Information about the curriculum, admission, and the ABET accreditation can be found at Geomatics Engineering program at FAU
You can also download a brochure of the FAU Geomatics Engineering program (CEGE brochure).
What is Geomatics?
Most people do not know exactly what is Geomatics. It is a new term, a modern name of surveying and mapping.
Geomatics is defined as a systemic, multidisciplinary, integrated approach to selecting the instruments and the appropriate techniques for collecting, storing, integrating, modelling, analyzing, retrieving at will, transforming, displaying and distributing spatially georeferenced data from different sources with well-defined accuracy characteristics, continuity and in a digital format.
A short version of definition of Geomatics is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information.
A brief history of Geomatics:
Michel Paradis, a French-Canadian surveyor, introduced geomatics as a new scientific term in an article published in 1981. He claimed that at the end of the 20th century the needs for geographical information would reach a scope without precedent in history and in order to address these needs, it was necessary to integrate in a new discipline both the traditional disciplines of land surveying and the new tools and techniques of data capture, manipulation, storage and diffusion.
The rapid progress and increased visibility of geomatics since the 1990s has been made possible by advances in computer hardware, computer science, and software engineering, as well as by airborne and space observation remote-sensing technologies.
The term was originally used in Canada, because it is similar in origin to both French and English, but has since been adopted by the International Organization for Standardization, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and many other international authorities, although some (especially in the United States) have shown a preference for the term geospatial technology.
What does a Geomatics Engineer do?
There are a wide variety of jobs available to a geomatics engineer in design, development and operation of systems for mapping information about the land, the oceans, our natural resources and manmade features.
A geomatics engineer works in land surveying, remote sensing, cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), global-navigation satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Compass), photogrammetry, geophysics, geography, and related forms of earth mapping.
Why FAU Geomatics Engineering program is special?
- The Bachelor of Science in Geomatics Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.
- The program provides a unique environment to prepare students for the Principles and Practice of Land Surveying (PS) and the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exams that lead to professional licensing. Graduates from the FAU Geomatics Engineering program is eligible to take the Fundamentals of Surveying (FS) exam to get a surveyor’s license. In 2015, 4 of the 6 students who took the the F.S. exam in Florida are the FAU Geomatics Engineering students.
- Graduates from the FAU Geomatics Engineering program have 100% job placement.
- FAU civil engineering program graduates had the highest average quarterly salary and the second highest rate of job placement among the civil engineering programs in Florida public universities
- The FAU Geomatics Engineering program covers a diverse area in surveying, remote sensing, photogrammetry, satellite positioning, and laser scanning.
- Most of the surveying courses offered in this program are online. Students can take the courses with a flexible schedule as long as you have Internet access. The lab sessions (usually scheduled at weekends) are required for advanced surveying courses to give the students hand-on experiences.
Surveying Equipment from FAU Geomatics Engineering Progam
| EQUIPMENT | QUANTITY |
| Wood / Fiberglass Quick Clamp Tripod | 16 |
| Rod Level | 16 |
| Recon 400 NX | 5 |
| Single Prism Assembly Aluminum Mount | 10 |
| Quick-Lok Prism Pole | 5 |
| Thumb Release BiPod | 5 |
| Brass Plumb Bob | 11 |
| Lufkin 100 Foot Super HIway Nubian | 5 |
| Seco Turning Plate | 5 |
| Leica TCR405power RL Total Station | 5 |
| Leica NA730 30X Auto Level | 5 |
| Leica TCRP1205+ Robotic Total Station | 1 |
| Allegro CS / RCS Data Collector | 1 |
| Leica DNA03 Digital Level | 1 |
| Invar Code Lev Staff 3M | 2 |
| GSL2 Pair of Struts | 2 |
| GLUS1 Ground Plate | 2 |
| GKNL4F 13.3 Foot Level Rod | 2 |
| CST 60-TFG20 Aluminum Floor Tree | 5 |
| DNA Precision Digital Level | 4 |
| TOPCON – Imaging Station | 1 |
| Lowe’s Quik Shade 10 x 10 Canopy | 2 |
| Hydrolite for hydrographic surveying | 1 |
| Gravimeter | 1 |