Below you will find a list of invited talks (regular conference and workshop talks are not listed here). I also list some selected professional news such as links to events I organize or co-organize, calls for journal special issues, my travels, grants, and job ads. For more 'instant' news please follow me on Twitter. You can also follow our working group's Twitter account (we are also on LinkedIn and on Facebook), if you are interested in geovisualization, augmented and virtual reality-related news.
The "science" in applied science, career event 16 Nov 2023 (details TBA)
De-biasing ourselves (details TBA)
Digital biomarkers of cognitive decline, Sept 29th 2023, Cantonal Ethics Commission, Zurich (host Prof. Dr. med. Reto Stocker, Hirslanden Clinic)
Keynote, International Eastern Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (IECHCI2023) 21 Sept 2023 (details TBA)
Keynote, 9th National VGE conference China, 9 Aug 2023 (details TBA)
Keynote, International Symposium of Digital Earth, 11 July 2023 (details TBA)
Visualization flows and the challenge of multivariate data visualization. Public transportation Switzerland Meetup, 29 June 2023, Olten, Switzerland
Thinking with and without an extended version of reality: Forms of visuospatial knowledge representation and their effects on what we know. “Thinking Within” symposium, 13 April 2023, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Keynote Human computer interaction for visualization VIZBI, 31 March 2023, Heidelberg
Collaborative Use of Mixed Reality: Human-Computer Interaction Considerations, Guest lecture at the ETH Zurich, Dec 12th
When the whole world is a display. DataViz for Society, Digital Future Society, Barcelona, Dec 2nd
Recognizing and overcoming illusions: A journey to our unconscious mind, University of Haifa, Nov 10th
Understanding and Addressing Implicit Bias. WeShapeTech Switzerland, Sept 13th
Keynote , Perception, cognition and human factors research in Extended Reality, Photogrammetric Week (U. Sörgel)
Rethinking our relationship with space: Modern forms of representation and spatial cognition. Invited talk CUSP London Seminar, King’s College London, 30th of June 2022
Humans in their spatial context: From eye tracking to spatial computing. Invited talk for the pre-conference workshop on Cybercartography at AGILE 2022. Vilnius, Lithuania, June 14, 2022
Visualization, virtual reality and reproducibility: Challenges and opportunities. Keynote at the Open Data Science Europe workshop 2022, 13-16 June 2022
How unconscious is unconscious bias? WomenTech Global Conference 2022, Invited talk, public speaking Berlin, Germany, 7th of June, 2022
Mixed Reality to support collaborative planning processes, Invited talk , Geosummit 2022, Olten, Switzerland, 1st of June 2022
Invited panelist, Seeing the Future: What does the world of education, data (science), visualization and outer space look like in 50+ years? A Conference in Honor of Alyssa Goodman, Harvard University, 4th of May 2022
Visuospatial knowledge acquisition in virtual environments: Effects of age, visual realism and task types in navigational learning. Invited talk , University of Geneva, Department of Psychology, March 9th 2022
Implications of extended reality for the future of information societies: Information, interaction, visualization in extended reality, Invited talk, public speaking , Zurich World Information Architecture (WIAD) conference, March 5th, 2022
TBA ...
Extended reality for spatial sciences: Fundamental and translational considerations. Keynote at the ICC Workshop. 13th December 2021.
