GI_Forum 2013 – Creating the GISociety

In accordance with the motto “Creating the GISociety”, more than 1100 participants from 45 countries attended GI_Forum and AGIT 2013 to exchange information on the latest trends in technological, analytical, societal and educational domains. This year 118 contributions were selected by the Programme Committee to be presented in oral and poster sessions. The Programme Committee chairs, Adrijana Car and Thomas Jekel, are very pleased with their quality: “The quality of papers presented this year was excellent. The reaction from the delegates and keynote speakers showed that GI_Forum has become an annual event with the goal of promoting interest in translating theory, methods and techniques into a broad range of GI application domains in science, business and education.” The AGIT EXPO offered a platform to 59 exhibiting companies to demonstrate the latest development trends in GI technologies and services. The stalls and events at and around the EXPO were intensively visited by the conference participants.

Young Researchers Events

To encourage young researchers in their scientific work, two events took place at GI_Forum this year: At the Young Researchers’ Corner young scientists met the keynote speakers in an informal atmosphere and discuss their research and received impulses for their further academic careers. The Copernicus Brown Bag Session demonstrated interested attendees the benefits and possibilities of using earth observation in a relaxed atmosphere.

Special workshop “Ecosystem and Biodiversity Monitoring (EO4Hab)

The special workshop “Ecosystem and Biodiversity Monitoring (EO4Hab) – Best practice in Europe and globally” brought together representatives from science, policy, administration and industry. More than 25 presentations and posters showcased the potential of Earth observation satellite technology in becoming a key asset for a more effective, area-wide ecosystem and biodiversity monitoring in Europe and globally. The EU-funded FP7 SPACE projects MS.MONINA and BIO_SOS (www.ms-monina.eu, www.biosos.eu) presented their outcomes highlighting recent achievements and open challenges related to satellite-based services.

Keynote Speakers 2013

– Sarah Elwood, University of Washington: “Creating the GI Society Amidst New Spatial Technologies: Transforming social relations, civic engagement, and education”

– Francis Harvey, University of Minnesota: “A New Age of Discovery: The Post-GIS Era”

– Josef Strobl, University of Salzburg: “Drehkreuz GDI – Geoinformatik Interdisziplinär”

– Geoff Zeiss, Between The Poles: “Integrating Geospatial Information Technology Enables Vertical Industry Solutions”

– Xavier Lopez, Oracle Corp.: “Aligning Spatial and Semantic Data to Support Big Data Analysis”

– Carmel Mbizvo, South African National Biodiversity Institute: “Exploring, revealing, celebrating and championing biodiversity for the benefit and enjoyment of all”