Optimism is not exactly the atmosphere being breathed out by newspapers and opinion writers these days in discussing the way the economy is likely to develop over the coming months and years. A sinking dollar, a mortgage crisis and the resultant dip in building and construction in the United States are not factors that conjure smiles on the faces of journalists and economists.
Intergeo, held from 25th to 27th September in Leipzig was, however, an optimistic event. For a start, it had more than 16,500 visitors. Although somewhat more compact than last year, it is still by far the biggest survey show in the world. (If you recall, last year the FIG conference ran alongside Intergeo, which drew a lot of new visitors to the trade-fair). The halls in Leipzig were crowded with a strikingly large number of young people. Considering educational programmes all over the world are complaining, this visible presence of the young geo-professional was a good sign. And there’s loads of work ahead for them, if Ewout Korpershoek, director of marketing and sales for Topcon Europe Positioning BV knows anything about it. According to Korpershoek, fewer than 10% of all machines that could be automated currently are so. He therefore sees an immense as yet unexploited area of growth in the development and implementation chances offered by machine control and automation over coming years.
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