is the most important technology world-wide for

• the acquisition of cartographic or
  environmental data from airborne and
  spaceborne imagery
• the production of planning documents for
  urban and rural developement programmes,
  especially in developing countries

is concerned with

• the methods of acquisition, storage, query
  and analysis of spatially referenced data
• the applications of geo-information systems
  in the field of urban and rural planning, land
  and resource management, as well as
  environmental monitoring