Founded in 1959 and under the leadership of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the P.R.C., the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping (short for CASM) is the multi-disciplinary comprehensive research institution with the largest surveying and mapping geographic information in China. It is the only central-level non-profit scientific research institute, with a Class A surveying & mapping qualification and the ISO quality assurance system certification. CASM has produced five academicians successively and achieved a number of major scientific and technological achievements. It takes the lead in the transformation of surveying and mapping geographic information technology while providing a solid guarantee of geographic information technology for China's economic and social development in various periods.

The goal of the CASM is to fulfill the national mission of a central-level non-profit scientific research institute in scientific and technological innovation. It will lead and promote the progress of surveying and mapping geographic information technology while shouldering the core responsibility of "two unifications" for natural resources management. It will also serve the economic & social development of China and major state strategies. CASM will become an industry leading surveying and mapping geographic information research institute within China as well as internationally renowned. 

At present, CASM boastsone academician of the CAE Member, nine National Talents such as those under the national "Ten Thousand Talents Program" and the “National Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Program”, and 22 researchers have been selected to join the team for the Ministry of Natural Resources high-level talent program, with research fields covering geodesy and navigation, photogrammetric and remote sensing, geographic information system and cartography, geospatial big data, natural resources survey and monitoring, etc. CASM has established the Institute of Geodesy and Geodynamics, the Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the Institute of Cartography and Geographic Information System, the Research Center for Geospatial Big Data Application and the Research Center for Natural Resources Survey and Monitoring and other research institutions. It has invested 5 scientific and technological enterprises; At present, CASM has 3 national scientific and technological innovation platforms, including the National Research Center for Surveying and Mapping Engineering Technology, the International Joint Research Center for Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information, and the National Field Science Observation and Research Station. There are one Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Natural Resources for Surveying and Mapping Science and Geospatial Information Technology, and the National Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information Metrology Station. So CASM has formed a mature scientific and technological innovation system for surveying and mapping geographic information, consisting of non-profit research institutes, high-tech enterprises and collaborative innovation platforms.