In India, the overall context of Geomatics is still in its infancy but is fast becoming a major element of the resources management and decision making sector. Much of the efforts in Geomatics and its allied fields is concentrated amongst a limited number of government agencies and a smaller number of the private sector agencies.

Some of the agencies that are involved in the field of Geomatics are as follows:

• Survey of India (SOI), who have the mandate to establish the digital cartographic database for the country.
• National Informatics Centre (NIC), who has the largest computer network in the country and has tabular databases, organised for a major part of the country. NIC also promotes the Informatics culture amongst the different government agencies.
• Department of Science & Technology (DST), who provide a thrust to different technologies – database organisation, information processing etc.
• Census department of the centre and the states who have computerised the total census operations of 1991 and have provided the census data in digital mode.
• Department of Space (DOS), which through its constellation of Indian Remote Sensing satellites, IRS and communications satellites, INSAT, provide the necessary infrastructure for data acquisition and dissemination. It also has the major role in the establishment of the National Natural Resources Management System, NNRMS.
• Industries who are involved in the development of different computing systems and in providing information technology to meet Indian needs and applications.
• Educational institutions, universities and IIT’s etc., who provides the research inputs to many of the problems associated with Geomatics.
• A host of user agencies who address applications in various isciplines. Many of these agencies have initiated projects to organise operational information systems in various fields.
  To list a few:
• Geological Survey of India (GSI)
• National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO)
• Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO)
• National Capital Regional Planning Board (NCRPB)
• Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA)
• All India Soils and Land Use Survey (AISLUS)
• Defense Terrain Research Laboratory (DTRL)
• Defense Electronics Applications Laboratory (DEAL)
• National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSSLUP)
• Various state departments and organisations, private sector agencies etc.
• Many Private entrepreneurs – Architects, Civil Engineers, Surveyors, Service agencies ?etc., who have adopted informatics based tools for their profession.

There is a large body of professionals working in these organisations. There is a need to promote interaction between these professionals and also promote the advancement of the technology and applications of Geomatics so that it becomes a part of the information management and decision making process. It is to serve to this end that the Indian Society of Geomatics has been formed.