Geospatial Information impacts every aspect of human life

A national mapping agency is an organisation, usually publicly owned, that produces topographic maps and geographic information of a country. Some national mapping agencies also deal with cadastral matters.

The first national mapping agency was the Ordnance Survey in the United Kingdom, its roots go back to 1747, when the compilation of a map of the Scottish Highlands was proposed. This survey at a scale of 1 inch to 1000 yards (1:36,000) was the starting point of the Principal Triangulation of Great Britain (1783–1853), and led to the creation of the Ordnance Survey itself; work was begun in earnest in 1790, when the Board of Ordnance began a national military survey at one-inch-to-the-mile (1:63,360 scale). During the next thirty years, roughly a third of England and Wales was mapped, as other military matters took precedence.

National mapping agencies are huge producers and promoters of geographic information and services for a nation. they also provide  digital and paper map products for a wide range of business and outdoor uses.