INTERGEO – the trade fair with accompanying conference for geodesy, geoinformation and land management – has just opened its doors for the 21st time. The launch party in Stuttgart’s Kunstmuseum proved a suitably auspicious opening for the coming three days of inspirational ideas, networking, setting trends and blazing a trail to the future – all pivoting on Geospatial 4.0. DVW President Karl-Friedrich Thöne says the key theme at INTERGEO 2015 stores the potential to launch a new era – as the intelligent networking enabled by Geospatial 4.0 will bring with it revolutionary change.

“The public using smart devices will increasingly act as the data providers of crowd-based geoinformation that will shake the ground below our feet for good,” Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thöne said in his opening speech at INTERGEO 2015 in Stuttgart. Augmented reality will turn physical landscapes into maps, and dynamic 4D models are set to displace our static systems. Thöne announced that the increasingly intelligent networking of Geospatial 4.0 will optimise processes unimaginably on all the target markets, providing the ultimate customisation for user-focused solutions. How could this cluster of technological advances under the mantle of Geospatial 4.0. possibly fail to herald a completely new era?

Fertile ground for the geo-IT sector

INTERGEO is the ultimate hotbed of pioneering geo-IT solutions inspired by Geospatial 4.0. – as the trade fair continues to grow with 545 international exhibitors from 30 nations spread across more than 30,000 square metres. The broad mix of conference topics – covering the environment, navigation, mobility, transport, aerospace, intelligent cities and digital infrastructures – blazes a trail to the future fuelled by the intelligent transmission of information and communication.

The transparency factor

One of Europe’s leading, state-of-the-art exhibition facilities, Stuttgart is the perfect venue for exhibitors to satisfy visitors’ unabating interest. As the capital city of Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart rightly epitomises the region’s prowess for economic innovation. And as the city’s ambitious “Stuttgart 21” construction project gathers increasingly positive momentum, there is hardly any place like it in the rest of Germany for public learning and the spread of knowledge thanks to grassroots involvement and transparency. INTERGEO is keen to bolster this process by also promoting the kind of transparency that will drive the entire geo-IT sector onwards and upwards.

There is Upswing in the truest sense of the word for applications related to UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems): The inter aerial SOLUTIONS in Hall 8 and the Flight Zone in the open area offer joint stands, a presentation forum and the open air grounds the largest international exhibition and Information area on the subject. Visitors will find all the information about the young sensor technology.

INTERGEO TV Studio presents Trend and Media Forum

The INTERGEO TV studio provides with the Trend and Media Forum a dense innovation program that addresses the topics of the future of the industry. Even career and young professional issues are focal points for all three days, among other things, with numerous company presentations and discussions as well as the proven JobSHAKER. The Trend and Media Forum in the Foyer Entrance East is freely accessible for visitors even without any ticket for Fair or Congress!

Other highlights:

IGG talk about education and young professionals: The InteressenGemeinschaft Geodäsie (interest group Geodesy) invites on Tuesday (2 p.m.) to IGG-Talk. The tenor: There are excellent opportunities for surveyors! The heads of professional associations discuss questions and answers about career planning and opportunities for surveyors.
BIM-Talk: An expected highlight will be the BIM Talk with Dr. Ilka May, Executive Director of the “plan-build 4.0 GmbH”: she presents the Talk to Building Information Modeling and Smart Cities on Wednesday (2 p.m.).
The winners of this year’s GIS Best Practice Awards showcase on Wednesday from 9 a.m. their award-winning, on Thursday (9 a.m.) the winners of Wichmann Innovations Award will be presented.

The Conference highlights
The INTERGEO Congress is marked by the key topics related to environment, navigation, mobility, transport, aerospace, smart city or digital infrastructures and Big Data. The opening takes place on Tuesday by a Plenary with Keynotes by Chris Cappelli (ESRI) and Georg Gartner (ICA President) in German and English. (From 10 a.m., Room C5)

Other highlights:

The keynote speech on the National Geographic Information Strategy, followed by a panel discussion, provides an insight into the very latest developments in geospatial reference data. (From 1 p.m., Room C5)
In the Plenary Session “Geospatial information – key element for emerging markets”, followed by talk in German and English, the participants discuss the future markets of geosolutions. On the podium there are industry representatives of the INTERGEO Advisory Board, consisting of company representatives from ESRI, Hexagon and Trimble, as well as a representative of the UN Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management. (From 9.30 a.m., Room C5)
Current trends also treat the lecture series “Big Data” on Wednesday (11.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Room C5) and the series of events “Geoinformation and Mobility” on Wednesday (from 11.30 a.m., Room C6.1).

On Thursday, the GIW Commission launches its series of lectures “business models Rethinking geospatial” on the economic importance of spatial data. (From 9.30 a.m., Room C5)

All in all, INTERGEO is the hub where the industry meets. It’s where innovators and practitioners unveil the here and now and spend the next three days forging future inventions. The trade fair has become more international, vibrant, user-focused and professional in every respect, reports Project Manager Daniel Katzer from Hinte GmbH, which is organising INTERGEO for host DVW.

About INTERGEO

INTERGEO, which consists of a conference and a trade fair, is the world’s largest event for geodesy, geoinformation and land management. It is held every year at different venues in Germany. The conference deals with current issues from politics, administration, science and industry, and anticipates around 1,400 participants. At the last leading trade fair, more than 17,000 visitors from 90 countries discovered the latest innovations from 516 companies in 30 different countries. The event is also becoming increasingly international – in 2014, approximately 40 percent of the exhibitors and 35 percent of the visitors came from outside Germany.

Visitor, exhibitor and exhibition area statistics for INTERGEO are calculated and certified in line with the standardised definitions of the FKM (Society for the Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics).

INTERGEO 2015 will be held in Stuttgart until 17 September.