The International LIDAR Mapping Forum
The 8th annual outing of the International Lidar Mapping Forum that was held in Denver, Colorado from Feb 21 – 22, 2008 saw record growth in attendance from both delegates and visitors. Final figures show that more than 580 delegates registered from 32 countries (up from approximately 250 the year before) all looking to invest and benefit from LiDAR technology and services.
This enormous growth tracks significant changes that have been seen in the LiDAR data collection business over the past three years. LiDAR is now cheaper, better and faster and has been demonstrated to be a highly cost effective mapping tool. New users signed up en-mass and took full advantage of the newly created ‘Basics to Lidar Workshop Series’ that were filled to capacity and in most instances left with standing room only. Versha Carter of Intelligent Exhibitions Ltd noted this high level of interest :“We were surprised by the number of new delegates as well as some established delegates wishing to understand even better the basic principles, fundamental benefits and technology associated with LiDAR – our biggest challenge for the week was accommodating demand!”
Chairman of the Conference Alastair MacDonald of TMS International said: “choosing a Conference program from nearly 100 technical presentations submitted for this year’s ILMF was a real challenge to the Technical Committee. But the Committee succeeded in putting together a program of superb quality which reflected the increasing number of applications to which Lidar is being put.” The Technical Committee consisted of 12 international Industry Leaders with many years of experience in LiDAR technology, development and applications. “The record delegate attendance this year listened over two intensive days to 34 detailed presentations. This reflects the growing importance of LiDAR to the world’s mapping industries as the key way to acquire massive amounts of high resolution digital data very cost effectively” said Alastair MacDonald. There was close to double the number of exhibit booths compared with the last event and increased international representation was also evident with companies from Germany, UK, Canada, USA, Sweden, China, India and Israel in attendance. Exhibitors reported meeting significant numbers of new buyers and many confirmed that substantial new orders were secured directly from the show floor.
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