Preface / Editorial GISCA2021 Conference - Special Issue IJG

Abstract

From Mapping to Analysis of Dynamic Systems

Summarizing the 2021 GIS-in-Central-Asia conference fits very well into the January timeframe when we are writing these editorial remarks. The ancient god Janus usually was depicted with two faces – looking back as well as into the future. Not only is this the time when we conclude the past year and plan for the next calendar period, but it also is an opportunity for taking stock and noting the lessons learned as guidance for the future.

With the pandemic period not yet over, it has become clear that we do not expect to revert to the previous state of matters, even when this threat will be diminished. We reacted to contact and travel restrictions by relying more on online communication, and learned this will sustain a much more significant role in the future. Acknowledging the importance of personal communication for creating new and advancing existing personal relationships, we developed and successfully implemented an innovative multi-hub conference concept balancing personal interaction with telecommunication.

On-site, mostly national level sub-conferences were held at partner locations in Almaty, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Tashkent and Urumqi, all coordinated into one consolidated schedule from May 31 to June 2. All presentations were live streamed, connecting these hubs into one international experience for all participants. While many were missing the personal interaction with peers from other countries, at the same time the reduced need for travel facilitated the active participation of many who in a traditional centralized setting would not have been able to join.

Based on positive feedback, we plan to follow the same approach for the 2022 edition of GISCA, where we again welcome contributions from the geospatial community with a regional focus on Central Asia! All details can be found at https://www.aca-giscience.org – the online home of the Austria – Central Asia Center for GIScience as the organizers of GISCA since its inception in 2005!

Many individuals are involved in making this possible, sincere thanks therefore go to the ACA*GIScience leadership, the local hub organizers at the distributed conference locations, and of course to the authors as well as reviewers of papers. Not the least we express our gratitude to the Austrian Academy of Sciences for making this publication possible!

This special issue in the International Journal for Geoinformatics contains a selection of contributions from across the Central Asia region, demonstrating the full scope and depth of Geoinformatics research and applications. This discipline is focused on a methodology joining many traditional subjects ranging from Geography, Cartography and Geodesy to Ecology, Planning and Agriculture – all these are represented in this issue.

The collaboration of complementary geospatial methodologies with domains supporting human livelihoods demonstrates the importance of the multi-disciplinary approaches which today are characteristic for the field of Geoinformatics. Progress cannot be primarily achieved by better surveys, advanced data models, more detailed maps or faster access to data, but much more by combining and integrating all these to better answer the problems and questions related to societies, economies and their environments.

All of the latter are considered interrelated systems requiring flexible and dynamic modeling for better representation, understanding and ultimately management. A static map is not anymore sufficient for management decision support – we need to focus on process-oriented perspectives. Only then the full potential of Geoinformatics will be realized, and this is well demonstrated through the papers in this issue. There is no focus on linear workflows anymore, from data acquisition through geoprocessing to visualization. We rather need to understand and represent the complex inter-relationships of monitored changes with underlying processes, dynamic feedbacks and multi-scale representations to facilitate better decisions.

This has led to very substantial changes in the approaches taken by Geoinformatics. A map, even a perfectly designed one, is not considered a final result anymore. It may be a communication milestone informing next steps, or creating awareness, or creating new hypotheses. We increasingly work within a fully connected ‘geospatial ecosystem’, as illustrated in a recent EUROGI technical report on ‘Towards a sustainable geospatial ecosystem beyond SDIs’, openly available at http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.22555.39203.

The transition from Spatial Data Infrastructures providing input for a variety of analyses and workflows towards an interconnected network, an ‘Ecosystem’ of geospatial components is not only a change in technical approaches. Abandoning the linear input > processing > results sequence in favour of a dynamic systems perspective happens in other domains as well, e.g. in capacity building: the idea of established scientists teaching a younger generation of future experts does not work well anymore in a world of accelerating changes. Co-creating knowledge through participation in communities of learning is as important as an emphasis on all the elements of open science – including open source, open access and open data.

As a society, we are facing numerous, and partially novel, serious challenges. These are related to climate change, social disparities, economic policies and uneven access to resources. Whenever these gradients increase by more severe differences over a given distance, the ‘slope’ of living conditions gets steeper and any smooth flow will turn into a turbulent rush. Peacefully managing regional and global systems will get harder, negatively impacting the stability of communities and life as we know it.

Geoinformatics can contribute to gentler gradients across the world through monitoring its state and by enabling open access to data following the FAIR principle - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. More importantly, by securing open access to learning. We frequently encounter the ideas of smart cities, smart buildings or smart mobility: first and foremost, though, we need smart people with an open mind to better manage societies.

This brings us back to the mandate and vision of GISCA: establishing a regional community of practice with a geospatial perspective, supporting better management of livelihoods. We are looking forward to your 2022 contribution!

Ainura Nazarkulova
Josef Strobl