Announcements

We had the pleasure of speaking with the Associate Editor of the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (IJGI, ISSN: 2220-9964), Prof. Dr. Hartwig H. Hochmair. Our goal is to present a behind-the-scenes look at the journal and provide insights into the Associate Editor's perspective on the publishing process.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Hartwig H. Hochmair, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area and open access publishing:

1. Could you please introduce yourself?
I am a professor of geomatics at the University of Florida (UF) where I lead the Geomatics program at the UF Fort Lauderdale campus (which is not far from Miami) and enjoy the South Florida climate and lifestyle. As an Associate Editor of IJGI, I handle submissions that fall into the areas of location-based services and trajectory analysis. My family background of land surveyors and education in geomatics led me to my interest and career in GIS and geospatial analysis, which is a rapidly evolving field that presents itself with new challenges and opportunities every day. I have always enjoyed cycling, including road and mountain biking, especially in my home country of Austria, which has influenced my research interests, which include, among others, the modeling of bicycle travel, wayfinding, and in general, the analysis of non-motorized transportation.

2. Could you give us a short overview of the research you are currently undertaking?
My research covers several topical areas but focuses primarily on the spatial analysis of geographic information to address key issues of sustainable transportation, assessing the usability of crowd-sourced geodata, and modeling the spread of invasive species (e.g., termites, tegus) in South Florida. Especially for the latter topic, I enjoy collaborations with faculty from other disciplines that are present at the UF Fort Lauderdale campus, including wildlife ecology or entomology. As an example, we just published a paper (https://rdcu.be/dfaWb) which uses a lattice-based simulation model to predict the infestation locations of a specific subterranean termite in Key West from initial encounter points. Prediction and infestation areas can have a large economic impact since subterranean termites are destructive insect pests that cause billions of dollars in property damage every year. My research group also explores the wide range of social media apps, and, in general, crowd-sourcing platforms and initiatives, which provide a wealth of spatial information for all kinds of analyses, which we summarized in a recent IJGI publication (https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/9/9/526). One related topic we work on is the use of crowdsourced information to determine the effects of COVID-19 on travel behavior. For example, we analyze which social media platforms provide spatio-temporal trajectory data that best reflect travel restrictions (e.g., stay-home orders) posed by regulatory agencies, and how the origins of visitors of points of interest (e.g., Florida State Parks) have changed through the pandemic (e.g., visitors become more local). Another current research topic I am collaborating on is the use of generative AI for the enhancement of crowd-sourced information, such as OpenStreetMap, by fusing data from different sources through different AI tools.

3. As IJGI is an open access journal, can you share with us your opinion regarding the open access model of publication?
Open access leads to enhanced visibility and impact (citations) of a paper and allows it to reach a broader audience compared to traditional publications behind paywalls. It provides, therefore, some advantages for authors, as long as the authors’ institutions have the financial means to pay the Article Processing Charge (APC) or are given exemptions from APC in case of financial hardship. However, the quality and credibility of open access journals can vary widely, and it is paramount for an open access journal to maintain its reputation and legitimacy to distinguish itself from predatory publishers and journals, e.g., through a reputable editorial board and a strict and independent review process.

4. As an editor, what do you look for most to determine if a paper will be published in the journal?
Content and form. The manuscript needs to fit the scope of the journal and appeal to its general readership. If the topic is too specific or lacks a geo-context, it may be deferred to another journal. A manuscript needs to present novel research and underline new findings or improvements quantitatively, e.g., through statistical models, or other methods which are able to evaluate a research hypothesis. It is also important for authors to present the content in a format that successfully conveys the research idea. This includes appropriate formatting and language, legible charts and figures, and a logical, coherent flow of thoughts and explanations.

5. What makes IJGI different from other journals in the field and why would a scholar choose our journal to submit their research?
One of the big differences to many other journals is that IJGI is associated with (and owned by) a large professional society, namely the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, which increases its reputation and credibility. The journal is indexed in several abstract and citation databases and has gradually improved its journal rank and impact factor over the years. It also provides promotion of selected papers through various awards, which may give an additional incentive for authors to submit their manuscripts to this journal.

