THE CONFERENCE

We are very pleased to announce that the 15th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory, COSIT 2022, will be held in Kobe, Japan, September 5-9, 2022.

Established in 1993, the Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT) is a biennial international conference series concerned with theoretical aspects of space and spatial information, aimed at advancing geographic information science and its emerging research frontiers.

Spatial information theory is concerned with all aspects of space and spatial environments as experienced and represented by humans, by other animals, and by artificial agents. The scope of the conference includes both the development of general theories of space and spatial information and the testing of these theories in applications to specific domains. Papers may address various aspects of spatial information from the viewpoint of any discipline, including (but not limited to):

• Architecture, Planning, and Environmental Design
• Artificial intelligence, spatial data science, and machine learning (new)
• Cognitive Anthropology, Psycholinguistics, and Linguistics
• Cognitive Robotics and Cognitive Informatics
• Cognitive Science, Vision Science, and Environmental and Behavioral Psychology
• Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
• Digital ethics of spatial information (new)
• Engineering, Human Factors, and Cognitive Ergonomics
• Geography and Geographic Information Science
• Land rights, ownership, property and equal opportunities (new)
• Mathematics, Logic, Philosophy, and Ontology
• Neuroscience

COSIT particularly shines in the engaged and stimulating discussions among participants with varying disciplinary backgrounds between talks. In 2022, we will rekindle this COSIT spirit after the long, pandemic-caused hibernation—a spirit based on the serendipity of a single-track meeting. We will focus on on-site discussions of innovative and significant recent contributions by gathering new collaborations of interdisciplinary research among on-site participants. Highlights for on-site participants:

• The conference will run over five full days and enable intensive discussions
• Accordingly, significant parts of the program will be accessible only for on-site participants, including dedicated themed workshops for the discussion of vision papers, live paper- and keynote discussions, and the doctoral mentoring program
• Committee meetings, networking, and a discussion of future directions of this conference

However, in consideration of individual special circumstances online participation will be offered as well, but strictly limited to the paper presentation sessions. Highlights for online participants:

• Access to all peer-reviewed paper presentations and keynotes (online and offline)
• (Passive) access to the discussions of the full and short paper presentation sessions (online only)
• Publication and presentation of any accepted full and short paper (no vision paper)

TOPICS AND TRACKS

The conference offers three (refereed) submission tracks with double-blind reviews: vision papers, full papers, and short papers. Embedded in the conference will also be an on-site mentoring program for doctoral students.

We welcome contributions covering a broad set of conference-relevant themes such as (but not limited to):

• activity-based models of spatial knowledge
• cognitive aspects of geographic information
• cognitive-behavioral geography, naive geography
• data-driven spatial information theory
• geo-ethics and geo-privacy
• events and processes in geographic space and time
• geographic information visualization and geovisual analytics
• knowledge representation for space and time
• navigation and wayfinding of sentient beings and robots
• ontology of space and time
• place
• quality and interoperability of geographic information
• social and cultural organization of space
• spatial and temporal language
• spatial aspects of social networks
• spatial decision-support, impact of model design
• spatial (digital) humanities
• theory-driven spatial machine learning, artificial intelligence of space
• theories on volunteered geographic information
• theory and practice of spatial and temporal reasoning
• user interfaces, virtual spaces, and collaborative spaces

The papers should make contributions to theory and develop new approaches or insights. Application-oriented papers are discouraged.

We offer Open Access publications for the three refereed submission tracks in the Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs) Series (https://www.dagstuhl.de/en/publications/lipics/).

Vision papers

In this category, we welcome rigorously researched and argued agenda-setting papers of 13 pages (max.) that identify emerging research frontiers, and/or societally relevant research problems that are complex or hard to solve. Vision papers will undergo a separate and thorough reviewing process. Accepted papers of this type will be scheduled for a special presentation type, allowing for talks to particularly stimulate intensive discussion. For this reason, vision papers require a commitment for on-site participation. If you would like to know more or discuss a potential submission, please contact the Themed Sessions Chair, Crystal Bae (cbae@uchicago.edu).

