International Journal of Advanced Science and Research 66 International Journal of Advanced Science and Research ISSN: 2455-4227, Impact Factor: RJIF 5.12 www.allsciencejournal.com Volume 1; Issue 5; May 2016; Page No. 66-78 Geoinformatics: A blend of geospatial information technologies for regional development Dr. Madan Mohan Associate Professor of Geography, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences-III, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India Abstract Geoinformatics is a science dealing with the geospatial information, principally informatics, acquisition systems and digital data processing. There are many disciplines and techniques which are constituting to the geoinformatics namely, geomatics, geodesy, photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems, cartography, global navigation and positioning satellite systems, decision support systems, and Web-GIS for mapping. So, the geoinformatics is the integration of different disciplines dealing with geospatial information and technologies. The new technological revolution impacted to the functionality of geoinformatics, especially in many disciplines which were progressed rapidly over recent past like processing of observations to the GIS, DSS, and expert systems. Geoinformatics technology provides the emphasis for community involvement on a large scale for testing to enhance and retain earth sciences research for the betterment of the humanity. So, the spatial and non-spatial information storage into digital form and the interlinkages between them can be made on the basis of geographic proximity. The data availability from different geographical regions can often proposes for new insights and explanations of the world. Such interconnection are often possible with the help of Geoinformatics which is playing a vital role in understanding and managing earth resources for sustainable development. So, the high-quality education and professional oriented training in geoinformatics will definitely open large avenues for job opportunities at the local, regional and global levels for the regional development and planning. Keywords: Geoinformatics, geospatial technologies, geospatial information, experts systems, regional development Introduction Geoinformatics is the integration of different disciplines dealing with geospatial information. Geospatial information is forever related to geographic space. It signifies to the immediate geographic world. Geographic space is the space of topography, landuse/landcover, climatic, cadastral, and other landscape features of geographic world. Geographic information systems technology is applied to manipulate objects in geographic space, and to obtain information from spatial facts (Goodchild, 1992) [29] . Spatial data management encompasses many disciplines. Each of these disciplines are differentiated on the basis of characteristics as firstly, the advancement of spatial notions: geography, reasoning science, linguistics, psychology; secondly, the procedure of capturing and processing of spatial data: remote sensing, photogrammetry, surveying and cartography; thirdly, the formal and theoretical foundation: computer science, expert systems, mathematics, statistics; fourthly, the application fields: geographical analysis, environmental sciences, geosciences, biosciences, urban and regional development and planning (Goodchild, 2004) [30] . In order to share the geospatial information, the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) facility was set-up for international information cooperation which came into existence in July 2003. The term spatial data information was officially introduced as information related to three- dimensional space to the terrestrial globe (Crompvoets, et al., 2004) [23] . The fundamental objective of the GSDI organization is to encourage international cooperation and collaboration in support of local, national, and international spatial data infrastructure developments which will allow all the nations to better address their social, economic, and environmental issues at large. So, the geospatial information is a good definition of the space which is measured, described, and represented in its three dimensions and to be made available over and over again (Burrough and McDonnell, 1998) [14] . More recently, there have been emerged the enterprise geodatabase as the central storehouse for spatial data, handling. It provides continuous data without tile edges, in an open relational database such as Dbase 2 ® , Oracle ® , Informix ® , and SQL Server™. All these facilitates to the production of a wide range of valuable analytical and cartographical products. Though, it is centred on a geodatabase that not only supplies the major seamless GIS data; but also provides the full specifications, procedures, and outcomes for all products along with the freedom and tools to create top-quality cartography in real time (Chang, 2008) [17] . So, the noteworthy issues like the global climate change and shrinking resources have heightened our awareness that how much humanity depends on the dynamic and complex systems of the earth’s environment. For judicious management of the existing resources and excavating new ones in view of the environment sustainability requires an enhanced level of cooperation and a sensible usage of our growing geo-databases, at large (Clarke, et al., 2006) [18] . So, the geoinformatics is the integration of different disciplines dealing with geospatial information i.e. informatics, geodesy and thematic data as schematically presented in the Figure 1.1. Earlier, a term similar to geoinformatics and sometimes used synonymous to this is geomatics. It was initially introduced in Canada, and became standard term in French speaking