The 2022 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

We are thrilled to announce that 90% of our ranked MDPI journals, specifically 86 out of 96 (captured in the table below), are performing above average in Q1 or Q2. This year, Clarivate has expanded its Impact Factor (IF) awards to include journals in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), providing greater transparency for the full set of journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. As a result, 111 of MDPI journals have received their first IF in 2023, with 37 journals surpassing an IF of 3.0. In total, 208 MDPI journals have been honored with an IF.

Clarivate explains that by "expanding the coverage but holding to highly selective standards, the [Impact Factor] is now a reliable indicator of trustworthiness, as well as a measure of scholarly impact, at the journal level."

Please visit our blog post where we discuss the release of the latest citation metrics with our Indexing Manager, Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, to find out what's different this time around and how to make use of different metrics available.

Note: The Journal of Personalized Medicine's Impact Factor was omitted in the original release and will be assigned separately. Please find the data on the journal webpage in due course.

Source: 2022 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2023)

We are pleased to inform you that the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (IJGI, ISSN: 2220-9964) 2022 CiteScore is 6.2, achieving five consecutive years of growth. IJGI now ranks in the top 15% in the "Geography, Planning and Development" category and ranks in the top 10 of open access journals in the "Computers in Earth Sciences" and "Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)" categories.

Our journal continues to build momentum in the geo-information field. We would like to extend our congratulations to all concerned.

IJGI’s CiteScore ranks as follows:

• Q1 (98 out of 779 journals) in the “Geography, Planning and Development” category;
• Q1 (22 out of 141 journals) in the “Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)” category;
• Q1 (15 out of 72 journals) in the “Computers in Earth Sciences” category.

A message from Prof. Rui Alexandre Castanho, the webinar chair:

Throughout the webinar, we will have the opportunity to hear from leading experts in their fields, engage in productive discussions, and participate in hands-on workshops and activities. We aim to foster new partnerships through collaboration and innovation, providing a platform where a range of ideas can be shared.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have revolutionized remote sensing for land use and land cover (LULC) mapping and landscape analysis. The ability to capture high-resolution aerial imagery and create 3D landscape models has allowed for more accurate and detailed mapping of LULC patterns, changes, and trends over time.

Furthermore, using UAVs for citizen science initiatives has enabled communities to participate in monitoring and managing their local environments. This approach allows for a more collaborative and inclusive approach to environmental management and can help to build community awareness and engagement in environmental issues.

UAVs have also been used for mapping vegetation, soil erosion, and water quality monitoring. These applications have provided researchers and managers with new tools to better understand and manage natural resources. UAVs can collect data quickly and at a high resolution, allowing for more detailed analysis of small-scale features such as vegetation canopy cover, plant height, and soil erosion patterns.

Using UAVs for remote sensing and citizen science initiatives has opened up new opportunities for more efficient and effective environmental monitoring and management. As technology continues to improve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications of UAVs in environmental research and management.

At this webinar, we hope you will gain new insights, make valuable connections, and leave feeling inspired and motivated to drive positive change in your respective fields.

Date: 13 July 2023 at 5:00 p.m. CEST | 11:00 a.m. EDT | 11:00 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 870 9667 3555

Register now for free!

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register as normal to be notified when the recording is available to watch.

Webinar Chair and Keynote Speakers

• Rui Alexandre Castanho, Department of Management, WSB University, Dabrowa Górnicza, Poland;
• Ana Hernando, Departamento de Ingeniería y Gestión Forestal y Ambiental Department of Forestry and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain;
• Luís Quinta-Nova, Agrarian Higher School, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Portugal.

Relevant Topic:

“Advances in Earth Observation and Geosciences”
Edited by: Prof. Dr. Diego González-Aguilera and Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez
Abstract submission deadline: 31 December 2023

Relevant Special Issues:

"Land-Use Planning in Borderlands and Ultra-Peripheral Regions"
Edited by: Dr. Rui Alexandre Castanho, Dr. José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Prof. Dr. José Martín Gallardo, Dr. José Cabezas Fernández and Prof. Dr. Luís Quinta-Nova

"Planning Peripheral and Ultra-Peripheral Infrastructures"
Edited by: Prof. Dr. Rui Alexandre Castanho, Prof. Dr. Ana Vulevic, Prof. Dr. Gualter Couto and Prof. Dr. José Manuel Naranjo Gómez

"Sustainability in Tourism Activities and the Low-Density and Peripheral Territories"
Edited by: Prof. Dr. Rui Alexandre Castanho and Prof. Dr. Gualter Couto

