Record Numbers of Delegates, Speakers and Exhibitors ensure Outstanding Success at ILMF13

The International LiDAR Mapping Forum [ILMF] Conference held in Denver, Colorado from 11-13 February 2013 attracted a record number of 858 registrations from over 30 countries and has been hailed as the most successful yet in this annual event’s 13-year history. The ILMF focuses on the use of LiDAR to support transport, urban modelling, coastal zone mapping, utility asset management, 3D visualisation and GIS applications. These sectors are widely employed to improve mapping and imagery for customers across a wide range of industries from Federal, State and local government departments to commercial mapping enterprises, and to individuals seeking to locate themselves on mobile devices.

The delegates had a technical program of over 50 individual technical papers, workshop sessions and ASPRS Hot Topics sessions to attend, and the most extensive exhibition yet of the latest and best technologies and services in the LiDAR, 3D Imaging and Mapping industries. Over 70 specialist businesses displayed significant advances in laser scanning sensors and applications, some of which had only been developed over the previous 12 months and were being launched on the market at ILMF13.

The conference opened with a well attended plenary session opened by Conference Chairman Alastair Mac Donald of TMS International, who noted that imaging technologies were now at last keeping pace with the speed of development of LIDAR scanner technology. End-user demand for innovative, fast and flexible imaging and data visualization solutions is a major driver in the global mapping market and advances in the capabilities of LiDAR and laser scanning systems were reaching new milestones. LiDAR was now being used on water for the first time to measure oceanographic current profiles, and underwater for precision imaging in turbid waters. New hand held laser scanners now enable almost instantaneous scan-to-3D models of interior spaces for the commercial real estate market. Innovative advances in imagery were reflected in the two keynote addresses examining imagery data acquisition and handling from new perspectives which compliment established LiDAR techniques.

Director of ILMF, Versha Carter commented, “We are delighted with the success of our 13th ILMF, the 3rd in Denver. Delegate figures continue to rise year on year and this year has been no exception. The industry is developing and evolving at a rapid rate and the conference programme represented the advances in the industry. The feedback from both delegates and exhibitors has been fantastic and the atmosphere during the conference and on the exhibit floor was buzzing. I would like to thank our speakers and exhibitors for another fantastic event”