The goal of this paper is to discuss the capabilities of ESA satellite
missions Gaia and of the photographic LDS surveys for investigation of cataclysmic variables
(CVs). We show that both of them can contribute to the study of CVs and
related objects. Spectrophotometry and low-dispersion spectroscopy are the
most important for CV analyses with the observations of Gaia. We present
the possible strategies for investigation of CVs in the sampled photometric
and spectroscopic data provided by Gaia. E.g. statistical properties of
the long-term activity of various types of CVs can be determined from them.