Remembering routes – how do the visual characteristics of a virtual environment affects short and long term recall? Invited talk GI-Forum, Institute for Geoinformatics University of Münster
Human Cognition and Visuo-spatial Information: Experiments in Visualization and Virtual Reality, ISPRS Virtual Keynote Speaker Series, 30 September 2021
Linking visuospatial cognition with visuospatial displays through empirical experiments (host: Zoya Bylinskii), Invited talk , Adobe Research Seminars, 13 May 2021
Individual and group differences in human-information interaction (host: Jukka M. Krisp), Invited talk , University of Augsburg, DE, 10 May 2021
Human factors in data visualization: What can eye movements tell us? Invited talk , Women in Machine Learning and Data Science WiMLDS (http://wimlds.org/) Zurich chapter public event, 27 April 2021
International and interdisciplinary adventures: Academic 'expat' experience from two perspectives (Uluslar ve disiplinler arasında köprüler kurmak: İki boyutlu 'akademik gurbetçilik' deneyimleri), Invited talk , Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, TR, 14 April 2021
Visuospatial complexity of information displays: A focus on an aging audience, Invited talk , Research colloquium, School of Life Sciences FHNW, CH, 31 March 2021
We are organizing several special issues and events:
Special issue on "Eye tracking in cartography"
Special issue on "State of the art and science in cartography"
Theme session on "Digital Twins" at the ISPRS 2021 Edition
Theme session on "Visualization of complex spatio-temporal data and phenomena on earth" at the ISPRS 2021 Edition
Tutorial on "Open geo/spatial education" at the ISPRS 2021 Edition
... workshop in China (TBA)
... in Poland (TBA)
... others we support (TBA)
Visuospatial information processing – Cognitive and computational explorations in technology and design, Invited talk , (host: Stefano de Sabbata), University of Leicester, UK, 25 November 2020
Keynote , The ‘science’ in geographic information science: Fundamental and applied questions. (host: Seda Salap-Ayca), The University of Massachusetts, USA, GIS Day Keynote, 18 November 2020
All downhill from here? Visualization and interpretation of landforms, Invited talk , ESRI GIS Day, Low Budget High Fidelity, USA, 18 November 2020
Illusion (and exclusion) of Talent, Invited talk , Geodes, Gender Diversity & Equality Workshop, ETH Zurich, 6 November 2020
Exploring perception for design and technology (guest lecture, host Davood Shojaei), University of Melbourne, AU, 19 October 2020
Keynote , Virtual cities, visuospatial memory, and aging, DIMENSIONSZR Congress, organized by SSVAR ( public event ) Zurich, 29 October 2020
Sharing ‘vis authority’, questions vs. answers, invited panelis IEEE VisGuides Panel for the Workshop on the Creation, Curation, Critique and Conditioning of Principles and Guidelines in Visualization, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 25 October 2020
I am involved in Eye tracking for spatial research" (at ETRA Stuttgart, Germany, June 2-5); ISPRS 2020 Congress (Nice, France, 14-20 June) with three special events and in regular technical sessions; and in a one-day ICA workshop in Warsaw, Poland (14th Sept 2020) prior to the GISCicence 2020.
As of January 2020, I have been promoted to full professor in Human-Computer Interaction and Extended Reality at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland's Institute for Interactive Technologies
Future of information displays: Aging and Technology, Invited talk , World Usability Day Switzerland (public event), Zurich, 14 November 2019
Perceptual factors in human-visualization interaction, Invited talk , (host: Hans-Balder Havenith, Geology), Liege University, Belgium, May 2 2019
Keynote , Mixed reality in society: The future of information displays, and their implications for varying user groups, DigitAS workshop, University of Innsbruck, Austria, May 17 2019
Human factors in designing visuospatial displays, Invited talk , Transfer Transparent interdisciplinary colloquium,
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, Switzerland, Mar 19 2019
Eye tracking in VR and AR Displays, Invited talk , ETIZ, ETH Switzerland, Mar 26 2019
Human-centered virtual, augmented and mixed reality Invited tutorial at CIPA, Spain, Sept 1 2019
2019 has been a fruitful year regarding grant acquisition as a PI with two large project (PI share roughly about half a million in each) and four smaller feasibility study grants from Innosuisse, and one internal (FHNW) education grant. All of them have elements of visualization and extended reality with a touch of 'spatial' in different contexts including aging and health, entertainment, education, serious games.
As for 1st of February 2019, I have moved to University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland's Institute for Interactive Technologies as an Associate Professor (Dozentin).
