Last month I introduced myself to you as the new editor-in-chief of GIM International. I fell on my feet. Very shortly after my appointment, I had the opportunity to see most geomatics fields represented at Intergeo 2008 -- the biggest and one of the most significant annual events in the calendar for this business. A total of 24,000 square metres of exhibition space was taken up by about five hundred companies in their efforts to amaze and impress visitors with their latest products and technologies. Over 15,000 experts from all continents attended the congress trade fair for geodesy, geo-information and land management at the Bremen Exhibition Centre in Germany. Well, I was certainly impressed.

On the first day of the exhibition, we drove from the Netherlands to Bremen very early in the morning, arriving to find ourselves part of an already swarming crowd. Exhibitors were eager and pleased to welcome visitors to their well-designed stands. Some of the larger companies had met previously with their distributors, and were fully acclimatised. From this point on, I made my way from one meeting and acquaintance to the next, keeping my eyes on the showcases as I walked by. By the end of the first day, I was exhausted. On the second day, I recovered my energy and met lots of interesting people keen to show me their products and technologies. I am enthused with ideas for stories that will certainly find their way into these pages in forthcoming issues. On the third day I had run out of business cards, and by the end of it all I was quite ready for home. This was my baptism of fire.

It goes without saying that we we have reviewed Intergeo 2008 in this issue. But we also have a report on the other ‘’largest geospatial event in the world”: this summer’s ESRI Survey & Engineering GIS Summit, combined with the ESRI International User Conference. Further, there are three interesting features to read this month, too. It is simply impossible to give you a short introduction to these as they are all so different. So please do have a look for yourself! These last few weeks I have hardly been able to find the time to answer all the messages of congratulations sent to me via email and our website at www.gim-international.com . Since the announcement of my appointment, these messages have been arriving from the Middle-East, Africa, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, the USA, Canada, Nepal, France, Germany, Mexico and China. My sincere thanks to you all for your support.