Abstracts are invited for a session held by the GIScience Research Group (GIScRG) at the Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers International Conference 2012. The conference runs between 3rd – 5th July 2012.
More about the session:
This session aims to bring together researchers to report on progress in diverse types of modelling that has direct impacts on a variety of policy domains. We encourage the submission of papers that present novel use of new or established methodologies using GIS or bespoke models. We are particularly interested in policy applications in the area of health, population dynamics, crime/security, urban planning and retail. We intend to represent the interdisciplinary nature of policy research and analysis with a focus on geographic tools and methods.
Papers may include, but are not limited to:
- Estimating and projecting populations and components of demographic change
- Understanding spatial patterns of crime and issues of security
- Models for decision support and urban sustainability
- Modelling different patterns of individual behaviour
- Spatial modelling/estimating disease prevalence in small areas
- Modelling the impact of policy change on retail networks
The conveners are in discussion with the Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy journal to publish high quality submissions in a special edition.
The GIScRG will provide one bursary for this session, sponsored by the GIScRG for a paper (co-)authored by a postgraduate student; priority will be given to postgraduate students also delivering the paper. The bursary will cover the reduced conference fee for the student for the duration of the conference. It is a requirement that the student is an RGS-IBG Postgraduate Fellow at the time the bursary is awarded [Annual membership costs from £27 (with no joining fee)].
Titles, abstracts (no longer than 250 words) and 5 key words, should be emailed to Dianna Smith (dianna.m.smith[AT]gmail.com), Adam Dennett (a.dennett[AT]ucl.ac.uk) and Alison Heppenstall (a.j.heppenstall[AT]leeds.ac.uk) by Friday 16th December 2011. Notification of acceptance will be given by mid-January 2012.
Abstracts are invited for a session held jointly by the GIScience Research Group (GIScRG) and the Transport Geography Research Group (TGRG) at the Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers International Conference 2012. The conference runs between 3rd – 5th July 2012.
More about the session:
Geospatial technologies are an important component of transport geography and transport applications, and increasingly influence everyday mobilities through vehicle navigation systems as well as location-based services on personal mobile devices. In this session we seek contributions across the range of geographers interested in GIS and GPS uses in a transport context, whether conducting mobilities-related research, mainstream transport geography, qualitative uses of GIS, or creating innovations in integrated and Intelligent Transport Systems. We are interested in concepts that motivate this work as well as the particular methodological and substantive aspects of this field. Please note that this session is focusing on people’s mobilities and private/public transport rather than freight.
Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- state-of-the-art in space-time analysis and visualisation beyond GIS;
- ‘born-digital’ mobility data and the digital security of everyday mobility traces;
- difference and transport;
- documentary practices of everyday mobilities with qualitative GIS;
- development of location-based services and impacts on mobilities;
- inaccuracy issues and integrity of positioning information in integrated transport systems (including GIS/GPS/mapping/digitisation/cartographic errors).
The GIScRG will provide one bursary for this session, sponsored by the GIScRG for a paper (co-)authored by a postgraduate student; priority will be given to postgraduate students also delivering the paper. The bursary will cover the reduced conference fee for the student for the duration of the conference. It is a requirement that the student is an RGS-IBG Postgraduate Fellow at the time the bursary is awarded [Annual membership costs from £27 (with no joining fee)].
Titles and abstracts (no longer than 250 words) should be emailed to Seraphim Alvanides (s.alvanides[AT]gmail.com), Kate Pangbourne (k.pangbourne[AT]abdn.ac.uk) and Matthew W.Wilson (matthew.w.wilson[AT]uky.edu) by Friday 16th December 2011. Notification of acceptance will be given by mid-January 2012.
Abstracts are invited for a session at the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers conference 2011. The conference runs between 31st August – 2nd September 2011; the exact date of this special session is to be confirmed. The session is hosted by the GIScRG, and will be chaired by Dr. Hanif Rahemtulla and Professor Paul Longley.
More about the session:
“The term “Open Data” refers to the philosophical and methodological approach to the democratization of data enabling citizens to access and create value through the reuse of public sector information. Today, Open Data is gathering momentum and forms part of a global movement linked to Open Access and comparable to other Open movements such as Open Source. To date, this movement is being led by government institutions in the UK, USA and Australia through pioneering initiatives such as Data.Gov and the London DataStore. These initiatives, which are being replicated across cities, states and countries (i.e., Open Toronto and New Zealand Open Data Catalogue) provide access to “non-sensitive government datasets, at no cost, to citizens, citizen groups, non-governmental-organisations (NGOs) and businesses” (Lauriault, 2008).
The Open Data Initiative will, it is envisaged, support greater transparency and accountability within Government and create new economic and social value (see Oxera Study, 1999; Cambridge Study, 2008). Furthermore, as O’Reilly (2009) and others argue, the advent of Open Data will fundamentally change the nature by which citizens interact with government. Specifically, the release of public data online and public APIs (which is already underway in some places) will create a platform supporting the development of third-party communication applications outside of government (Headd, 2010). This it is expected will provide a vehicle for expanding public outreach and enhancing public engagement leading to “a more responsive and citizen-focused government” (Madera, 2009).
