UCGIS is pleased to announce its 2019 Symposium, The Geospatial Humanities: Transdisciplinary Opportunities for the GIScience Community. The geospatial humanities are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary by definition, and with this Symposium we take a step towards a transdisciplinary model of research collaboration, where transdisciplinarity is defined as the integration of multiple disciplines from the natural and social sciences that transcends their traditional boundaries.

We welcome the participation of researchers from both the spatial humanities and the geohumanities, recognizing that methods of the former tend to be quantitative and spatial while the latter are qualitative and place-based. The common ground is an interest in mapping and the geospatial technologies, GIScience, and the geographic perspective. A multi-methods approach, collaborative research across fields, and the integration of disciplinary perspectives are among the key elements of the digital and geospatial humanities research paradigm. The GIScience community has much to offer to the geospatial humanities’ community as well as its broader digital humanities networks, including cutting edge research on big data applications, computer science approaches applied to geographical data, the integration of geographic data with social network analysis, and other analytical techniques from the human and physical world.  Long traditions of data exploration and visualization contribute to diverse and innovative lines of inquiry across these fields. 

The Symposium will include research presentations, lightning talks, and a poster session, as well as discussion opportunities aimed at building collaboration and paths for knowledge exchange. UCGIS invites geographers, humanists, GIScientists, data scientists and others active in the geospatial humanities to make presentations on the types of topics listed below. Of particular interest are research topics below that highlight synergies between the humanities and the geospatial sciences:

• Qualitative GIS · Historical GIS · Geovisualization and mapping · Spatial-Temporal GIS · Deep mapping
• GIScience, social media, and social networks · Critical GIS · Big data, textual analysis
• Databases for the geospatial humanities · Transdisciplinary research methods
• Educational opportunities and challenges for the geospatial humanities · Gazetteers and archives
• Immersive environments/immersive GIS

We expect to publish a selection of the papers in a special March 2020 issue of IJHAC -International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing.

Steps for Participation: 

There are three ways to make a presentation at the Symposium: research papers (15’ talks), lightning talks (5’ talks), and posters. Authors of research papers can decide whether they would like to have their submission considered for the IJHAC issue, or only present the paper orally at the Symposium.

• For lightning talks, posters, or non-Journal research papers, submit a 300-word abstract by March 1, 2019.  Authors will be advised of decisions no later than March 22, 2019. 

• For a research paper presentation at the Symposium and to be considered for a special issue of the International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing:
  • Submit an extended abstract (1250-1500 words) that includes the research question, description of methods and findings, and a reflection of how you see this work fitting into the aforementioned intersection of geohumanities and spatial humanities. 
  • Extended abstracts are due by March 1, 2019.
  • The UCGIS Program Committee, the Guest Editors of the special issue, and Journal editors will review the extended abstracts and advise authors no later than March 31, 2019, if they are requested to submit a full written paper for consideration in IJHAC.

• A link to submit an abstract is available on the Call for Presentations webpage. 

Important Dates

• March 1, 2019:  All abstracts are due.
• March 22, 2019: Decisions on poster presentations, lightning talks, and non-Journal research papers.
• April 5, 2019: Invitations sent to submit full-papers for consideration in IJHAC journal.
• June 1, 2019: Full written research papers due.  
• June 11, 2019: Symposium begins.
• March 2020: Special Issue of IJHAC published.

Registration Requirements
Every paper, poster, or lightning talk presenter is required to register for the UCGIS Symposium. Presenters who do not register by May 15, 2019 may be dropped from the program.