Workshops can be attended and are fully optional. Registration for the main conference is required in order to participate. A full-day workshop costs €50, with the exception of the GIROST workshop (see below). The costs will be added to your balance. You can select one workshop in the registration module, if you desire to do so.

All workshops will be held on Monday April 18th.

Acronym: CartoCriM
Contact persons:

Length: Full-day, presentations and subsequent discussion will be the main format of workshop. 


Goal & Topics: The main goal is to compare the state of the art and trends of the cartographic support in Early Warning and Crises Management and to identify issues for future research.

There exists significant public demand for integrated participation of several scientific disciplines in provision of crisis management and early warning. Up-to-date information, their suitable structuring, and easy access to them are necessary for supporting timely and correct decision-making in emergency/crisis situations. Cartographic visualization plays an important role for user’s orientation. Visualization is not an isolated element of the information transfer process; it depends on the status of source databases, decision-supporting models, and behaviour of different kind of users.

Both public and private institutions gradually shift their focus from collection of data to their use in various applications. Use of existing data, verification of their quality, analyses of their qualitative features, interpretation, presentation and implementation of their accessibility to users – these are currently the key requirements of public and private institutions that maintain the databases.

This workshop will deal with the process of transfer of geoinformation to the user. Complex approach to the topic covers geoinformation, geostatistic, cartographic, environmental, psychological, and other aspects.

The main topics will include:

We propose to invite three invited speakers for this workshop:

Planned outcome: Potential participants are invited to submit extended abstracts (app. 400 words) addressing some of the above mentioned topics. Abstracts will be reviewed and eight will be selected for a paper presentation during the workshop. Contributions are welcomed both from senior researchers and PhD students.

Selected papers will be published in the Advances in Military Technology (AiMT) Journal issued in the University of Defence, the Czech Republic which is listed in the SCOPUS database (ISSN 1802-2308, http://aimt.unob.cz/default.htm). 

Important dates

Acronym: HDG

Contact persons: Derek Karssenberg (Utrecht, Netherlands), Kor de Jong (Utrecht, Netherlands + ESRI), Willem van Deursen (PC Raster Team)
Length: Full-day

Description: Most GIS software packages are built around the concept of attribute information in two spatial dimensions. To represent time series of data and forward simulations in GIS it is needed to represent the time dimension in data and functions. Moreover, for dealing with uncertainty in spatial data, it is required to add a fourth dimension representing stochastic attributes. Although conceptual models for multi dimensional GIS have been extensively described, the number of tools that can deal with multiple dimensions is still limited.

In this workshop we address this need and will introducé the recently released PCRaster Version 3 software1-7 that incorporates data structures, data analysis functions and visualization routines for 5 dimensions, i.e. for stochastic spatio-temporal data. The workshop will include a number of short presentations dealing with concepts and theory combined with short computer labs to introduce you to the software.

The objectives are to discuss recent developments and research needs in the field of higher-dimensional GIS and to get a quick practical introduction to the PCRaster Version 3 software. Case studies will include examples from human and physical geography. With this workshop we hope to contribute to dissemination of research results in higher dimensional GIS. The workshop may result in a joint research paper with workshop participants.

Acronym: ISW

Contact persons: Theodor Foerster (Muenster, Germany), Arne Broering (52North), Bastian Baranskli, Benjamin Pross, Christoph Statch, Thomas Everding (all Muenster, Germany), Stephan Mas (Dresden, Germany)
Length: Full-day

Description: The ISW workshop seeks for research presentations on the cross-road of Sensor Web and Geoprocessing. Geoprocessing is the application of functionality representing real-world processes (e.g. hydrological runoff models) or processing of geodata (e.g. generalization, (coordinate) transformation). Providing these models and functionality on the web is a relevant topic in research and industry, as it allows users to generate web-based information to support decision making. The Sensor Web evolves to enable discovery and tasking of sensors as well as interoperable access to their gathered data through common interfaces over the Web. Web-based geoprocessing can use data published through the Sensor Web as inputs to realize live decision support and vice versa. Such integration of the two technologies is an evolving field of research. Related applications are for example environmental monitoring (e.g. air quality, noise, water quality), health monitoring and risk management (e.g. forest fire).

The website url with the cfp is: http://purl.net/ifgi/isw2011  

The presentations held at the workshop will be based on extended abstracts, submitted by potential participants. After the workshop, the participants are invited to submit full papers to a peer-reviewed scientific journal.


