Intergeo 2011 Growing

Freier went on to explain that INTERGEO's communication network alone generates around 5 million specialist contacts each year via the conference and trade fair, the press and other media such as the Internet and Facebook and that impressive coverage is achieved through some 50 active media partnerships throughout the world. Each year, INTERGEO is the world's leading platform for the latest products and for sharing visionary ideas - and it keeps on growing. An exhibition space of 27,000 square meters makes this year's INTERGEO 8 percent larger than last year's event in Cologne.

The fact that INTERGEO is under the patronage of German Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich underlines its importance. INTERGEO provides a platform for international market leaders to present their latest innovations to an audience of industry professionals with a high level of decision-making responsibility. Around 25 percent of visitors to the trade fair come from outside Germany. A total of some 17,500 visitors from more than 30 countries are expected this year along with around 500 exhibitors, a third of them from other European countries and further afield. In both cases, all the continents are represented.

During the three-day conference, roughly 1,500 international research experts and specialist practitioners will ensure the sharing of know-how is truly global. The overarching motto for the conference, the 59th German Cartographers' Day and the Geodetic Week is Knowledge and action for planet Earth. For the first time, this year's event also sees the integration of the Navigation Conference on the Wednesday of INTERGEO. The conference theme is Finding your way in the intelligent world. Also for the first time, the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development is organising the Navigation Conference in collaboration with industry association BITKOM.

One new feature aimed at the open data community is a BarCamp devoted to the potential of OpenStreetMap. The BarCamp is part of the INTERGEO Academy launched in 2010 with great success and starts on the Monday before the fair. Participants will determine the programme of presentations themselves at the outset and this is the subject of lively online debate prior to the event.

The funding programme of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) offers start-up companies the opportunity to showcase developments Made in Germany to both domestic and international visitors at two joint stands. Once again, the OSGeo Park will be a crowd-puller for the open source community with its presentation forum for free software and free geodata. With more than ten exhibitors for the first time, the OSGeo Park has become an integral part of INTERGO.

The observation of Earth from space provides telling images and information about our planet. This special exhibition centres on the Earth's weather and climate system and on environmental monitoring, including the migratory behaviour of animals and the search for raw materials. It can be found in Hall 6 at INTERGEO.