The 3D laser scanning industry is showing healthy growth in 2006 – meetings about laser scanning are springing up everywhere. To help you plan your schedule, we’ve put together this roadmap to some key industry events over the next 12 months. (If you know of other events that should be included, please contact us.)
SPAR 2007: Capturing and Documenting Existing-Conditions Data for Design, Construction and Operations, March 26-27, Sugar Land (Houston), Texas
Attendees at the three previous SPAR conferences tell us a key value of the event is the opportunity to see the entire industry from around the globe under one roof in just two days. Sponsored by 17 organizations to date, SPAR 2007 has the support of every significant supplier of 3D laser scanning hardware, software and services – some vendors tell us they time product releases and announcements around this event.
The aim of SPAR 2007 is threefold:
First, the conference will illuminate the business case for using advanced dimensional control work processes enabled by new technologies such as 3D laser scanning to achieve significant safety, cost, schedule and quality values for capital projects.
Second, attendees will upgrade their skills and learn from the very best practitioners about the best ways to address technical challenges in both the field and office.
Third, attendees can compare the newest technology from all the world’s leading suppliers of 3D laser scanning solutions, saving weeks of time otherwise required to track down the top technical people inventing and developing these new technologies.
Industry-focused tracks will feature presentations on subjects as varied as process and power, urban modeling, construction, geotechnical/mining/tunneling, civil/transportation/building, offshore/marine, forensic, and discrete manufacturing.
SPAR 2006 attracted more than 425 attendees from 20 countries.
Z+F/HI-CAD Inaugural User Group Meeting, September 19-20, 2006, League City (Houston), Texas
The Z+F/HI-CAD Inaugural User Group Meeting is underway today and tomorrow in League City, Texas – I’m here covering the event, where attendees are getting a look at new features coming in the next release, sharing work processes and meeting with company executives. www.hi-cad.com
ISPRS Commission V Symposium – Image Engineering and Vision Metrology, Dresden, Germany, September 25-27, 2006
ISPRS Commission V deals with close-range photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning, and features several sessions on laser scanner instrument design, accuracy tests, calibration strategies, 3D point cloud processing techniques and 3D object modeling. www.tu-dresden.de/ipf/symposium/
AVEVA ISEIT 2006, October 10-11, Frankfurt, Germany; October 23-24, Houston, Texas
AVEVA ISEIT (the International Symposium of Engineering IT) 2006 Americas, Houston, Texas, will include a 90-minute session on October 24 with Mark Owen from AMEC Paragon and Chris Comardo from Mustang Engineering, chaired by me, Tom Greaves. This session will be of particular interest to AVEVA users seeking to integrate point cloud data into their design, construction and asset management work processes. http://www.aveva.com/iseit/
INTERGEO 2006, October 10-12, Munich, Germany
INTERGEO is the European mega-show for surveying, geomatics and – oh, yeah – lots of 3D laser scanning too. The 2006 event had some 16,000 attendees and more than 500 exhibitors from all over the world. There were exhibits and product announcements from most major laser scanning vendors including CALLIDUS, FARO, I-SiTE, kubit, Leica Geosystems, Optech, Riegl, Trimble and Z+F. www.intergeo.de/deutsch/page/main/index.php
IAFSM Meeting, October 17-18, 2006, Salem (Boston), Massachusetts
The International Association of Forensic and Security Metrology will hold its second board meeting October 17-18, 2006 in Salem, Massachusetts. IAFSM Members and Technical Advisors in good standing are invited to attend the second half of the meeting to help plan the association’s activities to train and certify service providers for the unique requirements of law enforcement, security and forensic applications of 3D laser scanning, as well as to plan the IAFSM 2007 general meeting, which will take place in conjunction with SPAR 2007 on March 26-27 in Houston, Texas. www.iafsm.com/news/iafsm_061017.htm
Transportation Research Board 5th International Visualization in Transportation Symposium and Workshop, October 23-26, 2006, Denver, Colorado
