The miner's band from "Staszic" mine played by way of greeting. The Fair was opened inconventionally - Mr. Jerzy Albin, vice chairman of Head Office of Land - surveying and Cartography (GUGiK) and Mr. Zdzisław Kulczyński, director of Department Environment Protection and Deposit Exploitation in Superior Mining Office (WUG) and Mr. Jacek Smutkiewicz, the organiser pointed out the position, by using the receiver GPS. A moment later, the conference, going together with the Fair, started, which was entirely devoted to the introduction of exhibitors. Just then there were many visitors at stalls. The Fair was visited by almost 2000 people. It is quite a lot of visitors, the more so, as the venture took place outside the centre of Katowice (in the sports hall in Giszowiec).
The offer of 41 exhibitors, domestic and foreign, was very various. There were a lot of tachymeters, levelling instruments, receiver GPS, underground devices detectors, small measurement and drawing equipment and software. "Japanese people" repeated their achievements from the June exhibition in Tokyo. The Sokkia tachymeter sunk in an aquarium filled with water and Topcon tachymeter, sprinkled with water could be seen there. (A small turtle was attending upon Topcon tachymeter, some visitors liked it and some were sorry for the animal). TPI presented also the tachymeters adapted to requirements of underground mining. The Company Impexgeo the representative of Nikon and Trimbel, offered the longest guarantee, up to 30 months.
The Company Pentax introduced their offer on the Fair for the first time. As usually (providing that one can say so about the Fair, which is held for the third time) there were two stalls of Leica Company and Carl Zeiss Company. The latter one, hardly fortnight after the first introduction in Karlsruhe, presented the new, electronic tachymeter Elta of S series.
Comparing with the previous year, there were more GPS receivers. The part of them was designed as the element of the system integrating GPS measurement with the ground - based one. It concerns to e.g. instruments of Spectra Precision Company (former Geotronics). The manual navigational GPS receiver of Garmin Navigation could be drawn at random, arranged by the Horyzont - KPG Company. Resistance of this receiver to strokes and sinking - meeting military standards - ensures the lucky winner, long running utilisation.
The system of geodetic marks stabilisation was a novelty presented by FENO Company from France. This system, used in many European countries has sensational parameters - weight, strength and usually short time needed for stabilisation. No wonder that this system made practicians be interested in it. For the present the whole problem storms for standards (admittance to utilise on the Polish market). The stall of Franz Gremzer Company drew attention, because the exhibition of geodetic marks attracted with its variety. Then Nedo Nestle & Fischer presented the traditional offer, comprising equipment, without which, the geodetist could not work e.g. tripod and levelling staff. The tripod, specially constructed for laser levelling instrument was a novelty - without displacement, it enables to change the high of a plane, formed by the tripod laser beam in 1 m. range. The comprehensive and interesting offer of Oce Company comprised some duplicating and plotting machines. Fortunately, the geodetic market was noticed by this Company and appreciated by so wide exhibition. The Canadian company Traithlon Mapping Corporation was modificated, i.e. this year it opened its branch Traithlon Mapping Central Europe in Cracow and this way it determined univocally its interest in Polish market of geodetic services and technologies. Cracow Geodetic Enterprise appeared with the widest proposal and the biggest stall. Horyzont - KPG presented GPS systems; Land Studio KPG and Computer Office KPG showed the computer technological line for private working up and the software of a digital map; Office of Measurement Apparatus KPG presented detectors. Lesław Rabczyński Laboratory and Radiodetection Company offered the underground devices locators.
Software was in great variety domestic and foreign. Programs for geodetic calculations and maps formation were offered by : Card/1-Pol (CARD/1), Coder, Infokart (IKART), Inel, Kordab, Softline, Stratus (GEO-INFO) and Vertical. It was possible to get to know the programs Mapa-SG and BEONET. On Fair exhibition, it did not run short of drawing articles. The Steadtler Chief Constructor, Mr. Helmut Hufnagl, was present, so his attendance supported Strongly Daccar Firm - the Polish distributor of its goods. Daccar Firm attracted visitors with the ample and modern collection of drawing instruments and Mr. Helmut Hufnagl received applause for introduction his Company during the Conference (one should be prepared to conference in this way). Office Line Peter Boue attendance (the representative of ROTRING Company) and Geozet Company completed the offer. The offer of educational programs, presented by Geodesy Institute ART. In Olsztyn, aroused, as usually, young people in interest, particularly students from secondary schools and colleges (students from technical school in Elbląg arrived here). Institute of Geodesy and Cartography in Warsaw, as one of scientific institutions, was worth stating, which offered, among others, satellite maps of districts (voivodeships) and cities. It is pity that the scientific introduction is so poor. Did science really follow its own path? It is bound up with itself? Has it anything the geodesy to propose? Economic Geodesy Chamber Invited to join it (the session of Chief Mining Institute GIG took place during the Fair). For the first time, on such a venture, we had an access to Internet, thanks to Geobud Company it was possible to move far and wide.
The public television, radio and press improved obviously the standing of this undertaking. Our regular readers were welcomed on GEODETA stall. We also made new friends. The banquet given in honour of all Fair participants was arranged in the jazz club. The organisers made charming ladies be present. The auction sale, accompanied the Fair, was the very interesting idea, because it was appropriated to rebuild, the damaged by flood, Geodetic Technical School in Opole. The reflective life - packed, wooden bust of prof. Józef Wędzony's authorship and stylised plummet which was the most attractive article, were profitable sold and money was appropriated for this sublime purpose. The purchaser of this plummet, Mr. Jerzy Huczek from Compass Company, paid 2,5 thousand PLN.
The exhibitors appreciated the III International Fair of Geodesy almost unanimously 9 of each 10 exhibitors declared for their desire to take part in this undertaking next year. Keeping my objectivism, I am obliged to mention the negative opinion on social base on the Fair Considering the location, we were thrown on local conditions. We can say shortly - fighting circumstances, considering the comments aimed at them, and show off good setting of the Fair next year. According the next year Fair, The Geodesy Department of Academy of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH) has already promised to perform the essential patronage over the conference and GEODETA will perform the mediumistic patronage over the entire undertaking.