10QViz: Evidence-based visual Literacy, Invited talk , (host: Alyssa Goodman, Astrophysics), Harvard University, USA, 27 Nov
Visual Complexity: Visual clutter, information overload and what we can remember, Invited talk , (host: Ruth Rosenholtz, CSAIL and Brain Sciences), , MIT Massatchuses Institute of Technology, USA, 16 Nov
Visualizing geo/spatial phenomena: A spatial cognition perspective (host: Michelle Borkin, Computer Science), Invited talk , Northeastern University, USA, 15 Nov
Thinking about visuospatial information displays - Perceptual and cognitive considerations, Invited talk ,(hosts: Alan MacEachren, Anthony Robinson, Geography), PennState, USA, 12 Nov
Elements of Visual Complexity in Geospatial Information Displays, Invited talk , (host: Rob Roth, Geography) Uni Wisconsin, USA, 9 Nov
Vision inspired (geo)visualization, Invited talk , Harvard University, Visual Attention Lab (host: Jeremy Wolfe, Vision Science), USA, 6 Nov
Empirical experimentation in (geo)visualization: Examples, challenges, state of the art. Invited talk , DfKG, University of Bochum, Germany, 25 Jun
Foundations of Interaction for Information Visualization, Guest lecture, University of Zurich, Information Visualization MSc course, Switzerland, 11 Oct
Dimensions of visuospatial complexity Invited talk , (host: Nick Holliman). Newcastle University, UK, 16 Mar
Visuospatial complexity of human-computer interaction and scientific visualization as we age. Invited talk , University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, 15 Feb
-- I spent a month in the US with 'my Harvard team', and gave six invited talks during November 2018, two at Harvard, one each at MIT, Northeastern, Wisconsin/Madison, and PennState. More details will follow. Come to think of it, I should probably add a "talks" section on my webpage :)
-- We are organizing a workshop (with Amy Griffin and Sidonie Christophe) on Reproducibility in Cartography Friday 27 April, 2018 at the ICA's meeting on Atlases, Cognition, Usability, Olomouc, CZ.
-- We are organizing a workshop (with Victor Schinazi, Jan Wiener, Ismini Lokka, and Jiayan Zhao) on Virtual Environenments as Geo/spatial Labs. Wednesday 5 September, 2018, at the Spatial Cognition Conference, Tuebingen, DE.
-- We are organizing a workshop (with Sidonie Christophe) on Virtual & Augmented Reality: Technology, Design & Human Factors. Thursday 4 October, 2018 (details pending). at the ISPRS Midterm Symposium, Delft, NL. We will organize several conference sessions on Visualization, Augmented and Virtual Reality in this conference as well.
-- We will be editing a journal special issue (with Sidonie Christophe, Urška Demšar, and Anthony Robinson) with the International Journal of Geoinformation on Human-centered geovisual analytics and geovisualization design (details soon).
-- Reachel White, Robert Hoffmann and myself finalized an edited book on Remote Sensing and Cognition, coming up in Spring 2018 (details soon).
Science down to earth: Metrics. InnoPool project, UZH, Switzerland, 5 May
Visual Complexity, Invited talk , Google Zurich, Switzerland, 22 Sep
We are editing a special issue on Human-Centered Virtual and Augmented Reality Geovisualization Environments with the International Journal of Digital Earth. Deadline for full paper submissions 31 August 2017.
We received a supplementary grant for our project VISDOM from the SNF. We are happy.
Alyssa Goodman and myself received a small SNF grant to work on our interdisciplinary visualization project "10 questions to ask when creating a visualization" (link coming soon!)
Our project "Science down to earth" is funded by InnoPool (internal grant scheme at the Department of Geograhy). We will explore a number of themes relating to what does it mean to be a scientist, ranging from gender/intersectionality, 'slow science', metrics and impact.. (link coming soon!)
(Position filled!) We are looking for a PhD student for an SNF-funded project, this is mainly a computer science position, but co-advised by myself
Visual information processing and visualizing big data. Invited talk , University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, Switzerland, 15 Jun
Special issue on Multi-dimensional modelling, analysis and visualization with the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IF ~6.5).
