The term telematics describes the combination of the transmission of information over a telecommunication network and the computerised processing of this information. It is the anglicised version of the French word télématique which is a merger of the words télécommunication and informatique and has been coined 1978 by Simon Nora and Alain Minc in their report titled L'Informatisation de la société [1].
The recent developments of computer and telecommunication technology allow to combine wireless telecommunication and mobile computing devices. As a result, there is a shift in the interpretation of the term telematics towards applications based on wireless communication. In addition, it is often presumed that at least one computing device is involved which is not a conventional computer or laptop.
| [1] |
S. Nora and A. Minc.
L'Informatisation de la société. Rapport à M. le Président de la République.
La Documentation Française, Paris, 1978.
English translation: The Computerization of Society. A report to the President of France. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1980. |