we are proud to announce three keynote speakers for LBS 2014.

The role of LBS and visualization in digital mobility

Prof. Liqiu Meng, Technische Universität München

Abstract: Today’s digital society is characterized by mobility and visuality. On the one hand, the constantly growing transmission speed and intensity of information flow, passenger flow and goods flow are changing the way the locations as well as their relationships are perceived. The distinctions between “near” and “far” and between “inside” and “outside” are getting increasingly blurred. More and more people are spending a substantial part of their working time on road, at home or in places other than offices. The workforce of this kind of “anywhere business” requires a 24/7 seamless web connections with its institution and customers in order to remain updated and productive. On the other hand, being exposed to the everyday overload of incrementally emerging data streams, the human brain with its limited perception and memory capacity has become less sensitive and more selective. Only the visuality-oriented communication channels may have a chance to draw sufficient attention of its target receivers. This fact forces the media designers to provide LBS that should not only be “just-in-time”, but also “look-good” and “feel-good”.
The keynote is dedicated to the impact of LBS and visualization in digital mobility with its unevenly dispersed time and space. In such a space-time, the individual locations are shared keys for content creation, social activities and modern logistics, and bear dynamically changing meanings. Consequently, the LBS will go beyond its classic function of mobility support and play a role as an enabling mechanism towards a more intelligent space design and space use. In order to improve the end-user uptake, the presenter argues that the advanced LBS needs to satisfy a number of new design constraints such as personalization, visually engaging elements, on-the-go user interaction, data security and device management.

Liqiu Meng is a Professor of Cartography at the Technische Universität München (TUM). Following studies of geodetic engineering in China, she completed her doctorate and a postdoc at Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany before moving to Sweden to teach and to work as a GIS consultant at SWECO while finishing her qualification for professorship in the field of geodesy and geoinformatics at KTH, Stockholm. Her research interests are geodata integration and generalization, mobile map services, multimodal navigation algorithms, image mapping and geovisual analytics. She is a member of "German National Academy of Sciences" and “Bavaria Academy of Sciences”. She served as the Senior Vice-President for International Alliances and Alumni of TUM from 2008-2014 and as Senator of Helmholtz Association from 2009-2012. She is currently serving the Senate of German Aerospace Center DLR, the Board of Trustees at German Research Centre of Geosciences GFZ, and the International Advisory Board of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

LBS and ITS: Some Challenges and Opportunities for the Fields of Precise Positioning and Geodesy

Prof. Chris Rizos, University of New South Wales

Abstract: We are witnessing the launch of a surge of new navigation satellite systems, with a commensurate increase in satellites and signals, new receiver techniques and an expansion in precise positioning applications. This heralds the transition from a GPS-dominated era – that has served the geomatics and geodesy community for almost 30 years – to a multi-constellation GNSS world. The geomatics discipline therefore finds itself in a special situation during this historic period, faced with opportunities as well as challenges. Precise Positioning (PP) is becoming mainstream, and there is expected to be massive growth in a new class of pedestrian – that we can identify as using PP to access Location-Based Services (LBS) – and vehicular users – the next generation of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). These new classes of users will embrace the GNSS technology but also must come to terms with such issues as datums, augmentation infrastructure, integrity, value-added precise positioning services, lowering the cost of PP, and addressing the vulnerabilities and shortcomings of GNSS. This presentation will explore some of the geomatics issues associated with Precise Positioning, Mapping and Geodesy.

Chris Rizos is Professor of Geodesy and Navigation, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. Chris is president of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), a member of the Executive and Governing Board of the International GNSS Service (IGS), and co-chair of the Multi-GNSS Asia Steering Committee. Chris is a Fellow of the IAG, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Navigation, a Fellow of the U.S. Institute of Navigation, and an honorary professor of Wuhan University, China. Chris has been researching the technology and applications of GPS and other navigation/positioning systems since 1985, and is an author/co-author of over 600 journal and conference papers.

Abstraction as Key Element of Map Application and Services

Prof. Jürgen Döllner, University of Potsdam

Abstract: Advances in computer graphics technology raise the question how these capabilities are actually used to improve quality and usability of interactive applications. For map-based information display, the principles applied for mapping geospatial data to computer graphics have been shaped by the underlying features of 2D and 3D computer graphics technology for more than four decades. In the last years, however, these features become blurred: the rendering pipeline can be almost completely programmed by tessellation, geometry, vertex, fragment, and compute shaders (e.g., OpenGL SL); and the technology becomes available even on low-cost mobile devices (e.g., OpenGL ES). For cartography-oriented applications and systems, this trend offers an enormous degree of freedom with respect to the design and interactivity of map-based applications and systems. Among the most important directions, automated, interactive abstraction and non-photorealistic rendering promise a significant step forward to more human-centered, more effective interactive maps for both, 2D to 3D geospatial models. Computer graphics technology also enables new concepts for level-of-detail, level-of-abstraction, focus-&-context, and map styling. This talk outlines our recent findings in the arena of non-photorealistic, illustrative, and abstract cartographic rendering techniques and map interaction techniques as well as their potential for future map-based applications, systems, and services.

Jürgen Döllner studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Siegen, Germany (1987-1992). He got his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Münster, Germany, in 1996; he also received here his habilitation degree in 2001. In 2001 he became full professor for computer science at the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at the University of Potsdam, where he is leading the computer graphics and visualization department.
His major research areas are in computer graphics, geoinformatics, software engineering. In particular, the reserach is focused on concepts, tools, and techniques for complex software systems and graphics-based systems. His research topics include geovisualization (3D real-time rendering, 3D non-photorealistic rendering, web mapping, 3D spatial analysis, virtual 3D city models, and 3D virtual environments) as well as software visualization and visual analytics for software engineering (e.g., visualization of complex hierarchies, activities and dynamics, system evolution, software maps, and system metrics).
He is author of more than 200 papers in computer graphics and visualization (for an overview of publications see www.hpi3d.de). He serves as reviewer to a number of international and national journals, conferences, and workshops.
Apart from his work as university professor, he is also engaged in technology start up companies, including 3D Geo GmbH, Software Diagnostics GmbH, 3D Content Logistics GmbH, and Motion Intelligence GmbH (Route360). As a consultant, he is involved in a number of technology-driven software projects. He also serves as member of the supervisory board in the Quadfolium Group, a group of companies involved in technology incubation and real-estate businesses.