"Remote Sensing Applications in Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)"
Edited by: Dr. Ali Nadir Arslan, Prof. Dr. Katarzyna Dabrowska-Zielinska and Dr. Jose Manuel Álvarez-Martínez

"Resilient UAV Autonomy and Remote Sensing"
Edited by: Dr. Chi Chen, Dr. San Jiang, Dr. Xijiang Chen, Dr. Mao Tian, Dr. Jianping Li and Dr. Jian Zhou

"Advances on Land Cover/Land Use Ontologies for Innovative Production/Utilization of Land Information"
Edited by: Dr. Antonio Di Gregorio, Dr. Matieu Henry, Chris T. Hill, Prof. John Latham, Prof. Dr. Mohammed Abed Hossain, Dr. Khalid Mahmood and Dr. Foster Mensah

Relevant feature paper:

“The Land Use Mapping Techniques (Including the Areas Used by Pedestrians) Based on Low-Level Aerial Imagery”
by Maciej Smaczyński, Beata Medyńska-Gulij and Łukasz Halik
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2020, 9(12), 754; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9120754

We are pleased to announce that the 2022 Best Paper for the Jack Dangermond Award for the period of 2022–2025 has been selected by the Award Committee.

“A Forest of Forests: A Spatially Weighted and Computationally Efficient Formulation of Geographical Random Forests”
by Stefanos Georganos and Stamatis Kalogirou
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11(9), 471; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11090471

Please join us in congratulating the selection of the 2022 Best Paper for the Jack Dangermond Award. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for their continued support of the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (IJGI, ISSN: 2220-9964) in addition to their research on and development of geospatial sciences.

IJGI Editorial Office

On 11 May 2023, MDPI and the journals Remote Sensing, Drones, Land and IJGI organized the webinar Remote Sensing for Flood Risk and Hazard Management.

The introduction was held by the Chair of the webinar, Dr. Guy Schumann, who holds academic research positions at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Bristol. He is also the Founder of RSS-Hydro, a European R&D company active in the areas of EO and computer modeling of water risks.

The first speaker to kick off this webinar was Dr. Laurence Hawker, who is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol, specializing in global flood models and Digital Elevation Model data. He develops flood simulations and advances global datasets to support our understanding of current and future flood risks. Dr Hawker’s presentation was entitled “Generating a 30m Global Terrain Map and using them in Global Flood Models”.

The second presentation entitled “Satellite Monitoring of River Discharge and Its Use in Hydrological Applications” was held by Dr. Angelica Tarpanelli. Her research activities mainly regard the development and implementation of algorithms for hydrological and hydraulic applications through the leveraging of satellite sensors data. She is currently a Senior Researcher at the National Research Council, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection of (CNR-IRPI) in Perugia.

Dr. Patrick Matgen from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) was the third speaker, and his presentation was entitled “The Sentinel-1 Global Flood Monitoring system of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service”. His personal research interests include the assimilation of remote sensing-derived observations into hydrodynamic models and the assessment of flood hazard and risk at a large scale.

The webinar ended with a Q&A and discussion, moderated by the Chair.

Please note that this webinar is associated with the Topic titled “Advances in Earth Observation and Geosciences”. The deadline is 31 December 2023.

You can watch the recorded webinar below:

Webinar Chair and Keynote Speakers:

• Dr. Guy Schumann, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; Research and Education Department, RSS-Hydro, Dudelange, Luxembourg;
• Dr. Laurence Hawker, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom;
• Dr. Angelica Tarpanelli, National Research Council, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection of (CNR-IRPI), Italy;
• Dr. Patrick Matgen, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Esch-Belval Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

On Tuesday, 25 April 2023, MDPI and the journals Remote Sensing, Drones, Land and IJGI organized the webinar entitled EO&GEO Series: New Milestones in Drones—from New Drones Designs to Real-Time and Artificial Intelligence Applications.

It is clear that drones have become an increasingly popular tool for mapping and surveying, with their ability to capture high-resolution and multi-sensor imagery. However, traditional mapping techniques often require significant time and effort to process the collected data before it can be used; therefore, real-time drone mapping offers a game-changing solution that is going to transform various application fields, such as emergency response or agriculture. 

