Geoinformation plays a pivotal role in many areas – at INTERGEO, the world’s leading conference trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management, more than 500 exhibitors from 30 countries and some 1,300 international experts will be considering the current status and future of the solution-focused geo-industry. “INTERGEO trains the spotlight on key socio-political issues”, says Prof. Karl-Friedrich Thöne, President of the German Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management (DVW. e. V.), who is responsible for hosting INTERGEO from 8 to 10 October 2013 in Essen. With around 16,000 visitors expected from over 80 countries, two of the focal points of the 19th INTERGEO will be the energy turnaround and the smart city.
“I think this is a major opportunity to shape the energy turnaround with the advantages that Germany offers and utilise it as a driver for economic growth”, says Thöne. It goes without saying, he continues, that the “most demanding management project we have in Germany at the moment”, will involve a great many challenges that geodesists are keen to tackle. Thöne announced the publication of a position paper on the energy turnaround by the DVW, BDVI and VDV associations that will be unveiled at INTERGEO on 8 October. The entire INTERGEO conference on Tuesday will be devoted to “geoinformation in the context of the energy turnaround”.
State Secretary Rogall-Grothe launches “INSPIRE kommunal”
The 2nd national INSPIRE Conference will highlight that the time is right for local authorities. INSPIRE, the EU Directive for a shared geodata infrastructure, will deliver extremely useful operational benefits right down to the lowest administrative level. This will be demonstrated on 9 October from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the high-level conference that is part of the INTERGEO Conference by, among other things, a “speed dating” event.
Six examples of good practice will show local authorities how they can improve their local economic development or increase citizen participation, for example. Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, will be giving the keynote speech at the “INSPIRE kommunal” INSPIRE Conference. The government’s representative for information technology will be focusing on “INSPIRE and open data – framework for innovative geomanagement”.
“Dynamic GIS”
Dr. Jürgen Dold, President and CEO of Leica Geosystems AG, will be in charge of the eagerly anticipated plenary session on “Dynamic GIS” on the second day of INTERGEO at 9.30 a.m. The development of sensor technology, cloud computing and web-based GIS applications is opening up new opportunities and transforming business processes. His keynote speech will address a number of emerging developments.
Dovetailing of conference and trade fair – not just for open data
While the conference provides some theoretical and scientific answers to key issues, exhibitors at the trade fair provide a practical and user-oriented counterpart. INTERGEO’s strengths have long been applied to more than just open data and big data. While the conference tackles, for example, “open data developments in North-Rhine Westphalia”, the trade fair demonstrates the potential available to users by intelligently linking open data. On GovData, the test data portal for Germany that provides central access to the data of all administrative levels, geodata forms the third strongest category (geographic, geology and basic geodata).
Smart Ruhr region
Essen, an urban centre in the Ruhr region, is the perfect location for taking a closer look at the implications of the smart city concept. “The Ruhr region is reinventing itself” is the title of the plenary session of Garrelt Duin, Minister for Economic Affairs for North Rhine-Westphalia, on the opening day of INTERGEO. And the focus of “innovative urban development” is on the InnovationCity Ruhr | Modellstadt Bottrop project. The trade fair exhibits services such as the Citizen Science Platform enviroCar, which gathers, compiles and analyses data from cars to encourage individuals to show greater awareness while driving and ensure we are more environmentally friendly on the roads.
The sky’s the limit – SAT NAV Forum and UAS joint stands
Projects involving the joint expertise of specialists in satellite navigation, communication technology and geoinformation have already delivered excellent results due to the innovative synergy effects they yielded. Similar results are expected from the joint stand of the European Space Agency (ESA), the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the SAT NAV Forum (Hall 1, A1.006) that bundles the innovative potential of German SMEs in all aspects of intelligent navigation. The joint stand of UAS-INSYS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Hall 3, F3.137) will be providing expertise on fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. The use of drones for data capture has almost always had a strong presence at INTERGEO and its potential is far from exhausted.
Brazil Pavilion and Trend and Media Forum
Technical further developments, new versions and systems, mobile GIS, cloud computing, big data, the Open Source Park (Hall 1, H1.032) and 3D – INTERGEO covers all these topics and many more. “This year, INTERGEO has taken another important step with regard to its positioning in Europe and beyond. For example, the MundoGeo network has established close cooperation with partners in Latin America, which is currently a very interesting economic area,” says Olaf Freier, Managing Director of Hinte GmbH, which organises the fair. He is referring to the new Brazil Pavilion (Hall 2, D2.005) where six companies will be seeking international contacts.
At the Trend and Media Forum (Hall 2, F2.020) on Tuesday (12 noon) and Thursday (10 a.m.), two half days will be dedicated to the needs of talented young people at the career forum. On Wednesday at 4 p.m., the spotlight will be trained on the three winners of the DVW’s GIS Best Practice Award. First place was won by a consortium led by the Technical University of Berlin’s Centre for Technology and Society. Its GIS simulation of the cascading failure of supply grids in the event of an emergency was recognised as a prime example of geoexpertise. If talk turns to smart grids, you can be sure that mention of the energy turnaround is not far away – and the topic comes full circle.
DVW – Gesellschaft für Geodäsie, Geoinformation und Landmanagement e.V. is the host of INTERGEO. The 19th INTERGEO will take place from 8 to 10 October 2013 in Essen.