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Acronym: Testbed
Contact Persons: Stephan Schmid (Munich, Germany), Johannes Brauner (Dresden, Germany), Bastian Schaffer (52North)
Length: Full-day



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Acronym: SK_SII
Contact Persons: Javier Martinez (Enschede, Netherlands), Karin Pfeffer (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Danny Vandenbroucke (Leuven, Belgium)
Length: Full-day

Description: The ways in which spatialized knowledge sources are being produced, exchanged and used is becoming a prominent research theme in various disciplines, and in particular in the social sciences. The objective of the workshop is to explore different aspects and research approaches of spatial knowledge management. PhD students and other researchers from a Dutch and a Belgium research program present findings from their programs, which focused on spatial information infrastructures in two very different geographical and cultural contexts: Belgium and India. Particular emphasis is put on the generation and utilization of official databases including the digitizing and harmonization of local spatial knowledge; the implications of knowledge production for inclusion and exclusion; accountability and citizenship (through participatory GIS), considering spatial knowledge as mediator to complement existing knowledge.

Expected audience: PhD students and other researchers of both research programs and of similar projects, international experts in the field of SII and spatial knowledge management, active AGILE members in the field of SII and spatial knowledge management.

Participants are invited to submit extended abstracts (≅ 400 words) addressing some of the questions posted by this workshop (see extended workshop description). Abstracts will be selected for presentation according to a number of criteria and available time for presentations. From those that will present, a number will be asked to prepare a book chapter that will be reviewed by 1) a review committee of the organizers of the workshop, and 2) a review from the editor. Contributions are welcomed both from senior researchers and PhD students.


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Acronym: ST
Contact Persons: Claire Jarvis (Leicester, United Kingdom), Diana Sinton (Redlands, United States)
Length: Full-day

Description: Spatial literacy, and associated ideas such as spatial thinking and spatial cognition, have been the focus of several recent and distinctive academic initiatives and programs around the globe (e.g. LENS, CSISS, SPLINT). Shared goals include a better understanding of the ways in which we think and learn spatially, and an application of that knowledge to educational domains. This understanding has implications for the ways in which we teach and learn GIS and the utility of GIS as a tool for addressing spatially-based problems in the world. The public’s use of maps, through programs of citizen science, volunteered geographic information (VGI), GPS use for personal navigation, access of location-based services (LBS) via hand-held devices, and other neo-geography mapping applications all include expectations for people to use spatial modes of thinking and make decisions involving spatial information. Thus our understanding of how we develop and encourage good spatial practice is even more important.

The workshop will consist of three major components:

Additionally, participants will be provided ahead of time with an annotated bibliography of published literature on the topic of spatial thinking, especially as it pertains to matters of maps and representations, mapping, and navigation. This collection reflects the most current and relevant research by an international group of geographers, geoscientists, and cognitive and developmental psychologist who are studying these topics, and will inform our discussion.

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8 - GI Research and instruction mixing commercial and Open Source Tools

Acronym: GIROST
Contact Persons: Andreas Wytzisk (52North), Michael Gould, Frank Holsmuller (both ESRI)
Length: Full-day
Note: This workshop is financially fully covered by ESRI; no workshop fee applicable (0 EUR)

Description: The workshop presents the new reality of mixed source deployments of geospatial technology, not only in industry but in GI research and instruction as well. The 52 North initiative has been practicing this mixed source development for some time now, and lately Esri has become a stronger partner in these developments and has announced new open APIs, open source software, and a non-profit organization program. This opens new possibilities for collaboration among AGILE members, NGOs, and industry. 52 North will show the fruits of mixed source development including recent open source extensions built on the ArcGIS platform, in the areas of Sensor Web Enablement and Web Processing Services (WPS). Esri can show the newly open-sourced Geospatial portal extension, the Open Street Map editor, and discuss future plans. Ample time is to be made available for group discussion, Q and A, and plans for future collaboration.

Workshop Topics:

• Introduction to the notion of mixed-source development; implications for research and teaching
• Work done at 52 North to create an OGC-compliant Sensor Observation Service (SOS) that is consumed in ArcGIS Desktop
• Experiences exposing the ArcGIS geoprocessing toolbox via Web Processing Services (WPS)
• Moving Esri's Geoportal Server to open source: how, why, lessons learned.
• Esri's Open Street Map data editor extension for ArcGIS Desktop
• Group discussion
• Hosted lunch

Relevance to AGILE: AGILE members are in general users of both Esri and Open Source software solutions, however most are not aware of the most recent efforts at connecting the two environments using standard interfaces and application programming interfaces (APIs). This mixed software environment is the way of the future for the GI community/industry, and so it is important that researchers and teachers understand how it works and the roles of each of the two components.

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