Hexagon 2011 officially open

On June 7, Hexagon 2011, the joint conference of Metrology, Intergraph, Erdas and Leica Geosystems business units, was officially kicked off bij Hexagon’s CEO Ola Rollén.

At 08:00 am the main hall was filled with around 2500 attendees. They got to hear, among many other things, the latest news on technology integrations between Erdas software and the recently acquired Intergraph geospatial solutions. Dedicated sessions on this integration of raster and other photo material analysis and GIS are being held repeatedly during the conference, which will conclude on Thursday, June 9.

Other announcements on the first day included (Leica) Geosystems’ new 3D Disto, the C05 laser scanner and a new, image assisted Total Station. According to Juergen Dold, President of Hexagon Geosystems, the digital Z/I Imaging aerial photo camera, originally by Intergraph, has now been repositioned under the Geosystems umbrella.
 
Among the most surprising news facts was a ‘de-hazing’ tool as developed by Intergraph SG&I. Clouds and mist can now be removed from photo and video material, using new technology which will undoubtedly be revealed in the upcoming days as the conference unfolds.

More information will appear on the acquisition of Denali, a public safety software vendor, which supposedly adds value to existing products within Intergraph’s Security, Government & Infrastructure suite.

While this is the first time that a combined user conference is being held on measurement, land surveying, laser scanning, CAD, GIS, raster and picture analysis, familiar market verticals showing the traditional ‘blood groups’ of users could easily be discerned. While during the keynote presentations one of the buzzwords was integration, more or less traditional user groups went their separate ways during the afternoon sessions. Tracks like Process, Power and Marine, Security, Government and Infrastructure, Transportation, Utilities and Telecom, Geosystems, Metrology and High-Definition surveying were firmly in place.

Upcoming issues of GeoInformatics will feature exclusive interviews with key members of the Hexagon Group, as well as an in dept report of the three-day event.

www.hexagonconference.com