Proposal to Create Special Interest Group on Spatial Information (SIGSpatial) Jamie Callan Vice Chair for SIG Development Back Up 8.1

Organizing Committee and Formation Committee Walid G. Aref, Purdue U. Omar Boucelma, U. Aix-Marseille Rolf De By, ITS, Enschede Isabel Cruz, U. Illinois, Chicago A. Stewart Fotheringham, NU Ireland Ralf Hartmut Guting, U. Hagen Erik Hoel, ESRI Ibrahim Kamel, U. Sharjah Robert Laurini, INSA of Lyon Ki Joune Li, Pusan National U. Chang-Tien Lu, Virginia Tech U. Duane Marble, Ohio State U Mohamed Mokbel, U. Minnesota Silvia Nittel, U. Maine Dieter Pfoser, CTI Philippe Rigaux, CNAM Hanan Samet, U. Maryland Markus Schneider, U. Florida Cyrus Shahabi, USC Shashi Shekhar, U. Minnesota Kentaro Toyama, MSR India Agnes Voisard, Fraunhofer ISST and FU Berlin Ouri Wolfson, U. Illinois, Chicago

SIGSpatial Prehistory The Workshop/Symposium on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was affiliated with the CIKM conference for 14 years (1993 – 2006) –Recent acceptance rates: 33% in 2004, 37% in 2005, 31% in 2006 In 2007 it spun off as an independent conference –Allowed to use the ACM brand, under a 1-year agreement –187 attended, 29% acceptance, 37 papers, 29 posters, sponsors, profitable Planning for the 2008 conference is well underway –Location, organizers, and PC Chairs are all known –$65K in funds in the bank, another $25K+ promised

SIGSpatial Scope (A Partial Listing) Acquisition and use of spatial data across a variety of disciplines Spatial information acquisition –Aerial imaging, digitization, geocoding, GPS, positional accuracy, … Modeling of spatial data Data structures and algorithms –Computational geometry, geoprocessing, map production algorithms, … Analysis, query, and integration HCI and visualization Systems and architectures Applications –Cartography, environmental monitoring, location-based services, … Spatial information and society

Is SIGSpatial Viable? An organized research community with a 15-year history exists –It includes senior, reputable people (see the Organizing Committee) –It has a successful and profitable conference –It contributes to the ACM Digital Library –It has a surplus –There is a larger / broader community for it to work with –40% of conference attendees were from outside academia GIS / spatial data probably isnt a transient topic –Location-awareness is a growing phenomenon E.g., Google Maps/Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth/Live Local –Sensor and other data is increasingly available, and not going away Several other SIGs have overlapping interests –But it is not a core topic for any SIG –This SIG might attract people who are on the fringe of other SIGs

Proposed Initial Activities Sponsor the annual SIGSpatial conference –Essentially a rebranded GIS Symposium Sponsor affiliated workshops –Mobile computing, spatiotemporal data mining, … Co-sponsor related conferences and workshops –TBD Work towards ACM Transaction on Spatial Information –Requires approval of Publications Board Archive of related PhD dissertations Promote student development –PhD workshop, job bank, …

Proposal The SGB grants SIG status to SIGSpatial, effective July 1, 2008, contingent upon approval by the SGB Executive Committee of all of the following materials: 1.A set of SIGSpatial bylaws, 2.A SIGSpatial budget for the ACM fiscal year starting July 1, 2008, and 3.A statement of SIGSpatial member benefits. These materials must be submitted and approved by March 31, The SGB also authorizes the SGB Executive committee to: 1.Approve the SIGSpatial bylaws, budget, and member benefits on behalf of the SGB, 2.Appoint the first set of SIGSpatial officers, and 3.Set the initial SIGSpatial membership fees.