History of GIS

Geoinformatics is the science and the technology
which develops and uses information science
infrastructure to address the problems of geography ,
cartography , geosciences locations and related
branches of science and engineering.
Overview
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" [1] or "the
art, science or technology dealing with the acquisition,
storage, processing production, presentation and
dissemination of geoinformation". [2]
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.
[3]
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 .
Branches of geoinformatics include:
Cartography
Geodesy
Global Navigation Satellite Systems
Photogrammetry
Remote Sensing
Spatial Analysis
Web mapping
Research
Research in this field is used to support global and
local environmental, energy and security programs.
The Geographic Information Science and Technology
group of Oak Ridge National Laboratory is supported
by various government departments and agencies
including the United States Department of Energy . It is
currently the only group in the United States
Department of Energy National Laboratory System to
focus on advanced theory and application research in
this field. There are also a lot of interdiscipline
research involved in geoinformatics fields including
computer science, information technology, software
engineering, biogeography, geography, conservation,
architecture, spatial analysis and reinformacement
learning.
Applications
Many fields benefit from geoinformatics, including
urban planning and land use management, in-car
navigation systems, virtual globes, public health, local
and national gazetteer management, environmental
modeling and analysis, military, transport network
planning and management, agriculture, meteorology
and climate change, oceanography and coupled ocean
and atmosphere modelling, business location planning,
architecture and archeological reconstruction,
telecommunications, criminology and crime simulation,
aviation, biodiversity conservation and maritime
transport. The importance of the spatial dimension in
assessing, monitoring and modelling various issues
and problems related to sustainable management of
natural resources is recognized all over the world.
Geoinformatics becomes very important technology to
decision-makers across a wide range of disciplines,
industries, commercial sector, environmental agencies,
local and national government, research, and
academia, national survey and mapping organisations,
International organisations, United Nations, emergency
services, public health and epidemiology, crime
mapping, transportation and infrastructure, information
technology industries, GIS consulting firms,
environmental management agencies), tourist industry,
utility companies, market analysis and e-commerce,
mineral exploration, etc. Many government and non
government agencies started to use spatial data for
managing their day-to-day activities.