Our SNF grant was funded! We will be collaborating with UZH Computer Science Department's Visualization and Multimedia Lab (Sept 2016)
Honored to have been appointed as the chair of ISPRS working group Geovisualization, Augmented and Virtual Reality July 2016)
We organized a tutorial, two special sessions and four technical sessions at ISPRS in Prague (July 2016)
Honored to be appointed as a research affiliate at Harvard's Seamless Astronomy group (February 2016)
2015
Understanding visual complexity from information processing and human-factors perspectives, Invited talk , City University, London, UK, 17 Jun 2015
Keynote , Map complexity and its remedies. APCPP 2015 (Applying Principles of Cognitive Psychology in Practice), Brno, Czech Republic, 22 May 2015
2014
Best practices in scientific visualization, Invited talk , Astrohysics Collquium, University of Zurich, Switzerland, Jul 1 2014
Design considerations for information-rich visualization environments. Invited talk at HHSF14 Star Formation: Data, Models and Visualization: A Harvard-Heidelberg Workshop. Heidelberg, Germany, 23-16 Jun 2014
Eye movement metrics for evaluating geographic visualizations, Invited talk , Geomatics Colloquium, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, Switzerland, May 6 2014
Designing for complex contexts: interaction design for visualizing cities. Invited talk , UCL University Colleage London 24 Mar 2014
Understanding limits and strengths of our perception for geovisualization design. Invited talk , University of Olomouc, Geoinformatics Department, Czech Republic, 24 Feb 2014
2013
Illusions in geographic visualizations, Friday’s Food for Thought public event “Geography is What Geographers Do” – Science-public communication. Zurich, Switzerland, 29 Nov 2013
Keynote , Human factors in geovisualization design. Doctoral (graduate) school workshop. University of Pretoria, UP GGM Postgrad, South Africa, 10 Oct 2013
Three generations of Turkish women, TEDGlobal 2013, Public speaking, Edinburgh, Scotland, 11 Jun 2013
2012
Cartography and Astronomy: Ancient and Modern Synergies (video). Invited talk , Department of Astronomy, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, 19 Jul 2012
What You See is What You Get? Experimenting with Vision. Invited talk , Department of Computer Science. Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, 24 Jul 2012
Vision Inspired Visualization: A Geographic Perspective. Invited talk , Center for Geographic Analysis. Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, 17 Jul 2012
Models of vision for visualization design, Invited talk , MIT Computer Vision, MIT Massatchuses Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA 18 Jul 2012
Visualization for Analysis: a Human-centric Approach. Invited talk , Department of Architecture, University of Melbourne, Australia, 6 Sep 2012
Eye tracking for Geovisualization: Opportunities and Challenges, Invited talk , University of St. Andrews, UK, 25 Jun 2012
Analyzing eye movement trajectories. Invited talk , COST workshop WG4: Future Directions in MOVEment, Invited as an activity highlight, Delft, The Netherlands, 15 Mar 2012
Knowledge transfer from basic sciences to technology for geographic data management and quality. Keynote at the Academic
Informatics National Conference, Usak, Turkey, 3 Feb 2012
2011
Interdisciplinary Science. TEDxZurich, Public speaking , recorded in Swiss Television Studios (~3500 live viewers, following video on YouTube views >6000). 04 Oct 2011
Image to Imagination: Human Factors in Representing Graphics, Keynote in Geovisualization track in STGIS2011, Tokyo, Japan. 15 Sept 2011
Graduate studies in Finland and in Switzerland – Keynote at the Graduate School Colloquium, Engineering Faculty, Aalto University, Finland, 10 Mar 2011
Eye movement analysis for evaluating interactive geovisualization designs. Invited talk , NCG Seminar, University of Maynooth, Dublin, Ireland, 3 Feb 2011
State of the art and research gaps –Information Visualization, Computer Science, Cognition and perception studies on movement. Invited talk at COST workshop WG4: Visual Analytics for Movement and Cognitive Issues, Mons, Belgium, 21 Jan 2011
2009
Stereoscopic Vision and Visualization for Three-Dimensional Geographic Information. Invited talk , IPEG meeting, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, 12 Jun 2009
Space-Variant Image Coding for Stereoscopic Media, Invited Speaker & Panelist in special session on Visual Attention and Efficient Image Coding, Chicago, US, 6 May 2009
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Interactive Map Interface Designs: A Case Study with Eye-Movement Analysis. Invited talk , Tobii EyeTrackUX 2009, Frankfurt, 22 Apr 2009
Position filled! Post-doc position: I am looking for a post-doctoral researcher or a data scientist with some academic experience to work on map complexity and related topics. Part-time, one year, project funded by Google Faculty Research Award progam. Details here.
