Geo Week 2022 Brings the Geospatial and Built Worlds Together In-Person, Exceeds Expectations

Geo Week is the coming together of former stand-alone events AEC Next Technology Expo & Conference, International Lidar Mapping Forum, and SPAR 3D Expo & Conference, and powerful partnership events including ASPRS Annual Conference, MAPPS Annual Conference and USIBD Annual Symposium.

Geo Week had a sold-out exhibit hall floor featuring 140+ companies and the event brought together 1,890 verified professionals out of more than 2,100 registrants, representing 49 states and 48 countries, cementing its place as the premier event for increased integration between the built environment, advanced airborne/terrestrial technologies, and commercial 3D technologies.

“The turnout was tremendous,” said Lee Corkhill, Group Director at Diversified Communications, which produces the event. “After so much time apart, it was clear that the industry was ready to connect again in person. By bringing together multiple events under one roof, the event surpassed every expectation this year and we are thrilled to be back supporting our customers and helping to advance geospatial and the built world.”

Geo Week kicked off Sunday, February 6, with Product Previews, followed by two and a half days of extensive conference programming from 125+ speakers, including keynote presentations from innovators at Draper, Microsoft, USGS, Planet, EndeavorXR, NVIDIA and NASA. The keynote presentations can be accessed online here.

The excitement on the expansive exhibit hall floor was palpable. Best-in-class solutions from the most influential companies were on display, allowing attendees to source the latest geospatial and built world innovations while networking with vendors and one another. Dozens of new products were introduced at Geo Week making it a true hub for innovation.

Special features of the 2022 event included a Pitch the Press event, during which the latest products from NavVis, Avatour and Prostar GeoCorp were chosen from 16 presentations that were pitched rapid-fire to a panel of high-profile press representatives at Geo Week. These solutions represented the cutting edge in reality capture, collaborative work and visualization tools.

The Geo Week Awards Ceremony celebrated excellence across the geospatial industry in collaboration with LIDAR Magazine, LiDAR News and ASPRS. The LIDAR Leaders Awards recognized accomplishments from Emesent, Outsight, University of Oregon, Minnesota 3DGeomatics Committee and a posthumous award honoring Martin Isenburg of Rapid Lasso. The Younger Geospatial Professional Award recognized Rami Tamimi, the founder and chief geodetic engineer at GEOIC. The Geo Week Awards ceremony can be viewed here.

Numerous networking events were held, including the Welcome Happy Hour sponsored by Trimble and the sold-out Elevated Networking Reception sponsored by MAPPS and Sanborn Map Company.

Many attendees expressed excitement at returning to in-person events. Nathan Hopper, Project Manager/Lead Scientist at Woolpert, remarked, “It's been a great turnout. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see people, talk to people, sit down with people, and not present yourself on a screen across to an empty medium, so that's been fantastic. That's what we missed during the pandemic.”

Jason Stoker, Physical Scientist at USGS, shared the sentiment, “It's been great to get back out after two years and actually see people face to face. I think everybody's really happy to be around and interface face to face again.”

The theme of technological collaboration across teams was prevalent throughout the conference. Amy Peck, Founder and CEO of EndeavorVR, commented, "To understand the workforce and their workflows, we need to be smart about how we introduce this technology, because it touches every single aspect of building lifecycle management from the design phase, even the investment phase."

Hopper continued, “That's why we come together as communities. So we can establish relationships, foster relationships, look at people, and establish trust. When you're in an industry, it takes a team of industry members to make things happen for projects, and you have to have that level of trust. And it's just something you cannot establish or maintain in a remote setting.”

Geo Week was supported by 148 publications, portals, associations, user groups, analysts, cooperating events, government agencies, non-profits and others. “We are grateful to the partners who chose to back and promote this event. Their engagement is so important, and we look forward to continuing to provide value to one another in the coming years,” said Corkhill.

“By convening the most influential companies and thought leaders to share their expertise and solutions, we gave everyone involved in the geospatial and built world markets the opportunity to learn from the best,” said Corkhill. The next iteration of Geo Week takes place February 13-15, 2023 in Denver, CO.

www.geo-week.com