Geomatics (including geomatics engineering), also known as surveying engineering or geospatial science (including geospatial engineering and geospatial technology), is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information or spatially referenced information. In other words, it "consists of products, services and tools involved in the collection, integration and management of geographic data". 

Michel Paradis, a French-Canadian surveyor, introduced "geomatics" as a new scientific term in an article published in 1981 in "The Canadian Surveyor" and in a keynote address at the centennial congress of the Canadian Institute of Surveying in April 1982. 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. 

Geomatics includes the tools and techniques used 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. 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".
How was the term introduced to the scientific community
in an article published in 1981 in "The Canadian Surveyor"