Position filled! Junior researcher / data science in geovisualization: I am looking for a part-time junior researcher/data scientist interested in geovisualization. Most appropriate for a (local) MSc student looking for a part-time job. Details here.
Position filled! Virtual Reality Developer: We are looking for a part-time virtual reality programmer/developer and lab assistant. Most appropriate for a (local) BSc/MSc student looking for a part-time job. Details here.
Position filled! PhD student in 3D Geovis (city models, virtual reality), user experience studies and human computer interaction. Details here.
We edited a two volume special issue with the International Journal of Digital Earth (IF ~3.2)
Geovisual analytics: human factors and Geovisual analytics: design and implementation.
We organized a Geovisualization Workshop in France. Details here. A blog post with couple of pictures here. Editorial to the proceedings section here, Geospatial Week proceedings here..
[...]
Lots happened in between ... right now, we have a very cool workshop going: dealing with 'uncertainty' in a context of climate change and decision making, cool bunch of speakers including Alan MacEachren and Pete Fisher!
Our ISPRS Geovisual Analytics workshop is on AUG 24th 2012! If you are in Melbourne next week, come join us.
I am currently (July 2012) visiting Harvard University for an interdisciplinary exploration, giving talks to unusual audiences and hanging out with wonderful Michelle Borkin , Alyssa Goodman , Hanspeter Pfister and Kirk Goldsberry.
With couple of colleagues, we are running an event series called FiFFTh (Friday's Food for Thought). If you are around on any of these dates, do drop by - we watch prominent speakers on video (so far all TED talks, but not exclusively) and discuss afterwards. The format is unusual in the way that we discuss at the ideas level. The sessions are open to some speculation and seem/sound like "brain storm".
I recently gave a talk in TEDxZurich, honored to be among many distinguished speakers. Talk was recorded in Swiss television studios, and can be seen here.
Update: Workshop was successfully held! --> I am involved in oganizing a workshop (in Paris on July 1st 2011) on "Persistent problems in geographic visualization" under my role as the scientific secretary to ISPRS Commission on Geographical Visualization and Virtual Reality . The meeting is officially organized by ICA Commission on GeoVisualization ( (http://geoanalytics.net/ica/) in collaboration with ISPRS WG II/6 Geographical Visualization and Virtual Reality (http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/geoviz/) . Submit a one-page problem description to us by April 30th. More here. A follow-up paper is published after several years.
As of December 2010, I have joined the executive board of the ISPRS WG II/6 Geovisualization and Virtual Reality as a 'scientific secretary'. This is an interesting global working group with an executive committee spread in Australia, UK, Hong Kong and Switzerland. You are most welcome to join us. We keep a blog about our activities and and interests. We also have an email list, ask me about it.
A number of others and myself are organizing an International Conference on Spatial Thinking and GIScience (Tokyo, September 2011). A diverse set of themes are building up.. Update: Conference was a success, proceedings here.
Keith C. Clarke and myself have recently organized a workshop within ASPRS/AutoCarto 2010 program (Orlando, November 2010) on Virtual Globes or Virtual Geographical Reality:
How much detail does a digital earth require? It was a stimulating discussion, thanks to our participants. Proceedings here. An editorial based on the workshop here: A representation of everything.