Every Demo at CIExpo Looks Perfect. Seven Questions to Find Out if It Works on Your Site
By the second afternoon in Wan Chai, every 360° walk-through on a big screen starts to look like the one before it, because each demo runs on the vendor's best project, finished and captured by people who do it every day. Your site has a basement with no signal and a client who won't install anything, so the visit is only worth the time if you come back knowing which tools can cope with that. Otherwise the decision drifts into next year's budget, while every pour and ceiling in between covers work nobody recorded. The questions below turn a conversation at a stand into a test you can run on your own site the week after.
At CIExpo 2026 (23–25 November, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre), ask every site-capture or progress-monitoring exhibitor to show your kind of site, open a file you brought, compare two dates of the same spot, and let your client view it without an account. Then ask for a trial on your own project before any pilot.
When and where is CIExpo 2026?
CIExpo 2026 is the Construction Industry Council's Construction Innovation Expo, held from 23 to 25 November 2026 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, according to the CIC's event page. Alongside the exhibition, the CIC lists two days of international conferences and technical tours. The official CIExpo site lists more than 180 exhibitors, which is more than most teams can see properly in three days, so decide before you go which stands you want to test.
Before you go, choose one site and pack one file
Pick one live project and the question you most want answered about it, such as how far each zone moved between two valuations, or what a services zone looked like before the ceiling went in. Put a few files from that project on your laptop, for example a laser scan in E57 or LAS and some 360° photos, with the floor plan as a PDF or DWG. A vendor who opens your own file at the stand shows you more in a few minutes than a polished demo can, and one who can't has told you something useful as well.
Seven questions to ask at every site-capture stand
A fair comparison needs the same test at every stand, so take these to each one.
1. Can you show me a site like mine, captured by a site team?
Showcase projects are often captured by a specialist on a finished floor. Ask for a live project like yours, mid-construction and captured by the people already working there, since they are the ones who would walk your site every week.
2. Will you open this file from my project now?
Hand over the scan or photos you brought and watch. Ask which formats open without conversion and whether the viewer runs in a browser, because whoever receives your files later will face the same step.
3. Can you show me the same spot on two dates?
Payments and disputes both turn on what changed, so one good capture tells you little. Ask to see two dates side by side from the same viewpoint, and how next month's capture will line up with today's.
4. Who walks the site, and what happens without signal?
Basements and plant rooms rarely have coverage. Ask whether a walk recorded underground is kept and uploaded later, and whether your own staff capture or the vendor sends someone each time.
5. Can my client open it without an account?
Ask for a link sent to your phone while you stand there. If the client or a subcontractor needs a licence or an install to see the record, it will end up as screenshots in a group chat.
6. What does the report look like, and who checks it?
Ask to see a report written from two real captures, and how its findings are checked before anyone acts on them. A report a person has reviewed is one you can send to a client with your name on it.
7. Can I try it on my own project first?
Ask whether the trial is the full product, whether it needs a card, and who helps your team while it runs. A trial on a live site shows whether your team keeps capturing after the first few weeks, which no demo can.
| Question | A useful answer | What to test after the show |
|---|---|---|
| A site like mine? | A live project captured by its own team | Your team capturing one area |
| Open my file? | It opens at the stand, in a browser | The same file on a colleague's laptop |
| Same spot, two dates? | Side by side from one viewpoint | Two walks of one area a week apart |
| No signal? | The walk is kept and uploads later | A walk in your basement |
| Client access? | A link that opens with no account | Send it to your client |
| Report? | Written from the captures, checked by a person | A report from your own two walks |
| Trial? | The full product on your site, no card | Whether your team is still capturing in week three |
Where SpatialSense fits
SpatialSense is made by Kodifly in Hong Kong Science Park, and it keeps 360° walks, drone flights and laser scans in one project. Your own team records walks with the Trace app and a 360° camera on a helmet or a car, and on a thirty-week new build in Islamabad the people already walking the site captured it seven times in 24 days, with no survey crew. Scans from any maker go in as E57, LAS, LAZ, PCD or PLY, while the free Lite Viewer opens LAS, LAZ, PLY, IFC, GLB and splat files in a browser with no account. Any two dates open side by side from one locked viewpoint, and a walk recorded without signal is kept until you are back online.
From two dated walks, SpatialSense writes a station-by-station progress report tied to the images, as a PDF, and nothing is raised until a person approves what the AI proposes. Share links open without a login and can be revoked, and every plan has unlimited users, so your client and subcontractors see the same record. On one Hong Kong public-works site, fixed LiDAR stations have scanned their zones every 15 to 30 minutes, with nobody on site, for more than two years.
SpatialSense has no published two-way sync with project management platforms, so if that sync decides it for you, ask us about it directly and weigh tools that offer one. If you are still choosing how to capture, drone, 360° camera or LiDAR sets out what each method answers.
Capture. Understand. Take Action.
See SpatialSense on your project
At the show, the Kodifly team is at booth J37, so come and ask us the same seven questions. If you would rather test with your own files after the show, start the 30-day free trial with no card and upload 360° images from two visits in the browser, or book a demo and we will set up Trace for your team. Support is one to one, from a person at Kodifly, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
FAQ
When and where is CIExpo 2026?
From 23 to 25 November 2026 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. The Construction Industry Council organises it, and visitors register on the official CIExpo site.
What questions should you ask vendors at a trade show?
Ask each vendor to show a project like yours, open a file you brought, compare two dates of one spot and send a link your client can open without an account, then ask for a trial on your own site.
How do you compare site-capture or progress-monitoring software?
Give every tool the same area of your site and the same two dates to work with. The one your team is still using after a few weeks on a live project is the one worth paying for.
Can you try site-capture software on your own project before buying?
Some vendors offer a demo followed by a paid pilot. SpatialSense offers a 30-day free trial of the full platform with no card.