The Evolution of Teaching Geomatics at the Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo

Abstract

The determination of relative position of points and the graphical representation of the Earth's surface, among other knowledge of Land Survey and related Sciences, is present at different moments in the professional practice of civil engineers. At the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (EPUSP), teaching Land Survey has been taking place since the School's Foundation in the late 19th century. After this period of more than a century of teaching survey at EPUSP, scientific, methodological, and technological developments have occurred. These developments drove changes in the structure of the School and the University, in Higher Education and in the social and political context, generating new needs and demands from society, requiring engineers and surveyors to adapt to the new demands and possibilities. Facing these evolutions came Geomatics, which includes Land Survey and related areas in the era of technology and information technology. For the teaching of Geomatics, there is a constant challenge of adapting to evolutions and changes. Thus, the objective of this work is to present and discuss the evolution of Land Survey teaching at EPUSP, in the face of scientific, methodological, and technological changes and evolutions. At a time when changes and innovations in the world occur at an increasingly accelerated pace, there is a need for discussion about teaching and the use of technologies and fit to changes and evolutions ruled on teaching based on the importance of permanent concepts facing constantly changing technology.