GeoBusiness 2015

Today was the second and last day of The GeoBusiness Show in London. Billed as "The Geospatial Event", it was a chance for anyone and everyone associated with capturing, manipulating and presenting spatial data to meet and exchange new ideas as well as show off their wares.

The exhibition floor was reportedly 64% larger than last years inaugural show and this was evident by the additional stands situated at the entrance of the Business Centre in Angel.

GeoBusiness Show 2015

As ever, the Leica stand took centre stage. However, ironically, having spent the time and money attending the show, the in-joke was that Leica is about to announce a leap forward in technology and all of the Reps were sworn to secrecy before the official announcement on 1st June. Even its distributors, such as Opti-cal, had been instructed not to reveal any information!

Meanwhile, other brands such as Topcon were not so secretive and it was great to meet previous co-worker Peter Roberts, now Technical Support Manager, who enthusiastically demonstrated Topcons new instrumentation.

The show was ideal for company directors such as Steve Ashcroft of Paragon Surveys to discover new products that might be useful in carrying out surveys in ways not possible before now. The event was also a showcase for suppliers to gauge interest by demonstrating working prototypes of new gadgets and gizmos.

Personally, I did not have enough time to fully engage with this years event, but more than made up for this by meeting the legendary Ralph Perez, owner of New York Geomatics, whilst on a rare visit to London. Ralph is a great ambassador for the industry and it was an honour to meet up in person.

The future of surveying is assured and whilst technology is making the collection of data even easier and quicker, it is still driven by the surveyor and his imagination and skill.