Storming its way onto the geospatial calendar

Join over 3,000 visitors from more than 50 countries at the fastest growing geospatial event in the industry, taking place on 24-25 May at London’s Business Design Centre.

The highly anticipated and action packed GEO Business event, has been receiving nothing but critical acclaim from industry. Taking place in London from 24-25 May, GEO Business must be seen to be believed. The geospatial event is designed for everyone involved in the gathering, storing, processing and delivering of geospatial information and incorporates an international exhibition, a cutting edge conference, industry led associated meetings, a full programme of commercial workshops and various social events held over two days.

Benefiting local government GEO Business offers an extremely exciting conference programme and arguably the best value for money event within the geospatial calendar. Don’t take our word for it, listen to the feedback received from Elaine Munns, team manager, Strategic Planning Division at West Sussex County Council, who recently registered.

She said: “Being from local government, I always assumed that this conference was aimed more at businesses and the private sector than anything we in local government may have an interest in. However, after looking at the programme, I plan to attend because it is obvious it will help me keep up to date with what’s going on in the GIS world including the direction the whole industry appears to be moving in. Secondly, it’s useful to me to see specific projects that have been undertaken – either so I can use the data if it’s open source, or more likely so I can consider doing something similar myself – it gives me ideas. And finally of course, the cost – £15 per day is extremely cheap.”

The exhibition, associated meetings, workshops and several social events are all free to attend. There is a minimal delegate fee for the conference, which has been kept to an absolute minimum of £15 per day for those working in the public sector. It’s not surprising then, that registrations have been flooding in. Space is limited so delegates are encouraged to register today to avoid missing out.

From humble beginnings as a UK centric show, GEO Business has won the support of an international audience and will cement its position as the industry’s premier event as it builds on the remarkable success of the previous two years. For the first time since its launch show, the event will be held outside of UK and international holiday periods, which has been welcomed by both exhibitors and visitors.

Caroline Hobden, event director, explained how GEO Business has stormed its way into the industry event calendar in such a short period of time, attracting so much attention and headlines along the way.

She said: “This event is very much being driven by industry. We are out there listening and being guided by the trade associations, societies, exhibitors and visitors and are working tirelessly to develop an event where there is a real sense of ownership within the community. The support we’ve had, and continue to have, has been phenomenal and it’s this level of involvement that makes this show such a success. Expectations are high for 2016 and we are looking forward to delivering the best show yet.”

Beat the queues
The cutting edge conference costs only £15 per person, per day, and provides the chance to hear industry experts debate the impact of advances in geospatial technology and services. Industry leaders will also discuss the rapid growth of the industry and how it is shaping the future. There will be presentations from global leaders such as Google, Highways England, HS2, Thames Tideway, Land Registry and the Environment Agency to name but a few.

Some of the prominent sessions include presentations and debates on the role of geospatial technology and services in the digital world. This session will see Ed Parsons, geospatial technologist at Google, discuss the changing delivery of geospatial information to the mass consumer, as well as discuss the next stage of the Google platform.

Running along similar themes, Professor Gianvito Lanzolla of the Cass Business School will discuss the impact of digital transformation on future infrastructure, while Tim Williams, commercial director at What3Words, will share his thoughts on three words to help Building Information Modelling.

The second session of the first day concerns advanced geomatic solutions and their application in the workplace. Matt Blackwell, digital operations director at Contain, Alex Wrottesley, Geovation hub manager, and Martin McDonnell, chairman and CEO at Soluis will all share their knowledge as part of this session. This will be followed by a session on geospatial data, chaired by James Kavanagh of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Speakers include James Winch of the Land Registry, Ron Bloksma, an information constant at the Dutch Land Registry and Ellis Blackmore, a digital specialist at Ove Arup & Partners.

Day one finishes with a period dedicated to sustainability, infrastructure and the environment. Chaired by Steven Eglington, director at GeoEnable & AGI, the final meeting will hear from Kate Marks, from the Environment Agency’s Mapping and Modelling division, looking at innovative solutions and creative engineering at the forefront of flood risk management.

Innovation explained
Day two of the conference programme begins with a keynote on infrastructure delivery and the current state of the industry, delivered by Amanda Clark, president elect at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors & Partner EY. The following panel debate will ask how the geospatial sector will embrace the opportunity presented by the UK’s commitment to invest in large infrastructure projects.

Chris Preston, of Network Rail, will chair the lunchtime session on cutting edge innovation and infrastructure.

This will look at virtualising infrastructure, by Ioannis Brilakis, of the Construction Information Technology Laboratory, University of Cambridge, and Skanska’s chief engineering surveyor Mark Lawton looking at how far we have come in the past thirty years and provides some insight as to what the future requirements will be.

The final meeting of the conference will look at pioneering developments in geospatial technology. This will see Mike Turpin, head of BIM at Capita Property and Infrastructure address an audience on photogrammetry surveying, Dietmar Backes, Teaching Fellow at UCL reveal a BIM case study on Stockwell building from the University of Greenwich, and Dan Paull of PSMA Australia tackle geoscape – capturing Australia’s built environment.

International Exhibition
At the free to attend international exhibition, visitors will be surrounded by products and services from approximately 200 multinational companies all under one roof.There has never been a better opportunity to find a new supplier and see what’s new. The exhibition will also feature a brand new GIS Zone and UAV Zone.

The Associated Meetings are also free to attend. Focusing on the issues driving the geospatial industry forward, leading organisations are hosting various associated meetings to keep visitors one step ahead in this fast moving industry.

Commercial Workshops
The show will also run a series of over 85 commercial workshops – a unique opportunity not offered by any other geospatial show.  Visitors have the opportunity to gain a full understanding of new solutions and capabilities and have more in-depth discussions on a one-to-one basis.

There will also be the opportunity for networking, as GEO Business will be hosting pre-show welcome drinks the night before the show opens, an ale trail on the opening day and the hugely popular gala dinner on the opening evening, where everyone can come together, loosen their ties a little and enjoy an evening of fine wine and food.

Visitor numbers are expected to soar, so beat the quotes onsite and register online in advance.

Further information
www.geobusinessshow.com