Construction cranes have come to a halt. The Intergeo East 2009 trade fair and conference have been postponed. Land registry offices report a significant downfall in transactions. A total of 40% of the respondents to a poll on the GIM International website have reported that the credit crunch is hitting their companies where it hurts.

Economic woe is looming over countries across the globe, affecting all sectors of industry. Worse still, it is difficult to predict where it will hit next. The crisis started in the financial sector, but where will it end?

Some interesting patterns have emerged in response to the downturn. First, there were the usual evasive answers from top managers in a particular industrial sector, such as the motor industry for example. While everybody could see the stocks of cars piling up, they kept on telling us that everything was under control.

Second, there was denial. "There are problems, but they do not affect us. It's our competitors who are suffering; we are still going strong." Last year, for instance, Toyota claimed that the financial crisis was only impacting the American car industry with its fuel-eating Hummers and other gas guzzlers. Toyota, producing only small and fuel efficient vehicles, was still solvent and profitable.

But then, all of a sudden, there it was: the credit crunch. And it bit hard. This January, Toyota halted the production lines of several small models for a number of days as sales decreased drastically.

What's troubling is that the geomatics industry still seems to be in the first, equivocal, phase. Instrument manufacturers, software firms and engineering companies are not yet reporting any major troubles. Yet, different media have exposed huge drops in turnover in the construction industry. In addition, real estate agencies and notary practices have announced that the number of transactions has diminished considerably. As a result, less building is taking place and, therefore, fewer surveying instruments and surveyors are needed.

The trade in second-hand surveying instruments may be an indicator of what lies ahead for the geomatics sector. On the one hand, it is difficult to find trade-in instruments nowadays, as companies are not replacing old equipment with new. On the other, big rental companies are reducing their stock, thus supplying the market for used instruments. One wonders why these rental companies are cutting down. Is it perhaps because of a decrease in rentals? Time will tell what lies ahead for the industry in the longer term. We certainly hope for the best.

E-mail henk...@reedbusiness.nl