Abstract
At the CTU in Prague, there is a long tradition of master degree courses in geodesy, geodetic surveying and cartography. Taking into account the fast development of information technologies in recent decades, we decided to prepare a new study program that would combine computer science with a background of geodetic and cartographic know-how. Apart from other sources, our plans were inspired and influenced by the Review of Education Needs, a report prepared by Stig Enemark (Prague 1998), and by our experience from several Virtual Academy workshops.We have decided to call this program „Geoinformatics“ to emphasize the role of computer technologies in collecting, analyzing and exploiting information about our planet. Within this presentation we will explain the basic ideas behind our new study program and emphasize the features that distinguish it from classical geodetic or cartographic programs. We will mention the connection between our new study program and several geodetic and software projects running at our institute - software development for real-time GPS applications, cooperation with the Astronomical Institute, University of Berne, on the development of so-called Bernese GPS Software, the GNU project Gama for adjustment of geodetic networks, etc.
Highlights
At the CTU in Prague, there is a long tradition of master degree courses in geodesy, geodetic surveying and cartography
The second branch of our traditional study programs, Cartography, is the study and practice of making maps or globes. We find these definitions good, but do they reveal that computer science and informatics nowadays play a key role in our discipline? This question can be important for young people deciding about the direction of their future professional career
We were tempted to call our study program “Geomatics”, at the end we voted for another new word – Geoinformatics
Summary
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet. (Romeo and Juliet – Act II, Scene II). The second branch of our traditional study programs, Cartography, is (according to [1] again) the study and practice of making maps or globes. We find these definitions good, but do they reveal that computer science and informatics nowadays play a key role in our discipline? It is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information This broad term applies to both science and technology, and integrates several specific disciplines (including geodesy, cartography, and, last but not least, geographic information systems). Informatics (or Information Science) is studied as a branch of computer science and information technology and is related to database, ontology and software engineering. Within the study of geoinformatics we will teach our students the theoretical principles of geodesy and many things about computers and information technologies
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