In Concept

Planimetrics has two roots: “planar

” and “metrics,” which is a form of the suffix “-metry

.” Essentially, the word refers to two-dimensional space, and the art of measuring, respectively.

In Geography

The field of geography

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

 requires an innate understanding of planimetrics because there are often cases in which some geographic element has a limitation regarding how well it can be represented in a two-dimensional space.

Planimetrics is fundamental to the creation of maps, the representation of real-life features as seen on a three-dimensional Earth, and accurately portraying them on a two-dimensional surface.
Maps are the primary way in which people view geographic information. Planimetric elements are represented on two-dimensional maps as they are seen from the air, or in aerial photography, and often include features such as: roads, building footprints, sidewalks, trails, rivers, lakes, etc. These features are often digitized from orthorectified aerial photography

Aerial photography

Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...

into data layers that can be used in analysis and cartographic outputs.