SPAR Europe opens with new media, real-world demonstrations
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands – Attendees of the second annual SPAR Europe conference have converged on the World Forum here, beginning with yesterday’s live demonstrations, tours, and tutorials and moving into today’s opening keynotes, exhibit floor, and full slate of presentations by more than 40 speakers.
One of the live demonstrations caused a small amount of controversy, actually. One installation SPAR established on site for the purpose of demonstrating crime- and accident-scene scanning was flagged by local authorities as being too realistic and potentially disturbing for local environs (a UN zone). After a decision that traveled all the way from the office of the Hague’s mayor, even from the office of the Prime Minister, the demonstration was stricken.
The rest of the conference commenced smoothly, however, with a focus on new and innovative ways to use 3D data captured in the field. Opening keynoter Ed Lantz, president and CTO of Vortex Immersion Media, kicked off today’s activities by bridging the gap between SPAR’s data collection experts and co-located event Creataphere’s multi-media and data management experts. Attendees also heard from historic preservation leading voice Douglas Pritchard, Director, Centre for Digital Design, Glasgow School of Art, and a collaborator with the Scottish Ten and Cyark; and Jurrien Bijhold, of the Department of Digital Technology at the Netherlands Forensic Institute. Both illuminated the many new ways these diverse industries are using 3D data.
From there, attendees were able to put their hands on some of this bleeding edge technology on the SPAR Europe exhibit floor where more than 30 organizations were demonstrating everything from laser scanners to point cloud processing software to photogrammetry solutions and many other products besides.
The conference continued throughout Tuesday, with demonstrations for organizations as diverse as Microsoft and LookyCreative, the Warwickshire Police and 3D Mine Surveying International.
