Emerging Technologies Summit - The UA Linkage

Professor Fred Limp, the Leica Geosystems Chair in Geospatial Imaging, gave the keynote lecture at the Emerging Technologies Summit in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. The summit brought together leaders in computer gaming, 3D visualization, architecture, construction management and visualization to lay out a roadmap for the convergence of these new technologies. Around the world, information about infrastructure and buildings is increasingly gaining the attention of organizations involved in architecture, engineering and construction as well as the owners and operators of buildings and other structures. Developments to create a U.S. National Building Information Model Standard for information exchange and new homeland security and defense requirements are bringing these diverse communities together. Speakers at the conference included representatives of the gaming community from Sony Entertainment, leaders in construction management such Parsons Brinckerhoff, which is currently managing major construction projects such as construction at Ground Zero in New York City, the Big Dig in Boston and the Alaskan Way viaduct project in Seattle. Limp spoke on 3D, building information management and visualization technologies and the implications of their convergence. In addition to Limp, faculty from the University of Berlin and Harvard also made presentations during the conference.