Thanks to our recognized speakers, we had the opportunity to share with the audience novel insights into drone technology, from real-time mapping applications and novel drone designs to close to market vertical solutions in agriculture.

Please note that this webinar is associated with the Topic titled “Advances in Earth Observation and Geosciences”.  The deadline is 31 December 2023.

You can watch the recorded webinar here:

Webinar Chairs and Keynote Speakers:

• Dr. Diego González-Aguilera (Chair), Cartographic and Land Engineering Department, Higher Polytechnic School of Avila, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain;
• Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez (Chair), Department of Mining Technology, Topography and Structures, University of León, Ponferrada, Spain;
• Dr. Francesco Nex, Earth Observation Science (ESO) Department, ITC Faculty, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands;
• Katerina Margarita, Acceligence Hellas Ltd, Greece;
• Mr. Xavier Silva Garcia, Hemav Technology SL., Spain

We had the pleasure of speaking with the Editor-in-Chief of the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (IJGI, ISSN: 2220-9964), Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kainz. Our goal is to present a behind-the-scenes look at the journal and provide insights into the Editor-in-Chief's perspective on the publishing process.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kainz, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area:

1. Could you please introduce yourself?
I hold a graduate degree in technical mathematics and a Ph.D. degree in geo-information science from the Graz University of Technology, Austria. Since 1981, I have been active in research, development and education in the GIS and cartography fields. My professional career includes full professor positions at academic institutions in the Netherlands and Austria. Currently, I am a professor emeritus at the University of Vienna, Austria, and a visiting professor at Wuhan University, China. In addition, I held visiting professor positions in the United States of America, Brazil, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. My scientific interests lie in the mathematical foundations of GIS and cartography. 

2. Could you give us a short overview of the research you are currently undertaking?
Together with my colleague Prof. Huayi Wu from Wuhan University, we have just finished the textbook “Mathematical Foundations of GIS”, which will appear in English and Chinese shortly. It is the first of a series of textbooks that will cover all major aspects of the disciplines involved in geo-information science and will be available in English and Chinese to support the education of graduate university students. Another aspect of my research interest is the application of fuzzy logic in GIS.

3. What are the purpose, scopes and features of IJGI?
IJGI is one of the scientific outlets of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), focusing on geo-information. The scope of the journal, as defined on the webpage, is geo-information science. The topics of remote sensing, photogrammetry, GNSS or geo-sciences (such as geology, geomorphology and hydrology) are not within the scope of IJGI. The journal offers various awards for authors and reviewers. Perhaps the most prestigious award is the Jack Dangermond Award, which entails USD 10,000 and is handed out every four years at the ISPRS Congress. 

4. What is your vision for the journal?
After 10 years since its foundation, I see IJGI becoming an established high-quality Open Access journal for geo-information science with a continuously increasing impact factor.

5. What does the future of this field of research look like?
The future of geo-information science will bring us closer to a real-time, nearly one-to-one model of our reality. This will require the ability to process huge amounts of data in real time, develop an even better understanding of the processes that need to be modeled, develop high-resolution 3D displays, including hyperglobes, holograms, and fully immersive human–machine interfaces, and make controlled use of geo-AI technologies. Beside the technological challenges, we will have to focus even more on the ethical and societal challenges these new technologies bring with them. 

6. What important piece of advice or suggestion would you give to the authors who want to contribute to IJGI in the future?
I would like to encourage potential authors to publish their scientific results related to geo-information science in IJGI considering the scope of the journal. To avoid disappointment, authors should only submit papers that fit the scope of the journal and that have been prepared observing scientific ethics.

We hope you will join us in celebrating and further protecting the planet’s forests this International Day of Forests, which takes place on the 21st of March. The theme for the 2023 International Day of Forests is "Forests and Health”. Forests give so much to our health, they purify the water, clean the air, capture carbon to fight climate change, provide food and life-saving medicines, and improve our well-being. It is up to us to safeguard these precious natural resources. At MDPI, our open access journals are primarily available online, reducing the company’s impact on deforestation and helping to protect the world’s forests.

Location: Nalati Grassland, Xinjiang, China Photo by Carolyn Chen, Sydney University	Location: Jiangshan, Zhejiang, China Photo by Pengcheng Ye, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science	Location: Qinling, Shanxi, China Photo by Yuan Li, Shaanxi Normal University

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