GI_Forum 2009 - Call for Papers

The Geoinformatics Forum Salzburg (GI_Forum) is scheduled for July 7-10, 2009, at Salzburg University, Austria.
This Call for Papers aims at researchers who design, develop and apply advanced methods and techniques of Geoinformatics to a broad range of application domains. We solicit papers on emerging and established topics and research outcomes related to Geoinformatics methodology. By no means exhaustive, the list of symposium topics includes advanced geospatial data acquisition; advanced spatial analysis and knowledge extraction; advanced visualisation and cartography, geoontologies; distributed and mobile services; and dynamic modelling and simulation.
GI_Forum 2009 would also like to attract contributions pertaining to these specific topics:
• Digital Cities
• Sustainable Environments
• Global Monitoring - Observing, Understanding and Visualizing Planet Earth
• Learning with Geoinformation

GI_Forum 2009 gives authors choices about the type of submission they want to make in order to accommodate a variety of interdisciplinary contributions. Deadline for submission of full papers for oral presentation and publication in the conference proceedings; and extended abstracts for discussion sessions: February 2, 2009. For more information, please visit out website at www.gi-forum.org

'Austria-Central Asia Centre for GIScience' opened

This cooperative centre between Austrian universities and Central Asian partners in the Eurasia-Pacific Uninet was opened on May 15, 2008 in Bishkek at the Kyrgyz State University fpr Construction, Transportation and Architecture with addresses by Prof. Akymbek Abdykalykov - Rector of KSUCTA, Prof. Ishengul Boldjurova - Minister of Education and Science of KR, HE Ursula Fahringer - Ambassador of Austria to the Kyrgyz Republic and Prof. Brigitte Winklehner – President of Eurasia-Pacific Uninet.
Support from the Eurasia-Pacific Uninet and the ongoing cooperation with Z_GIS will facilitate joint projects, faculty and student exchanges, a number of on-site and mobility scholarships as well as the development of a research programme focussed on GIScience and application requirements in Central Asia.
The opening of the new centre was immediately followed by the Second Central Asia GIS Conference 'GIS for the Future of Central Asia' - GISCA'08, bringing a representatives from across Central Asia to a programme focussed on GIS education.

Bridge2Geo - R&D to Create a GI-Society

The GIS-Clusters of Salzburg (Austria) and Northrhine-Westfalia (Germany) have initiated BRIDGE2GEO in the EU FP7 Programme “REGIONS OF KNOWLEDGE” with a kickoff meeting on Feb 29/March 1. The two partner regions will intensify their collaboration in the GIS-sector and develop a plan of action targeting domains such as Renewable Energy, Security, Health, Trade and Tourism.

BRIDGE2GEO connects SMEs, research institutes and regional authorities from Salzburg and Northrhine-Westfalia. The overall objective is to strengthen the research potential of European regions, in particular by encouraging and supporting the development of regional “research-driven clusters”.

New strategies, communication & business models will be elaborated via the challenging “GIS 2.0 window” to promote implementation of GI-services. Special regard will be given to the European GMES initiative. BRIDGE2GEO will promote synergies between regional and research policies of the two regions. RTD strategies will be integrated into the economic development strategies as a basis for more focused use of the Structural Funds for R&D activities.

UN-SPIDER Expert Meeting: Feb 7-9. Salzburg

United Nations International UN-SPIDER Expert Meeting:
"Building Upon the Network of Regional Support Offices"
Organized by: The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and Z_GIS
Salzburg, 7 - 9 February 2008

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The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through its new UN-SPIDER (“United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response”) programme, and the Salzburg University Center for Geoinformatics with support from the Austrian government are organising the United Nations International UN-SPIDER Expert Meeting in Salzburg at Schloss Leopoldskron to establish an Operational Plan that will ensure that the Network of the Regional Support Offices (RSOs) contributes to the 2008-2009 activities. The Expert Meeting will bring together around 40 decision-makers and senior experts from around the world who will not only discuss how to efficiently coordinate and interact with the Network of Regional Support Offices, but also focus on Capacity Building, Knowledge Management and National Disaster Management Planning.