COSIT 2024

Call for Papers

We are pleased to announce that the Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT) will be held in Canada for the first time, the 16th in this international conference series! Established in 1993, COSIT is concerned with theoretical aspects of space and spatial information, aimed at advancing spatial information science and its emerging research frontiers.

Spatial information theory is the interdisciplinary study of information about spaces and environments at the scale of human experience, including its representation and its role in communication. In particular, spatial information theory studies how the interpretation of spatial information influences the behavior of human and artificial agents. It draws together numerous threads between computational and formal models of space; the mental representation of space by humans and other animals; and the various ways human and artificial agents communicate information about space. Space is thereby studied on various scales, including the space in geographic maps as well as the space of the human body.

COSIT is an open community that encourages the adoption of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methodologies and theories to advance knowledge of space and spatial information. For the thirty years that COSIT has been around, participants have explored spatial information theory from a multitude of perspectives, showcasing original and impactful research in spatial language and linguistics, spatial cognition, neuroscience, spatial reasoning, navigation, movement analysis, geographic information systems, spatial data science, semantics, philosophy of space, geostatistics, cartography, environmental modeling and design, place and space, artificial intelligence, robotics, location-based systems, and human-computer interaction, just to name a few! In order to maximize engagement and dissemination of ideas at the conference, COSIT runs as an intensive, single-track conference consisting of paper presentations and special thematic sessions over four days.

Our use of spatial technologies in everyday life has changed dramatically since the first COSIT. Today, geospatial technologies are ubiquitous, we are drowning in spatial data, and recently AI tools that compute over language stand to significantly change how information systems communicate spatial information all while being generally opaque about what spatial knowledge they represent. At the same time the spatial environments that are represented in information systems reflect a reality of a world facing a series of complex and challenging social and environmental issues spanning from urban planning to climate change. It is with this context that we have chosen the theme for this year’s COSIT: spatial information theory for transparent translational research. In addition to original research papers on spatial information theory from any discipline, we especially welcome papers that make the link between spatial information theory and benefits to humanity, the biosphere, and the planet.

Themes

We welcome contributions covering conference-relevant themes, such as but not limited to:

• activity-based models of spatial knowledge
• cartography and geographic visualization
• causal and statistical models of space
• cognitive aspects of geographic information
• cognitive-behavioral geography, naive geography
• concepts of spatial information, such as fields, objects, events, networks, and processes
• context awareness in physical and social spaces
• explainable geospatial artificial intelligence (geoAI) and spatially informed AI
• geographic question-answering (geoQA)
• knowledge representation for space and time
• natural (human) language descriptions of space and place
• navigation, wayfinding, and mobility of sentient beings and robots
• ontology of space and time
• place and spatial information theory
• quality and interoperability of spatial data
• security and privacy for spatial data
• semantic spaces
• social and cultural organization of space
• spatial and temporal language
• spatial aspects of social networks, volunteered geographic information
• spatial cognition and neuroscience
• spatial computing and design
• spatial decision support, impact of model design
• spatial (digital) humanities
• spatial information retrieval and encoding of geographic texts
• spatial learning and knowledge acquisition
• spatial storytelling and interactive narratives
• theory and practice of spatial and temporal reasoning
• user interfaces, virtual spaces, and collaborative spaces
• validity of spatial information methods

Submissions

Full papers

Full research papers of 12-20 pages will be reviewed by at least three members of the program committee. High-quality submissions will be accepted for presentation at the conference, and will be published in the conference proceedings. Selection will be based on relevance to the conference themes, scientific significance, novelty, relation to previously published literature, clarity of presentation, and interdisciplinary considerations. Manuscripts must describe original work that has not been submitted and published elsewhere.

Submit FULL paper here

Short papers

Short papers of 7 pages (max) present late-breaking and in-progress research, with less emphasis on mature results. All submissions will be reviewed by members of the program committee. Accepted submissions will be selected for either oral or poster presentation at the conference. Authors of short papers accepted for oral presentation will have the option of having their papers included in the conference proceedings. All other accepted short papers will be shared in a non-archival digital repository.

Submit SHORT paper here

Proceedings

We offer Open Access publications for the refereed submission tracks in the Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs) Series. LIPIcs provides a LaTeX template for papers: https://www.dagstuhl.de/en/publishing/series/details/lipics#author. Please make sure you use the latest version of the template on that page.

Authors unfamiliar with LaTeX, but keen to try, are highly encouraged to use Overleaf (http://www.overleaf.com), an online LaTeX editor that is easy to use and does not require any local installation. Overleaf comes with the LIPIcs template pre-loaded (https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/article-for-the-lipics-series/qmwncxspzfst), so you can immediately start typing. Overleaf is also a collaborative writing tool, allowing multiple authors to work on their paper concurrently.

Authors who want to use other text editors should stay close to the sample article’s layout for their paper submitted for review. Should their papers be accepted for publication, they have to be converted to LaTeX using the LIPIcs LaTeX class and template. Authors are responsible for the conversion of their papers to LaTeX.

