Geospatial Science Forum 2009

The Need

In this age of convergence scientific research is becoming a fusion of several disciplines. The field of geospatial information systems is also subject to this phenomenon. We observe that a subject like geography has been strongly influenced by technologies like remote sensing, global positioning, information systems and communications. Technology has enabled geographers to become multidisciplinary in their approach to research. Similarly, other disciplines like computer science, geodesy, communications technology and social sciences have absorbed geography and come out with innovative solutions for spatially oriented problems.

In order to address this complex, multidisciplinary milieu it is necessary that professionals from contributing disciplines come together on a common platform to discuss current issues and share their experiences and so contribute to this enormous body of knowledge that we call Geospatial Information Science. This includes the core areas of geography, geodesy and cartography; supplementary subjects like statistics and mathematics and the modern areas like computer science, communications and information systems, and emerging areas like cognitive science and applications in the social sector.

Several events and forums are devoted to this area of science like the GI Science Conference, the National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis and the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science. These event and forums are of great benefit to researchers. It has been felt that a forum of this nature, addressing the issues of Geospatial Information Science, is required in the Asia and Pacific region.

With this in view GIS Development is happy to announce, Geospatial Science Forum 2009 to be held along with Map World Forum 2009 at Hyderabad, India from 10 to 13 February 2009.

Seminar Topics

The themes and sub-topics to be covered in this seminar include:
» Data Acquisition including sensors, instruments, recording systems, intelligent systems
» Data Processing including advanced computational techniques, distributed computation like GRID computing, quality assurance and reliability
» Data modelling and representation including standardisation and interoperability
» Databases including ontology, data warehousing, indexing, distributed systems, interoperable databases
» Data Analysis including spatio-temporal analysis, spatial reasoning, cognitive models, computational geometry, statistical analysis, data mining and knowledge discovery
» Human Interaction including visualisation, haptics and other man-machine interfaces and interoperability
» Interaction with Social Systems including Spatial Data Infrastructures, economics, law, regulatory environment, participative systems, education, social sciences, media and entertainment.

While this is an indicative list we recognise the fact that this is an evolving area and therefore would be happy to include other advanced topics which deal with any aspect of geospatial information science.

Programme Committee

	Arup R Dasgupta Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG), India
	Dr. Abbas Rajabifard University of Melbourne, Australia
	Dr. David J Maguire Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), USA
	Prof George Cho Associate Professor (GIS and the Law) University of Canberra, Australia
	Dr. George Joseph Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
	Prof. Harlan J. Onsrud University of Maine, USA
	Prof. Josef Strobl University of Salzburg,Austria
	Prof. Karsten Jacobsen University of Hannover, Germany
	Prof. Dr. Menno-Jan Kraak International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Netherlands
	Prof. N.L.Sarda Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
	Dr. Soumya Kanti Ghosh Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India
	Sumit Sen GIS Development, India

Submit your Work

Researchers working on any of the topics listed above are encouraged to submit papers of their original work for the seminar. The papers will be selected by a panel of experts and the authors will be given an opportunity to present them in detail at the seminar. The seminar will consist of four half day sessions. In each session there will be a maximum of four papers followed by a panel discussion to identify a research agenda for the session topic.

The following tracks have been identified for the seminar:

1. Data Acquisition systems
2. Data processing, database, interoperability
3. Spatial Analysis and Modelling
4. Human Interfaces and Applications

Selected papers will be printed as a monograph and distributed widely in the research community dealing with the topics of Geospatial Information Science. We hope to generate sufficient interest in the research community in the Asia and Pacific and support the event with a section in the magazine GIS Development, a section dedicated to GI Science on the GIS Development Portal, an e-newsletter and online discussion forums.