Google, TCS, Reliance Industries, Reliance Communciations, Reliance Energy, CyberTech Systems, Geofiny Technologies, Magnasoft Technology Services, etc.

Then there are environmental agencies, national survey and mapping organisations, mineral exploration, utility companies, emergency services, public health and epidemiology, international organisations, United Nations, crime mapping, transportation and infrastructure, tourist industry, market analysis and e-commerce and so on. Professor, reader and research positions are available in academic institutions, and the prospects of starting one's own enterprise.