INTERGEO Conference: Initial Thoughts

October 5, 2010 By: Eric Gakstatter

As a first-time attendee at the INTERGEO conference, one of the largest geospatial conferences in the world, all I can say is “wow.” It's a much different type of conference than the similarly-sized Esri International User Conference.

I've been eager to attend INTERGEO for a few years as I've heard of its dynamic, but it has conflicted with the ION-GNSS conference held around the same time. I'm glad I was able to attend both this year. Today (Tuesday) was my first day at the INTERGEO conference, and it was sweet. Held in Cologne, Germany this year, it hosts ~15,000 people who are focused on geospatial technology.

INTERGEO is the only geospatial conference that rivals the vendor-specific Esri International User Conference held in San Diego every summer. In comparing the two conferences, their cultures are vastly different. As a fairly long-time attendee of the Esri conference, it’s natural that I would have the same sort of preconceived notions about INTERGEO. Naturally, my assumptions were incorrect. At the Esri UC, it’s all about technology (Esri-based) and networking. At INTERGEO, it’s all about business and networking. Today, the trade show floor, consisting of several hundred booths, was crowded with people eager to learn no matter what technical session was occurring at the time. This is quite different from the Esri experience where there are hundreds, if not more than a thousand, technical sessions to choose from and generally well attended. At INTERGEO, there are a limited number of technical sessions typically presented by a university professor (or similar Ph.D. level) or otherwise highly educated scientists.

I didn’t view this as negative, but I’ll certainly spend less time in technical sessions than I would at the Esri UC or the ION-GNSS conference I attended a couple of weeks ago. In addition to the limited number of technical presentations, they are presented in German, and although I’ve got a German last name, I do not speak the language. A few weeks ago, I inquired about a device I could use to interpret (a la United Nations meetings), but to no avail.

In addition to the two core technical tracks, INTERGEO does offer other technical tracks; the EnviroInfo 2010 and Geodetic Week tracks, also a presented by professors and Ph.D.-educated scientists.

Quite a few months ago, I offered to present a technical paper at INTERGEO. Well, not really a technical paper per se, but a paper about status and trends in GNSS as I see it. Of course, the closest thing I’ll ever have to a Ph.D. is my father's, who earned his more than 40 years ago, so although they accepted my offer, I didn’t fit in with all the Ph.D.s and scientists in the technical program, so they have me presenting at the Trend and Media Forum. This is a stage on the main exhibition floor, almost like an infomercial stage, and my presentation is in the midst of commercial presentations. My presentation is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11 a.m. For the topic, I decided on “GNSS is Changing a Lot — the Future of GNSS Mapping and Surveying.” The seating is pretty limited, as you can see in the photo below, but I believe the conference tapes and broadcasts the presentations on INTERGEO TV (www.intergeo-tv.de). After I polish my presentation up, I’ll post it later this week in my INTERGEO blog.

My Presentation The Trend and Media Forum Stage

More Conference Observations

The trade show booths are much more dynamic and visually appealing (glamor, if I may use that word) than at any other geospatial conference I’ve attended. In fact, it smacks a little of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and CTIA Wireless trade shows in Las Vegas…cool little gimmicks in the booth, huge video screens, and some very high-tech 3D visualization displays, complete with 3D goggles.

Geovision 9.0 - 3D Goggles

Some manufacturers who have low-profile exhibits at the Esri User Conference have absolutely massive display exhibits at INTERGEO, with Leica Geosystems and Sokkia to name two. JAVAD GNSS also had a very large exhibit area.

There also a good number of companies that you don’t even see at the Esri UC that have a significant presence here. Specifically, Chinese manufacturers such as CHC Nav, and FOIC are exhibiting in an area of the trade-show floor seemingly dedicated to the Chinese contingent.

CHC Navigation FOIF South Surveying Instruments

The exhibition area isn’t limited to indoor space. There is a fairly significant outdoor demonstration area that looked like a bunch of aliens with 10-15 people walking around with GNSS RTK rovers mounted on rangepoles.

RTK Rovers Galore in the Outside Demo area

Also in the outdoor arena, the impressive Topcon road show semi-truck trailer illustrated the value of GNSS for machine control, among other things.

Topcon Road Show Trailer Inside the Topcon Road Show Trailer

Since INTERGEO is vendor-independent, most of the major manufacturers of geospatial software have a presence, such as Esri, Autodesk, Intergraph, MapInfo (Pitney Bowes Business Insight), Bentley Systems, Smallworld (General Electric), and Carlson.

Yes, this is arguably the most significant geospatial event, with the only competition being the Esri UC, so of course, Esri President Jack Dangermond is making an appearance. He’s presenting at tomorrow’s (Wednesday) plenary along with Prof. Dr.-Ing Hansjorg Kutterer and Dr.-Ing. Hartmut Streuff of the Federal Ministry of the Environment (Germany). Of course, I should be attending that one as I’m fairly certain that Mr. Dangermond will be presenting in English. :-)

Some other photos I shot today:

Nice to see a variety of GIS software manufacturers

Even the EGNOS folks had a booth. The rumor mill says that European surveying and mapping users don't believe that EGNOS can be used reliably for sub-meter mapping. I think I'll stop by their booth tomorrow and tell them about the success that North America has enjoyed from WAAS. Yes, my European brethren, EGNOS can be used reliably for sub-meter mapping.

Follow the rest of my show blogs at INTERGEO at http://www.gpsworld.com/gis/live-event

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