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The statistics are impressive: an expected 500 plus public and private sector exhibitors occupying a record-breaking 30,000 square metres of floor space in the city’s leading events centre; an anticipated 16,000 visitors from 90 countries; a packed conference programme; a myriad of side events. And behind the scenes, a mammoth exercise by show organisers, Hinte GmbH and hosts, the DVW (Germany’s Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management), to make it an event to remember. â©
One thing certain is the show’s growing international appeal. “We anticipate that 40% of visitors and 50% of exhibitors at Stuttgart will come from outside Germany and that the percentage of non-German visitors will rise to around 50% at next year’s INTERGEO in Hamburg,” notes Christoph Hinte, CEO of Hinte GmbH.â©â©
Mapping out the futureâ©
The conference will convene with keynote speeches from Chris Cappelli of Esri on “The Age of the Location Platform: How Mapping and GIS are Transforming the Work Environment” and from Prof. Georg Gartner of Vienna’s University of Applied Sciences) and President of the International Cartographic Association, on “The Future of the Map – the Map of the Future”. â©
A major topic of discussion at last year’s conference in Berlin – the European Union INSPIRE Directive - remains a key theme of this year’s gathering. Other topics high on the agenda will be geodata for construction management, as well as issues relating to property markets and valuations – all of which are central to the evolving concept of “smart cities” and “smart villages”. Another highlight will be a panel discussion on “Geospatial information – a key element for emerging markets” with high profile speakers including Bengt Kjellson (UN-GGIM Europe), Ola Rollen (Hexagon), Steve Berglund (Trimble) and Chris Cappelli (Esri).â©
Issues surrounding geoinformation and mobility will be addressed by the DVW and DDGI (Germany’s national Association for Geographic Information), while Geospatial 4.0, Big Data, and geospatial networks will receive special attention as topics of international significance. “INTERGEO is the ideal forum for discussing processes that could eventually benefit the entire value-added chain,” says Prof. Karl-Friedrich Thöne, President of DVW. While the importance of data cannot be underestimated, visualisation can be equally critical – a point to be highlighted in presentations mounted during German Cartographers’ Day, which this year forms part of INTERGEO. â©
Breaking all recordsâ©
The exhibition will debut a range of new targeted topic platforms including a Printing Solution Park with its focus on generative manufacturing technologies that offer new opportunities to the GIS and AEC sectors. “Using quick and cost-effective print processes to visualise and produce 3D models improves decision-making at the planning stage and cuts production costs thereafter”, says Daniel Katzer, Hinte’s Director of Market Segment GEO & IT for the event. â©
Katzer is also pleased at the level of overseas interest in an event that has already set a new benchmark by signing-up exhibitors from 25 countries and reserving an additional hall. “Exhibitors have expanded their floor space by an average of more than ten percent since 2014 and we continue to receive requests, especially from companies in foreign countries,” he says. While greater representation from North and South America will be evident in Stuttgart, bookings from the United Kingdom have increased significantly. Indeed, many UK businesses will be participating in a UK Pavilion that will be more than double its size at last year’s INTERGEO in Berlin. â©
For Hinte Managing Director Olaf Freier, the move is particularly welcomed. “We’ve worked hard with Pavilion hosts GeoConnexion over the past four years to provide a cost-effective platform for UK companies and organisations. To see this grow year-on-year is both testament to the export interest of those participating and to the strong overall growth in Anglo-German trade.”â©â©
Our preview continues by sampling who’s who and what’s new at this year’s INTERGEO.â©
A feature of the INTERGEO exhibition over recent years has been the number and variety of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) on display. 2015 will be no exception thanks to a new, heavily application-oriented “Interaerial Solutions” platform in Hall 8 of Messe Stuttgart. “Compared to the presentations at INTERGEO 2010 alone, the proportion of UAS manufacturers and service providers from this sector grew continuously to over ten percent of exhibitors in 2014,” says Olaf Freier, who adds, “The new platform provides a clearly-structured showcase for visitors and users.” Complementing the exhibit, which has been spearheaded in a partnership between Hinte GmbH and the German-speaking Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle Association (UAV DACH), will be a UAS forum and an outdoor Flightzone where visitors will be able to see the latest industry offerings for inspection and monitoring, surveying, cartography and GIS data capture.â©
As in previous years, an expert panel has met in Karslruhe in advance of INTERGEO to discuss trends and innovations in the geoinformation industry. Geospatial 4.0 was very much to the fore of those discussions and panellist agreed that the intelligent networking of sensors, data and services is defining technological and strategic developments in the industry. Representatives of the INTERGEO Advisory Board that represents exhibitors - Prof. Gerd Buziek (ESRI Deutschland Group GmbH), Alexander Georg (Leica Geosystems GmbH) and Jörg Amend (Trimble GmbH) - see the trend as being towards networking systems to optimise processes. Equally important in their thinking is the internationality of the event and the focus on vertical markets. In this respect, they regard INTERGEO as the leading dialogue platform for knowledge and technology transfer.
