The ASTM International E57 committee on 3D Imaging Systems grew out of a series of meetings that were held at NIST – the National Institute of Standards and Technology some 4 or 5 years ago. ASTM was chosen as the organization that would provide the infrastructure to help guide the much needed development of industry standards for laser scanning and other 3D imaging systems.
There are 4 subcommittees of E57 which meet in person twice a year, and in most cases via weekly conference calls, between the face-to-face meetings. The purpose of today’s relatively short post is to first make people aware of the E57 committee’s existence and missions, and second to announce that the next meeting is going to be in Vancouver, BC Canada from June 14 – 16.
As chair of E57.04 the Data Interoperability subcommittee I can tell you that we are a relatively small group of dedicated professionals who are working hard to create standards for an industry that would really benefit from their implementation. I would like to urge everyone to at least become aware of the work being done, and if time permits to become a member. We can certainly use the help.
As I have mentioned in the past, I think that at the very least everyone working in the industry can be a proactive supporter of the work of E57 and other standards organizations. As consumers you can exert your power in the marketplace by encouraging the vendors to support the people that they have working on the subcommittees. Time is money, as we all know too well in this economy. If the vendors hear that standards are a top priority they will invest in making this happen. Please apply the pressure.
