October 25, 2007

Comments and observations from GeoInt 2007, San Antonio

Once again I didn't make it to GeoINT (Darn.. it looks like such an awesome event!) but I did get some comments from a reader who shared some observations... The coolest application on display in a booth had to be the face recognition scan in the Lockheed Martin booth. A camera did a face scan of people entering the booth, and then the photos were compared against a database of photos taken of every attendee at registration. The system was then able to flash the names of visitors up on a screen as they entered the booth.

Overall booth observation – I noticed that many companies are now using expensive video and multimedia productions in their booths to show off their products and services. The presentations were flashy and professionally done.

Best booth give-away was definitely GeoEye, which was handing out Margaritas on Tuesday afternoon. Needless to say, this drew quite a crowd.

Interesting observation by exhibitors – the keynote presentations and main sessions were so interesting that traffic was relatively light in the hall at times. (I’ve never heard anyone complain about presentations being too interesting.) Luckily, GEOINT had dedicated periods when there were no sessions going on, and the exhibit hall was packed during those times. I never heard a final attendance estimate, but the number was definitely up from last year.

Interesting observation by a military attendee – one officer noted with some discouragement that we now have the technical capabilities to integrate all types of data, but we still can’t overcome the problem of people not wanting to share their data.

sounds great! I also was on the phone the other day with an attendee and it sounded like the speaker lineup and attendance were both awesome! Congrats to the organizers... the moral of the story here... want booth traffic... forget the expensive booth babes, just give away Margaritas!! Ola - see http://www.geoint2007.com/

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