Starts with firm step the 2019 World Geospatial Forum in Amsterdam
April 2, 2019, Amsterdam: The World Geospatial Forum (GWF) 2019, the most anticipated event for the global geospatial community, started yesterday at the Taets Art & Event Park in Amsterdam-ZNSTD. The event began with more than 1,000 delegates from 75 countries coming together to exchange knowledge on how geospatial is becoming ubiquitous in our daily lives and how to drive innovation in this sector. The first day of the three-day forum (April 2-4), which is an annual gathering of professionals and leaders representing the entire geospatial ecosystem, began with a plenary session on #GeospatialByDefault: Empowering Billions, the theme of the this year's conference. The conference also featured the participation of 45 exhibitors.
To kick off the conference, Dorine Burmanje, President of Kadaster, the Netherlands, co-host of the conference, stressed that the geospatial community needs more diversity: students, start-ups, women, and initiatives from developing countries to harness the true potential of this technology and make the “geospatial by default” movement successful. She also urged public and private authorities to provide "reliable data" for sustainable development, and also make it available to other key users.
Highlighting how geospatial technologies play an intrinsic role in meeting some of the challenges the world faces, Esri President and Chairman of the World Geospatial Industry Council Jack Dangermond said, “We are moving toward a world that is changing exponentially. , creating many problems and threatening our lives.” We need to transform our understanding of the world and how we fulfill our responsibilities, and in this geospatial technology provides the best platform to rapidly scale this work and make our world a better place to live.”
India's Ambassador to the Netherlands, Venu Rajamony was also among the featured speakers on the opening day. Emphasizing the geospatial policy framework in India, he has said that private industry has a big role to play there. "India sees development as the main goal and to make it real, there is a need to leap in terms of technology, and the geospatial role has the most important role to play."
The second plenary session, moderated by Geospatial Media and Communications, CEO of Sanjay Kumar, had an interesting debate on how geospatial technologies can play a key role in the digitization of the construction sector. The panel of four eminent speakers deliberated on collaborative workflows and business models: the future of digital engineering for the AEC market.
“Spatial data has been deeply integrated into real-time, model-centric solutions. There is a workflow between input data capture for physical action modeling and vice versa,” said Steve Berglund, president and CEO of Trimble. Continuing the conversation, BVR Mohan Reddy, CEO of Cyient, India, said: "Digital engineering is renovating the old and building the new and is the new growth engine for the AEC market, transforming industries."
Andreas Gerster, Vice President of Global Construction BIM-CIM, FARO, Germany, said that construction projects are increasingly complex and expensive, and to simplify them, the only answer is the integration of technology.
The third plenary session of the day focused on 5G + Geospatial – Shaping Digital Cities. Mohamed Mezghani, Secretary General of the International Public Transport Association of Belgium spoke about how transport agencies around the world are adopting geospatial technologies. Malcolm Johnson, Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Switzerland, said: “ITU has a crucial role to play in the digital economy; ITU participants seek to collaborate with various industries. When it comes to smart cities, I need to work collaboratively especially in terms of technology and standardization."
Wim Herijgers, Group Director, Digital Innovation and Fugro Technology, highlighted: “The Digital Foundation is a four-dimensional digital, spatial and geographic data framework, which aims to provide clients with a deep understanding of sites and assets. ”, he explained. additional. Frank Pauli, CEO of Cyclomedia, explained how geospatial insights are key in network planning for 5G at unprecedented speed, streamlining design and asset management, and providing an immersive, layered, and point cloud for sound decision making.
The final session of the day focused on the Power to share: Geospatial knowledge infrastructure Building sustainable economies. The panelists discussed that the 21st century is the era of big cities and as we work together to help build smart and sustainable cities and towns, geospatial technology can help unlock great opportunities for progress. Dr. Virginia Burkett of the USGS and Anna Wellenstien of the World Bank, focused on how information is fundamental to the economic transformation and geospatial needs of countries' economic needs. William Priest of the Geospatial Commission, United Kingdom, further emphasized the economic value that the geospatial adds to his country. Paloma Merodio Gómez, Vice President, INEGI, Mexico, updated on the state of the economic, population and housing census and the fundamental role played by geospatial technology.
The Open ELS project was launched by Mick Cory, General Secretary and Executive Director of EuroGeographics. EuroGeographics launched the first open data services of the Open European Location Services (ELS) project in Geospatial World Forum. The data of the Open ELS project provides a first step to obtain the economic and social benefits of the authorized information of the members of EuroGeographics, the National Cartography, Cadastre and Land Registry Authorities of Europe.
Over the next two days, more than 1,000 delegates, more than 200 CEOs and senior government officials from over 75 countries will use the GWF platform to interact and collaborate, and demonstrate the collective vision of the global geospatial community.
About the World Geospatial Forum: The World Geospatial Forum is a collaborative and interactive platform that demonstrates a collective and shared vision of the global geospatial community. It is an annual meeting of geospatial professionals and leaders representing the entire geospatial ecosystem. It includes public policies, national cartographic agencies, private sector companies, multilateral and development organizations, scientific and academic institutions and, above all, final users of government, businesses and services to citizens.
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