SpatialConnect 2025: First Workshop on Spatial Intelligence for Smart and Connected Communities

Workshop Overview

SpatialConnect 2025 is dedicated to exploring cutting-edge research and applications in Spatial Intelligence aimed at shaping Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC). The workshop focuses on use-inspired, community-engaged research that addresses real-world challenges identified facing local communities through collaboration with local governments, industry, and other key stakeholders. The goal is to advance computational geospatial science to deliver actionable solutions that strengthen public services and infrastructure. We invite submissions that showcase how research problems are identified through direct stakeholder engagement or data-driven analysis of specific regions. High-quality papers should demonstrate how computational tools have been applied to improve decision-making, operational efficiency, or resource allocation. Contributions may include insights gained from fieldwork, coordination with public agencies, or partnerships with local institutions.

Workshop Format

Half-day mini-conference featuring:

• Keynote Talk: One Invited Distinguished Speaker
• Technical Sessions: Peer-reviewed Paper Presentations
• Awards: Best Paper Award and Best Community Impact Paper Award

Call for Papers

The workshop seeks high-quality papers that have not been published in other academic outlets and are not concurrently under peer review.

CIVIC Statement Papers (2 pages): These papers should identify specific societal challenges in collaboration with community stakeholders. These concise papers are intended to initiate dialogue around pressing local or regional issues that could benefit from technical or scientific engagement.

Short Research Papers (4 pages): These papers should demonstrate a clear understanding of community challenges, describe partnerships with community organizations or stakeholders, review existing methods, and outline a proposed solution or approach. These papers are ideal for early-stage projects or pilots that are grounded in community needs.

Long Research Papers (8–10 pages): These papers are expected to present well-defined community challenges alongside novel, actionable solutions. Submissions should detail collaborations with community partners and include either results from real-world deployments or a clear plan for implementation. Authors should also report on findings, lessons learned, and the broader implications of their work.

Once accepted, at least one author is required to register for the workshop and the ACM SIGSPATIAL conference, as well as attend the workshop to present the accepted work which will then appear in the ACM Digital Library. As SpatialConnect papers appear in the ACM SIGSPATIAL proceedings we follow the same submission process.

Topics (but not limited to)

1. Crowdsourced Spatial Data for Civic Solutions
2. Geospatial Modeling for Food Systems and Access
3. Spatial Digital Infrastructure for Tribal and Rural Communities
4. Participatory Mapping for Urban Co-Design
5. Location-Aware Technologies for Enhanced Accessibility
6. Spatial Digital Twins for Infrastructure Optimization
7. Environmental Monitoring and Intelligence through Geosensing
8. Disaster Mapping and Resilience Strategy Development
9. Place-Based Analysis of Service Accessibility and Mobility
10. Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs)
11. Location-Based Services
12. Geospatial Aspects of Telecommunication
13. Security and Privacy Issues When Sharing Personal Location Data

Paper Format

Accepted SpatialConnect’25 papers will appear in the ACM SIGSPATIAL’25 Proceedings. Therefore, we follow the same formatting requirements as ACM SIGSPATIAL’25 which can be found at https://sigspatial2025.sigspatial.org/. Manuscripts should be submitted in PDF format and formatted using the ACM camera-ready templates available at ACM camera-ready templates. SIGSPATIAL uses the Conference Proceedings Primary Article template with two-column format. Alterations to the template, especially to gain more space, will be grounds for administrative rejection without further technical review. Submissions to ACM SIGSPATIAL are single-blind – i.e., the names and affiliations of the authors should be listed in the submitted version. The author list is considered to be final after the submission deadline and no changes to the author list are allowed for accepted papers.

Important Dates

• Paper Submission: August 26, 2025 (11:59PM (AOE))
• Notification of Accept/Reject: September 26, 2025 (11:59PM (AOE))
• Camera Ready Paper Due: October 10, 2025 (11:59PM (AOE))
• Workshop Date: November 3, 2025
• Submission Site: https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=spatialconnect2025

Organizing Committee

• Guang Wang, Florida State University
• Xinyue Ye, Texas A&M University
• Yu Yang, Lehigh University
• Yi Ding, University of Texas at Dallas