Special Session @ GI Forum | Call for Papers
Deadline: 01 February 2017
At GI_Forum 2017, a Special Session on “Earth Observation for Humanitarian Assistance” (EO4Hum)
will be organized by the Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS, University of Salzburg, in collaboration
with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) supported by the project EO4HumEn+.
SCOPE OF THE SPECIAL SESSION
GIS and remote sensing have increasingly become popular in the humanitarian
community. The special session “Earth Observation for Humanitarian Assistance” will focus
on the potential of satellite data and geosptaial technologies to support humanitarian
assistance in crisis and disaster response. New technological advances accompany the
strong need for effective tools: With respect to imaging, a large variety of different optical
as well as radar sensor types provides all kinds of spatial, temporal and spectral
resolutions, also including unpiloted systems recently. Turning this data into relevant
geospatial information products for humanitarian actors is one challenge which will be
addressed. The other is the integration of massive (big?) data being produced by
volunteers and geo-humanitarian initiatives such as HOT or Missing Maps, as well as joint
mapathons. To jointly discuss recent developments we welcome original contributions
from R&D as well as practical applications, sharing experiences in applying new methods,
tools and technologies for dedicated geospatial information products in all phases of
humanitarian crises.
TOPICS INCLUDE
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Monitoring and tracking displaced population
Early-warning indicators for humanitarian crisis
Crowd mapping, humanitarian VGI
UAVs and mobile devices
Crisis monitoring (water supplies, infrastructure, natural resources)
Assessment of mid- to long-term effects of humanitarian crises
New EO data and their potential, including Copernicus Sentinels
Links to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS)
SUBMISSION DETAILS
Types of contributions & deadlines: GI_Forum 2017 gives authors choices about the type
of submission they want to make in order to accommodate a variety of interdisciplinary
contributions. Submissions must be in English language. The review is double-blind.
Consult the author information guidelines published at the conference website for further
details. Publication will be both hardcopy and online (see www.giforum.org/journal/aboutjournal). The publication is free and open access, and included in
Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index.
Feb 1, 2017
Mar 16, 2017
Apr 15, 2017
Jun 6, 2017
Deadline for submission of full papers and short papers for
oral presentations
Notification of acceptance
Final paper versions due
Late deadline for submission of abstracts for poster
presentations
SESSION ORGANISERS
Stefan LANG1, Elisabeth SCHOEPFER2, Barbara RIEDLER1
1
Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS | University of Salzburg, Austria
2
Earth Observation Center | German Aerospace Center, Germany
This project is funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency
(FFG) under the Austrian Space Applications Programme (contract
number 854041)
The GI_Forum 2017 under its overall theme ‘Geospatial Online’ provides a platform for dialogue among geospatial minds in
an ongoing effort to support the creation of an informed GISociety. Bearing in mind different perspectives from a variety of
professions, presentations, workshops and exhibitions will concentrate on innovations in education, science and
technologies, in the spatial domain and their possible contribution to a more just, ethical and sustainable society.
Prominent keynote speakers will highlight new developments, offer insights into trends and visions, and at the same time
be available for our Young Researchers' Corner for more individualized interaction with young researchers. The Special
Session on “Earth Observation for Humanitarian Assistance” runs within the well-established GI-Forum track “Monitoring of
Global Change” and is also linked to the German speaking AGIT track “Copernicus4all”.
Scope of the track Monitoring of Global Change: ‘Global change’ – a short formula for a multitude of anticipated shifts in
societal and environmental domains due to global drivers – calls for spatial monitoring and modelling techniques to better
understand the implications and potential dynamics of such changes. International programmes and visions (in particular
GEO/GEOSS and Copernicus) envisage unified systems based on quality standards for data, products and services to
establish optimized observation and forecasting capacity within Europe, and also globally.
GI_Forum is organized by the Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS 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.
Conference stipends: A total of five conference stipends are available for outstanding international contributions from
MSc/PhD/PostDoc researchers. These stipends are € 400 each and will typically cover both the conference fees and
accommodation during the conference. Stipends are available for full-paper contributions in English only. They are awarded
based on the results of an international review process.
Josef Strobl
Adrijana Car
Thomas Jekel
Conference Chair
Programme Chair
Programme Chair