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.

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 geo-spatial 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.

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.

Journal article / 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 relevance to COSIT. It will be screened by the program chairs with selection based on relevance to the conference themes.

Doctoral mentoring

The conference offers a dedicated doctoral student mentoring program for up to 10 PhD students on site. More details on the program will follow.

Thematic Sessions

In lieu of workshops, this year we invite proposals for thematic sessions that will take place during the conference. These short sessions should focus on a specific topic within spatial information theory or tie into the general conference theme of translational research, and can take on a range of formats (e.g., lightning talks, panel, discussion, hands-on activity). A call for thematic sessions will follow shortly.