The National Geomatics Center of China (NGCC), also functioned as National Archives for Surveying and Mapping, is a governmental agency, subordinating to State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM).  NGCC has a quota of 150 staff members.

NGCC deals with the collection and processing, construction and maintenance, dissemination and service, and, application research development of national fundamental geographical information, as well as the planning, design and execution of major surveying and mapping projects, with an objective to establish “Digital China” geospatial infrastructure.

More precisely, the main responsibilities of NGCC are:

• management of national surveying and mapping data and archives,
• construction, maintenance, updating and development of national fundamental GIS,
• construction thematic database ordered by the SBSM,
• conduction of major surveying and mapping projects ordered by the SBSM,
• organization and execution of aerial photography for the whole country, and
• application development and maintenance of the surveying and mapping networks in China.

NGCC has the eight major professional functions as follows:

• Construction and maintenance of four national databases and archives:
  • digital map database,
  • digital image database,
  • geodetic surveying database,
  • thematic database, and
  • surveying data archive
• construction and running of
  • digital map database management system,
  • geodetic surveying database management system, and
  • national geospatial data dissemination and service system 

NGCC is regarded as the national team in the field of fundamental geographic information, in terms of engineering projects, technological research, application development and information dissemination.  It has undergone the transition from traditional analogue surveying systems to modern digital systems comprising of GPS, remote sensing, GIS and Internet technology.  It functions as the main node in the national information highway and has also become a window open to the society in terms of geographical information service. 

NGCC is a surveying and mapping organization with Class A certification.  It is qualified to provide

• multiple-scale analogue map and digital map to governmental organizations and agencies,
• data of geodetic datum with various precision (i.e. national Astro-Geodetic Network, GPS network, Gravity Network and Geoid leveling network),
• processed aerial and satellite images with multi-resolution,
• surveying and mapping archiving service.

NGCC has rich experience and competitive competence in the design and development of thematic geographic information systems, production of electronic map, database construction and relevant software development, NFGIS standard development, technological consultancy.  NGCC has the capacity of production, organization and execution of surveying and mapping engineering project, and the design of related R&D projects.

In recent years, NGCC has paid a great attention to technological accumulation and innovation. On one hand, NGCC has actively pushed forward the construction of fundamental geographic information database and the modernization of the management of surveying and mapping archives, and, on the other hand, it strengthens the value-added application development, resulting in a various NGCC-specific products.  NGCC has also established a national postdoctoral workstation.

NGCC is the Secretariats for China GIS Association (CGISA) China GPS Association (CGPSA).  NGCC is also a corporate member of Chinese Society for Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography.  A number of staff member of NGCC are currently the office bearers of various international organizations in the relevant disciplines, such as ISPRS, ICA and PCGIAP.