[GSDI Technical] Workshop on Information Semantics and its Implications for Geographic Analysis

[Kate Lance]

via UCGIS LISTSERV

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2nd Call - Workshop on Information Semantics and its Implications 
for Geographic Analysis (ISGA'08)
in Park City, Utah, September 23rd, 2008,
held in conjunction with GIScience 2008,
the 5th International Conference on Geographic Information Science

New!
***
Workshop outcomes will form the basis for an open call for submission to
a special issue in International Journal of Geographical Information 
Science on integration of information semantics and spatial analysis.
***

Workshop Theme
Ontology and information semantics are central to research on enhanced 
interoperability between geographic information systems, services, and 
data sets. It is increasingly understood that deeper insights into 
information semantics also have consequences for geographic analysis in 
general. Development of semantic similarity metrics appears to enable 
access to a much broader array of analytical methods for categorical 
data than those traditionally employed. Existing examples that 
demonstrate this potential are fuzzy accuracy assessment, map similarity
estimates, and semantic versions of the standard variogram. An explicit 
recognition of the importance of context in semantic assessments also 
poses interesting questions for a quantitative approach to categorical 
data. The influence of context on semantic similarity measurement is a 
well-known phenomenon that has long been observed in psychological 
experiments. Although the results of human similarity ratings depend on 
the context, and this dependency is also reflected in recent 
similarity theories, the nature of this influence and its actual impact 
have not been subject to thorough research yet.

This workshop seeks to advance both theoretical and applied perspectives
with these two overarching goals:
- develop consensus on the current theoretical situation of category 
semantics by including multiple perspectives on the current 
understanding of category semantics and the means by which it can be 
elicited, formalized, and assessed for geographic information
- describe and exemplify the potential of semantic similarity metrics in
spatial data manipulation, analysis, statistics, and modeling

Further information on the aim of the workshop is available on 
http://www.cogsci.uos.de/~isga08/

Call for Papers
Anybody with an interest in the questions raised above is invited to 
submit a position paper as basis for discussions during the workshop. 
Extended abstracts of 1000 - 1500 words should be sent by email to 
isga08-at-uos.de . Accepted papers will be made available on the 
workshop web site, unless their authors instruct us otherwise. Authors 
will be notified whether their position papers have been selected for an
additional short-presentation during the workshop.

We expect that the outcomes of this workshop will shed light on the 
connection between information semantics and spatially explicit 
analysis. This theme will form the basis for a special issue in 
International Journal of Geographical Information Science. Workshop 
participants and the wider research community will be invited to submit 
full papers after the workshop for a regular peer-review.

Workshop Organizers
Ola Ahlqvist, The Ohio State University, U.S.A. , 
http://geog-www.sbs.ohio-state.edu/faculty/Ahlqvist/
Martin Raubal, University of California Santa Barbara, U.S.A. , 
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/%7Eraubal/
Angela Schwering, University of Osnabrueck, Germany , 
http://www.cogsci.uni-osnabrueck.de/%7Easchweri/
Ashton Shortridge, Michigan State University, U.S.A., 
http://www.msu.edu/~ashton/

Important Dates
Submission due: 30th May 2008
Acceptance Notification: 21st June 2008
Camera-ready Copies: 7th July 2008
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