Of great interest to many attendees was the Vendor Hall, attracting around 70 vendors from all around the world, each displaying the latest technologies to aid in remote sensing and photogrammetry.
One clear trend on the floor was 3D laser scanning/LiDAR hardware and software. With the majority of vendors offering one or the other, each with different capabilities and uses, it’s clear that the age of 3D data is well and truly upon us.
Hexagon, Platinum Sponsor of the Congress, was there, representing its Intergraph/ERDAS, Leica Geosystems and Z/I Imaging brands.
ESRI (US) was also present Silver Sponsors of the Congress, and had representatives on-hand to demonstrate its latest 10.1 release of ArcGIS, including its cloud integration, ArcGIS Online.
Other vendors of note were:
Euclidion from Brisbane, which started its life as a gaming company, but now offers a unique method for compressing and rapidly viewing the immense amount of data generated through laser scanning (gamers may recall its “unlimited detail” videos – and the subsequent backlash from ill-informed sceptics – last year. Well, the technology works, and is now being applied in spatial contexts).
Other Australian vendors included: AAM, which provides a range of systems for the collection, analysis, and presentation of geospatial information; Aerodata, aerial surveying company providing aerial photography, LiDAR, hyperspectral, and thermography surveys; AEROmetrex, specialising in digital orthophoto and seamless mosaic production, and survey-accurate terrain and feature capture; Hyvista, world-wide provider of airborne hyperspectral remote sensing imagery and information products.
Intergraph
Other providers from around the world included: Astrium from France, formely SPOT Image and Infoterra, provides exclusive access to data from the SPOT, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, and Pleiades satellites; Blue Marble from the US, developer and provider of accurate geospatial data conversion software; DAT/EM from the US, software developer for digital mapping and photogrammetric applications; Earthmine creator of 3D street-level imagery, including collection hardware, software and cloud-based hosting; Optech from Canada, developer, manufacturer, and supporter of LiDAR camera survey instruments for airborne mapping, airborne LiDAR bathymetry, mobile mapping, terrestrial laser scanning, mine cavity monitoring, and industrial process control; RapidEye from Germany, provider of high-resolution satellite imagery; and RIEGL from Austria, R&D and producers of laser scanners, rangefinders, and distance meters.