Full papers

Full papers of 13 pages (max.) will be thoroughly 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. If you would like to discuss potential submissions to this category, please contact one of the Program Chairs, Sara Irina Fabrikant (sara.fabrikant@geo.uzh.ch) or Stephan Winter (winter@unimelb.edu.au).

Short papers

Short papers of 7 pages (max.) present ongoing research that might not yet be mature enough for a full publication. Submissions will be screened for acceptance by the program committee. Accepted submissions will be presented at the conference either as a short presentation or as a poster.

Doctoral Mentoring Track

The conference offers a dedicated doctoral student mentoring programme for up to 10 PhD students on site. We encourage interested PhD students to send a maximum 7-page expression of interest statement. This statement should entail:

• a concise overview of the PhD topic;
• a short biographical sketch including information about the current state of the PhD; and
• an indication whether students want to gather feedback on the broader topic, a
specific research problem they currently tackle or whether they plan to submit a full/short paper. Given their choice, further requirements apply (see the website for details)

These expressions of interest will be ranked but not formally reviewed. Accepted expressions of interest will be distributed among the 10 mentees and their corresponding mentors as a booklet. They will not be part of the peer-reviewed proceedings.

Please see the conference website for further information on the innovative mentoring programme. Any questions related to this track should be addressed to Doctoral Mentoring Chair, Markus Kattenbeck (markus.kattenbeck@geo.tuwien.ac.at).

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

Papers must be written in English suitable for an interdisciplinary audience, conform to LIPIcs formatting guidelines (available at https://submission.dagstuhl.de/series/details/5#author). Overleaf provides the Dagstuhl template already (https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/lipics-v2019-sample/gqgybwgdpbpq), and allows you to start writing straight away.
Indicated maximal page numbers for the various tracks include the title, figures, and references. Submissions for review must be blind. All contributions must be submitted in PDF format to the COSIT 2022 EasyChair System, available at the URL https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cosit2022

DEADLINES

Vision Papers:
• Expression of interest due December 15th, 2021 (per email to cbae@uchicago.edu)
• Submissions due February 4th, 2022
• Notifications due March 21st, 2022
• Final versions due April 8th, 2022

Full Papers:
• Submissions due February 4th, 2022
• Notifications due March 21st, 2022
• Final versions due April 8th, 2022

Short Papers:
• Submissions due April 8th, 2022
• Notifications due May 9th, 2022
• Final versions due May 15th, 2022

Doctoral Mentoring Statements
• Expression of interest due May 1st, 2022 (per email to markus.kattenbeck@geo.tuwien.ac.at)

Registration deadline for one author per paper: May 15th, 2022

THE LOCATION

With Kobe, Japan, as the host city, the 15th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2022) will be located for the first time in Asia. Kobe is located in the western part of Japan, and known as a cosmopolitan port city with the heritage of Western cultures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The central area of Kobe has a variety of sightseeing spots within walking distance, and, importantly for COSIT, it boasts excellent cuisine: Japanese, European, and Chinese. The conference site is located only 5 minutes from downtown Kobe and its main train station. Kobe has excellent international and domestic flight and train connections. It can be reached from Osaka Kansai International Airport (KIX) by airport limousine bus in seventy minutes or in two hours by train to Sannomiya Station. Alternatively, you may want to arrive at Narita Airport and travel from Tokyo to Shin-Kobe by Shinkansen, a trip of approx. five hours total to downtown Kobe.

LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING YOU IN KOBE:

Toru Ishikawa (INIAD Toyo University) – General Chair
Sara Irina Fabrikant (University of Zurich) and Stephan Winter (University of Melbourne) – Program Chairs
Crystal Bae (University of Chicago) – Themed Sessions Chair
Markus Kattenbeck (Vienna University of Technology) – Doctoral Mentoring Chair
Toru Ishikawa (INIAD Toyo University), Kei-ichi Okunuki (Gunma University), Masashi Sugimoto (Kwansei Gakuin University), Kazuko Takahashi (Kwansei Gakuin University) – Local Organizing Committee