The institute deals with policy, administration, collection, measurement, analysis, interpretation, portrayal and dissemination of spatially- related land and sea information, together with associated planning, design and management.

The spatial sciences involve the skills and understanding to capture, store, manage, manipulate, analyse, model, visualise, set-out and govern information that can be referenced to location.

Though predominantly perceived as geo (earth) related, spatial information can range from the anatomic to astronomic scale, from the real to the abstract entity, over any time period.

SSSI acquire, integrate, manage, analyse, interpret, map or distribute information about a location in space and time.

[4] They include a memorial to surveyor to Francis Peter MacCabe at the Calliope River Historical Village (23°57′34.71″S 151°09′06.26″E / 23.9596417°S 151.1517389°E / -23.9596417; 151.1517389 (Calliope River Historical Village Q150 survey mark)) [5] The current name, "Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute", has been chosen by a democratic process which gave all members of both SSI and ISA a vote in choosing the name.

The members of the Board of Directors are The Consultative Council handles membership, professional development, certification and service delivery.

Movement through the membership occurs via an articulation process which involves satisfying the prescribed progression and professional certification criteria.

SSSI offers a certification program to enable members and non-members to gain recognition of their competencies through a formal “portfolio-based” process.

This journal publishes original peer-reviewed research and review papers that contribute to the theory and practice of the survey and spatial sciences.