More information on how to submit will be shared here soon. In order for an accepted paper to be published in the conference proceedings (full papers, short papers) or included in the conference program (non-archival short poster papers), at least one of the paper authors has to register by the author registration deadline (TBA).

Thematic Sessions

In lieu of workshops, this year we invite proposals for thematic sessions that will take place during the conference.

We are seeking proposals for sessions on specialised topics or on emergent research fields that will be of interest to the COSIT community. Thematic sessions can take various formats, including (but not limited to):

• Panel discussions,
• interviews,
• lightning talks,
• pedagogy & education,
• hands-on activities,
• etc.

Any activity that can fit into a 60-120 minute time slot is welcome. (Longer sessions may be proposed as a combination of multiple slots.)

Previous COSIT thematic sessions have been highly engaging and on a range of topics spanning career support for ECR and beyond, spatio-temporal reasoning, spatial information theory and geoAI, the future of space and much more!

Thematic session organisers, speakers and participants need to be registered to the main conference to attend.

To submit a proposal, please complete this form by February 16, 2024. Please direct any questions regarding thematic sessions to Dr. Alessia Calafiore at acalafio@exseed.ed.ac.uk.

Journal Article or Book Presentation

The conference will run a special thematic session dedicated to providing authors of recently published journal research articles or books on spatial information theory the opportunity to present and share their work in front of the COSIT audience. The article or book must have been published during the years 2022-2024. Submissions should include a citation and <1 page summary of the paper's or book's relevance to COSIT. It will be screened by the program chairs with selection based on relevance to the conference themes.

Doctoral Student Mentoring Program

Take your experience at COSIT as a doctoral student to the next level by participating in the Doctoral Mentoring Program! The doctoral mentoring program at COSIT 2024 encompasses three different pillars for engaging with the COSIT Community in Québec City:

1. FEEDBACK: Pick one out of three different formats to present your doctoral research and get feedback.
2. MENTORING: Meet one-on-one with experienced international scholars.
3. PRESENTATION: Present your work as a lightning talk during a special session of the COSIT 2024 conference.

1. FEEDBACK PILLAR
The COSIT community especially welcomes and supports the active participation of doctoral students. COSIT 2024 will offer new formats of engagement during the conference week, especially targeted at emerging scholars. Based on your research experience, you can choose how you wish to contribute and get feedback:

1. EARLY STAGE: Submit a proposal on how you are going to tackle a particular research problem/question or how you plan to use a specific method, etc;
2. LATER STAGE: Submit a summary of your ongoing PhD research;
3. PEER-REVIEWED: Submit your research for peer review (full or short paper tracks). There will be a 'Best Student Paper' award (details to follow).

2. MENTORING PILLAR
Based on your expertise and focus of research, the doctoral mentoring chair will match you with an experienced scholar who will provide feedback and discuss selected research issues with you one-on-one. The specific focus will also depend on your expression of interest (see below). Introduced at COSIT 2019, these personal conversations have proven to be very valuable to emerging scholars at all stages of their PhD!

3. PRESENTATION PILLAR
We have dedicated one of the sessions during COSIT 2024 for doctoral lightning talks. These will be open exclusively to you as doctoral students. As COSIT is a single-track conference, you will present to all registered participants. This is a fantastic opportunity to present your work to a large audience of like-minded researchers.

HOW TO APPLY FOR THE DOCTORAL MENTORING PROGRAM
In order to apply for the doctoral mentoring program, you are asked to submit an expression of interest (EOI) that can be up to 7 pages (max.). Please use the LaTeX template provided for the conference to write your EOI. You will submit a single PDF document through the form below.

The expression of interest must include:

• A brief biographical sketch, including contact data (name, affiliation, email address) and stage of your doctoral degree (e.g., First year, Final Year, etc.)
• A one-page (max) overview of your PhD research or proposed research.
• Your chosen type of FEEDBACK Pillar: A, B, or C. For option:
  1. Provide a detailed account of a research problem/issue, method, etc., and the specifics of what you wish to get feedback on;
  2. Provide a summary/proposal/plan of your PhD research which is detailed enough in order to enable specific feedback on it;
  3. Provide the submitted abstract of your paper for peer review and describe how this paper fits into your overall PhD research goal.

All submitted EOIs will be ranked but not formally reviewed. Accepted EOIs will be distributed among the mentees and their COSIT 2024 mentors as a single PDF document. Doctoral mentees will also be encouraged to publish their "one-page PhD topic overviews" (item 2 above) in a document that will be shared with all conference attendees and archived via the Open Science Framework (with volume DOI).

Please complete this form to submit your expression of interest to the Doctoral Mentoring Chair no later than May 3, 2024. Please direct any questions regarding the doctoral mentoring program to Dr. Marcela Suárez at marcela.suarez@psu.edu.