The Winning Hand

Trimble Dimensions 2007

The third Trimble Dimensions conference was held in Las Vegas, USA, from November 5 to 7. Based on the location one could surmise that the event was a less then serious one. In reality, however, it was quite the opposite.

By Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk

The conference location, the Mirage Hotel, is typical Las Vegas. The route to the conference rooms leads through the blackjack and roulette tables as well as countless rows of slot machines. The conference rooms themselves are of such a size that they can easily accommodate the 2200 attendees who came from all over the world. Large rooms, high ceilings and rich decorations set the décor for this gathering. According to insiders, the available space is the main reason why Trimble chose Las Vegas as the venue; there are very few other locations in the United States that can accommodate this number of participants when both conference and hotel space are considered.

The conference location: the Las Vegas Mirage Hotel.

 

Trimble

The true size and diversity of the Trimble consortium became clear when visiting the partner pavilion accompanying the conference. Trimble, with a turnover of US$ 1.2 billion in 2006, is no small player in the positioning field. According to CEO and president Steven W. Berglund, approximately 20 percent of its turnover is spent in research and development. Over the last few years, Trimble has taken over a number of other companies. Since most of them have kept their original name, it is not always known that they form part of the consortium. Examples are Pacific Crest (telemetry), Applanix (motion sensors / aerial imaging) and XYZ (3D visualization).

Just about all of Trimble’s personnel seemed to be present at the conference, as well as representatives of many of their distributors. Although this emphasizes the commercial character of the conference, it was also evident when speaking to Trimble personnel that Trimble uses this conference to gather input from its user community in order to improve on its products.

Keynote by Trimble CEO and president Steven W. Berglund.

The set-up of the conference provided variety. In addition to the partner pavilion where all sorts of equipment was shown, there was a sand-pit outside where one could operate the various systems ranging from excavation equipment to land survey systems. The lectures were very diverse. Besides the keynotes, among which were speakers such as explorer Peter Hillary and oceanographer / wreck hunter Robbert Ballard, there were more than 300 workshops and lectures spread over 3 days in 11 parallel tracks. A large portion of the lectures was geared towards showing attendees what is possible with Trimble hardware and software. In most cases practical knowledge was transferred. Other lectures were more general and discussed the use of Trimble systems on specific projects. As a result there was a wide choice for both manager and die-hard surveyor.

Connected Site

During the first keynote address by Berglund, it became clear that we should not expect the introduction of some spectacular new product line during this conference. Instead, Berglund sketched the transformation of Trimble from a product provider to a solutions provider.

This transformation was the theme of the conference: the so-called “connected site”. This is not so much a product or a usable solution as Trimble’s vision of how the future work environment will operate. This vision is based upon four principles:

• Scalable solutions: solutions that are expandable as the company expands and as such ensure an optimal return on investment
• Building partnerships: the interaction of Trimble with its partners to stay as market leader and to focus on the demands of their users
• Productivity through innovation: the pioneering of new solutions, techniques and applications that will give the user an advantage over the competition
• Worldwide service, training and support: fast, knowledgeable reaction in order to guarantee productivity
  
   

Part of the Trimble booth at the conference fair.

Visions of the Future

According to the second keynote speaker, technology visionary Daniel Burrus, the question is not if the connected site will become reality but who will be the first to create it. He said he is not so much into prediction as into saying out loud what everyone already knows. He stated examples such as GSM and the Internet shop that he ‘predicted’ years before they became a general product.

We are already busy changing, but over the next few years we will have to transform at an ever-increasing pace. An important aspect of the transformation, according to Burrus, will be the sharing of knowledge with our surroundings in order to create more effective solutions. An integral part of this knowledge sharing is making the information stored in existing information systems available to all potential users. Nowadays this data is usually available on a limited basis and only to specialists, but the data will have to become available to all users. This signifies the transformation from a data exchange society to one of knowledge exchange.

From Ambition to Reality

Trimble’s connected site is a hugely ambitious undertaking. Although there is progress in certain areas, the connected site is not yet a reality for all aspects of surveying. Examples of the current situation were clearly visible in some presentations. What to think, for instance, of a one-hour workshop on the best method of coupling Trimble survey systems to ArcGIS when using them for mapping purposes? When the connected site is reality this type of coupling should no longer be a problem, something confirmed by various Trimble employees. This type of digital gap between the various processes should be bridged through the connected site. Nobody wants to say exactly when this will become reality, however. Estimations vary from a few months to a few years.

The Winning Hand

Trimble believes that transformation to the connected site will prove to be the winning hand for both their company and their users. The conference location could be seen as a broad hint: what about a blackjack table where everyone is a winner? It is probably the only table in Las Vegas where everyone wins instead of leaving with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

Outdoor area with survey equipment.

Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk (hlekkerkerk@geoinformatics.com) is Editor-in-chief of GeoInformatics and  project manager at IDsW.

This article represents his own opinions.