GI_Forum 2019 – THE spatial view: A retrospect
Should you require more detailed information about this specific year (i.e. program), please contact office@gi-forum.org.
Perspective and space
GIS has long been established in most of the traditionally “spatial” disciplines like planning, resource management and logistics. Other disciplines, such as social sciences currently experience an added value of a “spatial turn”. The explicitly spatial perspective of Geoinformatics generates better information and knowledge as a base for improved decision-making processes in areas of our economy, society and environment and was the focus of this year’s GI_Forum, which took place between July 2 – 5, 2019 in Salzburg, Austria.
GI_Forum is organized by the University of Salzburg, under the coordination of the Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS and in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and runs concurrently with the highly regarded German language conference on Applied Geoinformatics – AGIT. The two symposia share the innovative AGIT EXPO exhibit and stimulating social Events.
The future as focus
Representatives from research and industry met with users to discuss current trends and today’s significance of (geo)information in society. Participants of this year’s GI_Forum discussed the various challenges related to food production, distribution, and consumption; the transition of the energy system towards more sustainability; and volunteered geographic information through citizen participation in (smart) city planning.
Josef Aschbacher extended the spatial perspective even further by presenting ESA’s Earth Observation Programme. GI_Forum 2019 ended on a high note with Euro Beinat of Naspers Limited demonstrating how machine learning and AI works in the present and what’s possible in the future.
Connecting on every level
GI_Forum is best known as a platform where representatives from research & development, industry leaders and users meet to exchange ideas and connect in an informal setting. This unique and balanced mix of participants was supported by communication-enhancing formats and thus created synergies on many levels where participants of GI_Forum Symposium and Exhibit could connect and network. This interlinking also has a spatial component: lecture rooms are all under one roof and centered around the EXPO, taking place in the foyers of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Salzburg, an added benefit for all participants.
GI_Forum Journal
GI_Forum publishes high quality original research across the transdisciplinary field of Geographic Information Science (GIScience) and implements the policy of open access publication after a double-blind peer review process through a highly international team of seasoned scientists for quality assurance.
GI_Forum Journal Issues > online
2019 Awards
This year two contributions were awarded the Best Student Paper Award: Anita Graser’s paper entitled “MovingPandas: Efficient Structures for Movement Data in Python”, as well a Maximilian Sesselmann’s paper on “Einsatz von Deep Learning zur automatischen Detektion und Klassifikation von Fahrbahnschäden aus mobilen LiDAR Daten”.
Kira Lappé from the University of Vienna won the Award for Best Poster.
Check out the > online Poster Gallery
Christoph Giger, Carrie Elizabeth Steves & Paul Gosling are the winners of this year’s UNIGIS International Academic Excellence Prize: Carrie and Paul presented their papers in a special GI_Forum session. Carrie’s paper is entitled “Trends in the Alaskan Bottom-Trawl Fishery from 1993-2015: A GIS-based Spatiotemporal Analysis”; Paul’s paper was on “Automated Map Projection Selection for GIS” (to be published elsewhere); Christoph could not join us in Salzburg this year, his paper is entitled “Assessing Shrub and Tree Encroachment in Alpine Pastures from Airborne Laser Scanning Data” and will be published in Issue 2 of the GI_Forum Journal.
Laura Knoth received the Esri grant for her paper entitled “Anforderungsanalyse zur Integration von raum-zeitlichen Daten in 4D-Geodateninfrastrukturen (4D-SDIs)”.
At this year’s Satellite Image Quiz only two participants knew all the answers: the lucky winner was decided by a draw – congratulations Mr. Joachim Spors and congratulations to all winners of the GI_Forum 2019!