Today, the Open Data movement has created great excitement in the developer community with a seemingly endless stream of novel and innovative applications, tools and visualizations that repurposes and enriches public data – and has lead to some of the most exciting developments in mobile GIS, web-cartography and LBS in recent years.
However, while Open Data gives rise to a many new opportunities it also poses many challenges. As Boyd (2010) states, access to public information to promote transparency represents only the first step to a more informed citizenry. The success of Open Data will depend in part upon addressing existing barriers to access which encompasses issues such as digital inclusion and information literacy. As such, there is much work still to do to make this promised future happen.
This Special Session aims to bring together some of the key developers, academics and writers on Open Data to document its lineage, debate its philosophy and methods and to envision its future. Contributions are welcome from any source, and in any style appropriate to the arguments being made.”
The session will be a series of presented papers with a lively explorative session in which the four/five scholars will debate about alternative interpretations/methods/solutions within this emerging research area on Open Data.
For more information, please contact the session convenors, Hanif Rahemtulla (Hanif.Rahemtulla[AT]nottingham.ac.uk) and/or Paul Longley (plongley[AT]geog.ucl.ac.uk). Please send abstracts (350 words max.) and key words to Hanif Rahemtulla, by 20th February 2011.
Further details about the conference can be found here.
Abstracts are invited for a session at the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers conference 2011. The conference runs between 31st August – 2nd September 2011; the exact date of this special session is to be confirmed. The session is jointly hosted by the GIScRG and the Geography of Health Research Group (GHRG).
More about the session:
“This session is concerned with the research agenda related to the role natural, social and physical environments have on health related behaviours. The connection between these spatial and the social elements plays a vital role in developing more liveable, sustainable and resilient communities. We would like to call for papers in line with the following topics:
* Exploring the implications of current environments on the health and well-being of different groups and communities
* New methods for measuring and visualizing environmental indicators, people’s behaviour and the relationships between them
* Innovative methods for promoting healthy and active lifestyles
* Evidence based policy recommendations in relation to healthy living environments and behaviour.”
The session will take the form of 5 presented papers. Each will be 20-25 minutes including time for questions.
For more information, please contact the session convenors, Yi Gong (GongY2[AT]cardiff.ac.uk) and/or Catherine (Kate) Jones (Kate.Jones[AT]port.ac.uk). Please send abstracts (350 words max.) to the session convenors, by 20th February 2011.
Further details about the conference can be found here.
Abstracts are invited for a session at the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers conference 2011. The conference runs between 31st August – 2nd September 2011; the exact date of this special session is to be confirmed. The session is jointly hosted by the GIScRG and the Geography of Leisure and Tourism Research Group (GLTRG).
More about the session:
“With this year’s theme being “The Geographical Imagination” we invite papers and presentations from members who wish to present their work that links aspects of GIScience to conceptualising tourism in geographic space. Because tourists exist in space at a specific time, we are particularly interested in papers and presentations that address how tourists/visitors interact with their environment and how this can be modelled in geographic space. We welcome papers and presentations that employ GIScience to the study of geography of leisure and tourism, including:
* Geographic information systems and spatial analyses
* Remote Sensing
* Satellite Positioning
* Tourist mobility tracking and monitoring
* Wayfinding
* Web 2 technology and volunteered geographic information
* Geovisualising tourism landscapes.”
Format of the session should be 4-5 presentations of 20 mins with 5 mins of questions (and 5 min change-over).
For more information, please contact the session convenors, Steve Carver (s.j.carver[AT]leeds.ac.uk) and Colin Arrowsmith (colin.arrowsmith[AT]rmit.edu.au). Please send abstracts (350 words max.) to the session convenors, by 20th February 2011.
Further details about the conference can be found at: www.rgs.org/AC2011.
Special Session(s): Modeling Geographic Complexity.
DESCRIPTION:
Understanding geographical systems represents one of the greatest challenges of our time. Complexity has emerged as a useful paradigm to effectively study linked human, socioeconomic and biophysical systems at a variety of different spatial and temporal scales. As a result, descriptive and predictive models of various levels of sophistication and using mostly agents, genetic algorithms, cellular automata and neural networks are now beginning to regularly appear in the geographic literature. However, there still remains many unresolved conceptual, technical and application challenges associated with these complexity based models. The goal of this session is to focus on the following themes:
1. Conceptual: shared and unique complexity signatures in geographic systems; existing and emerging geographical and complexity theories; epistemological and ontological influences; complexity based model designs; networks and hybrid models; linking classical and spatial statistics in complexity studies.
2. Technical: space-time patterns and dynamics; standardizing the development and representation of complex systems; rule selection and implementation; multiple-scale interactions and structure, system evolution and self-organization; learning and adaptation; calibration, validation and verification; path-dependence; non-linearity.
3. Applications: effectiveness of complexity models when embedded in political, institutional and socio-economic systems; human-environment interactions; earth systems science; land use science; landscape ecology; sustainability analysis.
In order to widely disseminate the ideas emerging from this session, the organizers of the session are exploring the possibility for a special issue of a journal and /or an edited book so that authors will have the opportunity to suitably revise their presentations for publication. Priority will be given for work that has not been published, in review or in press.
Please e-mail the abstract and key words with your expression of intent to Andrew Crooks <acrooks2@gmu.edu> by October 19th, 2009.
