GeoBusiness was back this year! We managed to get there, and it was paired with Digital Construction Week, it was a great combination with plenty to see! As the first trade show I’ve been back to post COVID, I must say I really enjoyed chatting to everyone and seeing the new developments in both software and hardware.
The usual big stands were there with Leica with the usual hardware but really waving their flags to showcase the BLK range across the board with static (BLK360), mobile (BLK2GO) and aerial (BLK2FLY) solutions now. I’m not sold on the SLAM-based technology yet, but I can’t see mobile solutions not being the future purely for ease of capture. Trimble were obviously there with their newest flagships being the X7 scanner and the R12i – two bits of kit which are fantastic and becoming hard to get hold of on hire and with long lead times on new orders which really says it all.
It was nice to see the smaller brands well represented with GeoMAX and Spectra having good offerings from their respective resellers although it was a shame not to see any from TopCon.
I decided I would only spend the one day there and unusually I felt myself pushed to see all the things I wanted to. It was well past 5pm when I left after arriving at 10.30am. I’m usually pretty quick to get around shows but I was disappointed when the show was wrapping up to not have been able to go back and see everything I had taken an interest in on my first pass. A big well done to the organisers who managed to get such a good spread or hardware, software and service providers.
We had a good catch-up with the iRed team, it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to catch up and it’s great to hear that everything is going well with them. The first industrial bit of kit Pathfinder operated was bought from them, they are still available for a call, and their support, over the years for both training and equipment, has been second to none. If you’re in the market for new kit, then give them a shout!
It was also good to catch up with Andrew Rhodes from DatuMate, a powerful bit of software aimed at delivering digital insights to large infrastructure projects. We’ve got a discussion booked to see how we can deliver this in a cost-effective way for clients going forward.
I also got to put a face on the AppsInCADD team voices I have heard so many times when they’ve been assisting me with unusual requests on N4ce. The software is great but the bit that really sold me when I bought N4ce was the level of customer service! I have never had to wait for more than about 90 minutes for someone to call back and TeamViewer in to my computer to demonstrate a certain feature I’m struggling with or help me solve a problem for a client. A big shout out to these guys for making a great product AND providing great after sales support!
I caught up with Tim Mammatt from Aetha who was able to guide me through the YellowScan LiDAR solutions including their new flagship model capable of working up to 400m out, making it capable of being mounted on both drone and light aircraft! He’s been able to share some of their example datasets before and I’ve been blown away by the quality. If you’re interested in a quality LiDAR solution, then he’s your man.
I also met a host of other people, the teams at Korec, Coptrz, Drone Pilot Academy, Atmos UAV, SEP Geospatial, A1 Surveys, Geo4D, Mobilus Labs (very cool site comms kit) and many more!
All in all, it was a great day, no delayed trains, no major dramas, although now I have to decide which of a few possible investments for this year to really finish the equipment suite. The eternal dilemma of wanting new toys and trying to justify their cost!