The aim of this event is to better understand the spectrum of interests, concerns, benefits and opportunities associated with the use of visualization technologies and techniques across multiple modes of transportation and throughout the project development process. An October 25 session on “Gathering In-Place 3D Data for Design – Advancement in Surveying and Remote Sensing” moderated by Spar Point’s Bruce Jenkins will feature Jim Flint from Bohannan Huston, Paul Mrstik from Terrapoint, and Dr. John Kemeny from the University of Arizona. www.trb.org/Conferences/Visualization/
2006 Leica Geosystems HDS Worldwide User Conference, November 6-8, San Ramon, California
Leica Geosystems users will find high value in the excellent user conference organized by the company each year. At the 2005 event we and other attendees enjoyed a rare sighting of industry founder Ben Kacyra, who has clearly lost none of his enthusiasm for either the technology or its application – his work continues at www.CyArk.org. We can’t do justice to all the other fine presentations there – they were too numerous to recount. www.leica-geosystems.com/hds/en/lgs_6441.htm?id=3142
Trimble Dimensions 2006, November 6-8, Las Vegas, Nevada
Trimble users will find high value in attending Trimble Dimensions 2006. The conference structure allows Trimble 3D laser scanning customers to see not only the very latest in laser scanning hardware and software, but also how the company is integrating these technologies with its other survey instrument and software offerings, from GPS to machine control. www.trimbleevents.com/userconference06/
ASTM E57 Committee Meeting – 3D Imaging Systems, January 2007 Committee Week, January 28-30, Costa Mesa, California
Our hope is that the laser scanning industry can reach consensus on data exchange and performance evaluation. If the CAD industry’s history is any guide, finding this consensus after the industry has grown more mature comes at considerably greater expense. ASTM Committee E57 on 3D Imaging Systems, spawned from a NIST initiative, is an activity to develop consensus standards for 3D laser scanners, 3D flash ladar and other 3D imaging systems. E57 meets twice each year, in January and June, with approximately 50 members attending three days of technical meetings. www.astm.org
SPAR 2007J: Capturing and Documenting Existing-Conditions Data for Design, Construction and Operations, April 26-27, Kawasaki, Japan
SPAR 2007J is Spar Point’s third annual forum on capturing and managing existing-conditions data for Japan. Attendance at SPAR 2006J more than doubled to 187, from 65 at the inaugural event. Most of the world’s leading suppliers of 3D laser scanning hardware exhibited in 2006 including Kyokuto Boeki (Z+F), Optech, FARO Japan, Riegl Japan, Toshiba Plant Systems, SYSPRO, Topcon, Leica Geosystems, Informatix and Nikon-Trimble. Presentations by Professor Chikatsu of Tokyo Denki University, and by executives from Hitachi Plant Technologies, Shinsei Giken, Enzan Koubou, CAD CENTER, Aero Asahi, Taisei, Sohki and Mitsui Sumitomo Construction showed that many applications of 3D laser scanning in Japan today are for civil engineering and transportation system projects. Process and power industry applications are beginning to find acceptance, as is scanning of automotive production facilities. Using scanning to document cultural heritage facilities is another important application in the Japanese market. The 2007 program will be expanded to one and a half days to allow ample time for discussion and one-on-one interaction. For information please email Tom Greaves or Koji Kawamura. www.sparllc.com/spar2007j.php
Bentley BE Conference 2007, April 29-May 3, Los Angeles, California
While the program for Bentley’s BE Conference 2007 is still being organized, the 2006 event featured civil, plant, geospatial and building presentations and projects by customers including CH2M HILL, GNL Italia, Hojuara, imp, Petrofac, ProjEx Technologies and Sinclair Knight Merz where 3D laser scanning was key to the project’s success. In the exhibition area Bentley organized a Real-Time Asset Lab that included a 3D laser scanning information pod supported by Spar Point Research. www.be.org/en-US/BE+Conference/Overview.htm
Intergraph 2007 International Users Conference, May 21-24, Nashville, Tennessee
While the program for the Intergraph 2007 International User Conference is still being organized, 3D laser scanning was well represented at the 2006 event. Sponsors/exhibitors included FARO, Leica Geosystems, Optech, Quantapoint and Trimble/BitWyse. The program featured laser scanning presentations by MANA Engineering, S & C Technologies, the event’s laser scanning sponsors, and Intergraph executives. www.intergraph2007.com
