UCL and Birkbeck partner to host a week of online events on GeoAI
The Geographical Information Science Research UK conference (GISRUK) returns with a three-day virtual conference that is free to attend.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as the hot topic in science and technology in recent years, rapidly progressing in many complex domains, from image recognition to language translation. Where research in geography, AI and data science collide, a new domain has emerged: “Geo-AI” is revealing exciting breakthroughs, such as a deeper understanding of satellite images, automatic mapping of buildings in 3D and stopping autonomous vehicles from crashing into one another. Yet AI technologies are not without risk, posing as many questions as they might solve, such as debate around ethics and interpretability of results.
From the 21 to the 23 July, UCL and Birkbeck will will co-host GISRUK 2020 and the ISPRS SpaceTimeAI Symposium, showcasing cutting-edge research in geospatial data science, hands-on training in deep learning and computer vision, early-career development, and social activities for participants from the UK, Europe and beyond. Attendees will have the opportunity to network with top researchers in the field and learn how Geo-AI can be used within their business or research.
Between them, UCL and Birkbeck are sector leaders in the fields of geospatial science and GIS, with internationally renowned research groups in Geomatics, CASA, Geography and the Birkbeck Institute for Data Analytics. These groups are using GeoAI in their research and integrating it into the teaching in their 10+ geospatial masters programmes, including Geospatial Sciences, GIS, Smart Cities and Urban Analytics, Remote Sensing and Archaeology at UCL, as well as Geographic Data Science and at Birkbeck.
Dr Andrea Ballatore (Birkbeck), co-organiser of GISRUK 2020 with Dr James Haworth (UCL), said: “The use of AI offers great potential for both improving urban environments and infrastructure and providing new insights about how our cities work. We hope that these conferences will provide an opportunity to increase the interaction between the research communities in geospatial sciences and AI. We’re looking forward to welcoming researchers working across the field of data science and GIS, to have meaningful discussions about the challenges and opportunities that AI brings to our increasingly digital life.”