ACM SIGSPATIAL Research Articles

DMGI 2010 workshop report

During this one-day event, the ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Data Mining for Geoinformatics (DMGI) brought together scientists working in different fields such as geographic information science (GIS), data mining, machine learning, geoinformatics, remote sensing, and earth and atmospheric sciences, to propose new ideas, identify promising technologies, pose challenges, and inspire new research directions. It provided a forum for the exchange of ideas and the establishment of synergistic activities among researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry. The DMGI Workshop was a great success.

SIGSPATIAL China 2010 activity report

In order to promote ACM SIGSPATIAL and corresponding research area in China, and encourage collaboration between SIGSPATIAL researchers in China and researchers worldwide, in October 2009, we have established ACM SIGSPATIAL China chapter, with the strong support of SIGSPATIAL executive committee.

From TV to Twitter: How Ambient News Became Ambient Journalism

Scholars have applied the term "ambient" to journalism to describe the omnipresent nature of news in society through the proliferation of one-way media into public spaces. This approach is based on a one-directional model of mass media where the audience is framed as the receptor of communication. However this paper suggests that we need to reassess the meaning of ambient as applied to news and journalism due to the participatory and interactive characteristics of the networked digital media. The Internet has changed the relationship between journalists and audiences from a one-way, asymmetric model of communication to a more participatory and collective system, where citizens have the ability to participate in the news production process. This paper argues that ambient news has evolved into ambient journalism – an awareness system that offers diverse means to collect, communicate, share and display news and information, from both professional and non-professional sources.

Highlights from GIR 2010

GIR'10 had a new format this year for the 6 th in a series of workshops on Geographic Information Retrieval -- unlike previous occasions where the workshop was hosted by either ACM SIGIR or CIKM, it was held independently at the University of Zurich, with a two day format allowing more time for discussion and presentations. The workshop was held in cooperation with ACM SIGSPATIAL, a relationship which we look forward to continuing and developing in the future. A total of 13 long and 11 short papers were accepted for presentation after review by the programme committee, and the proceedings can be found online in the ACM Digital Library.

SPRINGL 2009 Workshop Report

The second International Workshop on Security and Privacy in GIS and LBS (SPRINGL 2009) was held on 3rd November 2009 in Seattle, Washington, in conjunction with the 17th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems. The mission of the SPRINGL Workshop series is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners from computer science and other disciplines working in the area of spatio-temporal data security and location privacy in the context of geospatial and mobile applications. Eight papers were selected for presentation and inclusion into the workshop proceedings. The workshop program also included two invited talks by Mohamed Mokbel (University of Minnesota) and Walid Aref (Purdue University), and a panel moderated by Yucel Saygin.

Welcome to SIGSPATIAL China

Location-based services are becoming a very hot topic in China. In order to promote ACM SIGSPATIAL and the corresponding research area in China, and encourage collaboration between SIGSPATIAL researchers in China and researchers worldwide, in late September 2009, Wuhan University, Renmin University and Microsoft Research Asia worked together to submit an application for establishing the ACM SIGSPATIAL China Chapter. The application was approved by the SIGSPATIAL Executive Committee in late October 2009.

Welcome to SIGSPATIAL Australia

Australia has a long history of research excellence and technological innovation in spatial database systems, geographical information systems, and their advanced applications. In early December 2009, eleven members of our community got together and submitted an application for forming an ACM SIGSPATIAL chapter in Australia. The application was officially chartered by ACM on 23 December 2009. ACM SIGSPATIAL Australia Chapter is the second and the most recent chapter for SIGSPATIAL, following the formation of the Chinese Chapter in October 2009.