Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute

People, technology, and information that provides the framework for the ability to link often seemingly disparate data relating to people, places, and spaces through their location. In our daily lives, many decisions are made on the basis of where we are, where we need to go to get what we want and how long it takes to get there. Gathering resources, advertising to customers, building factories and roads, delivering goods and services. All of these questions have a "where" in them, and the answer is spatial.

Spatial is accurately knowing the location of a person, object or physical asset and the distance between it and everything else that is important. To make a spatial decision, you need to perform measurements to gather the locational data, organise it so you can ask your questions and summarise the results in an easy-to-understand format. Spatial professionals play a role in every step of this workflow.

Land Surveyors make accurate measurements of the location of natural features and man-made objects and lay down the boundaries that separate your land from your neighbour's, and your state from the rival football teams.

Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry professionals use cameras and digital images to gather vast quantities of data quickly and extract measurements from these images.

Engineering and Mining surveyors gather information on geology and the lay of the land necessary to extract mineral resources and construct new buildings, roads and bridges.

Hydrographers measure and map the ever-changing coastline and hidden underwater features of our rivers and seas.

Spatial Information and Cartography professionals translate, manage and analyse spatial data and knowledge to enable decision making and to present spatial information in a graphical form such as maps and diagrams, that sum up all the data in a glance.

To get ahead in the world we first have to understand our place in it and map out where we want to go. Spatial is the key to this understanding.