Toronto, Canada, July 5, 2012 — Optech, the world’s leading manufacturer of advanced lidar and camera survey instruments, is pleased  to announce the successful conclusion of its International Terrestrial Laser Scanning User Meeting, held June 26-27 at the Novotel Nice Centre in Nice, France. With registered attendees from around the world, the conference looked at emerging applications and fostered networking among users of Optech's Lynx Mobile Mapper and ILRIS Terrestrial Laser Scanner lidar systems, ending on an extremely positive note.

“Our goal was to bring into focus recent developments in mobile and terrestrial laser scanning and their integration into  novel applications with the needed level of detail, accuracy and precision,” said Julien Losseau, Managing Director of Optech in Europe. “The presenters supported this vision, especially the keynote speaker, James Kavanagh (Director Land Group, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in the UK). His core message was the need to communicate the value of lidar technology to the vast number of potential users outside the traditional surveying world. Interacting with other sectors encourages the development of novel products and applications, and the lidar industry will benefit from the outsider perspective. The aim is to unlock the potential of the point cloud by providing new tools to extract information and integrate it with information from other sensors as well."

Among the topics discussed at the conference were exciting new applications in the field of building infrastructure management, which is expected to undergo powerful development similar to that experienced by the GIS industry since its inception in the early 1990s.

"We really exceeded our conference goals," Losseau said, "especially in light of the excellent turnout—a total of 70 attendees from 23 countries."

Optech hosts regular user events for its clients and representatives in airborne, mobile and terrestrial mapping. These events disseminate useful information about lidar survey techniques. In addition, by listening to its clients Optech ensures that its leading-edge technology stays focused on real-world mapping and surveying needs.

About Optech

Optech is the world leader in the development, manufacture and support of advanced lidar and imaging-based survey instruments. With operations and staff worldwide, Optech offers both standalone and fully integrated lidar and camera solutions in airborne mapping, airborne laser bathymetry, mobile mapping, terrestrial laser scanning, mine cavity monitoring, and industrial process control, as well as space-proven sensors.