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2026 18th CEGIS Annual Research Meeting

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By Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS) June 18, 2026

The Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS) is proud to host the 2026 18th CEGIS Annual Research Meeting June 23-25, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.

The annual research meeting is a special occasion to celebrate our accomplishments, explore ongoing projects, and foster collaboration for future endeavors. This year's gathering featured a broad range of presentations from our researchers and their collaborators as well as engaging discussions.

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

see agenda

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

see agenda

Thursday, June 25, 2026

see agenda

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Start time: 

  • 11:00 AM Eastern
  • 10:00 AM Central
  • 9:00 AM Mountain*
  • 8:00 AM Pacific
  • 7:00 AM Alaska

*All agenda times are listed in Mountain time zone.

#Activity DetailStart Time (MT)Duration (minutes)End Time (MT)Speaker
1GeoAI-Enabled National Mapping Needs Structure, Not Just Models09:00 AM30 mins09:30 AMSam Arundel, Director, CEGIS
2National Geospatial Program (NGP) Director's Update09:30 AM30 mins10:00 AMBecci Anderson, Acting Director, NGP
 Keynote    
3GeoAI-empowered image geo-localization10:00 AM30 mins10:30 AMSong Gao, University of Wisconsin–Madison
4Break10:30 AM15 mins10:45 AMAll 
 AI-Enabled Geospatial Analysis   Sam Arundel, Director, CEGIS Lead
5Critical GeoAI10:45 AM30 mins11:15 AMWenwen Li, Arizona State University
6AI-ready data11:15 AM30 mins11:45 AMSam Arundel, Director, CEGIS
7Towards the Next Generation of Spatial Representation Learning11:45 AM30 mins12:15 PMGengchen Mai, University of Texas at Austin
8Lunch12:15 PM60 mins01:15 PMAll
9AI-ready Data in Operations01:15 PM30 mins01:45 PMCEGIS/NGTOC/NGP
10AI in Cartography01:45 PM30 mins02:15 PMRaimund Schnürer, Dinser Expertise
11Geospatial Agentic Services: A Framework for Interoperable Geospatial Intelligence02:15 PM30 mins02:45 PMZhenlong Li, Pennsylvania State University
12Break02:45 PM15 mins03:00 PMAll 
 Terrain    
13Landforms update03:00 PM30 mins03:30 PMGaurav Sinha, Ohio University; Michael von Pohle, Ames Research Center - NASA
14Ridge/Summit feature extraction03:30 PM30 mins04:00 PMXiran Zhou, Harvard visiting scholar

 

 

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Start time: 

  • 11:00 AM Eastern
  • 10:00 AM Central
  • 9:00 AM Mountain*
  • 8:00 AM Pacific
  • 7:00 AM Alaska

*All agenda times are listed in Mountain time zone.

#Activity DetailStart TimeDuration (minutes)End TimeSpeaker
 Plenary    
1The Power of Knowledge Networks: From Urban Flooding and Water-Energy Nexus - to the Intelligent National Map09:00 AM30 mins09:30 AMLilit Yeghiazarian, University of Cincinnati
 Geospatial Semantics and Knowledge Graphs   Sam Arundel, Director, CEGIS, Lead
2Knowledge graph work at the National Science Foundation09:30 AM30 mins10:00 AMJemin George, National Science Foundation
3Knowledge graph work in the USGS10:00 AM15 mins10:15 AMTristan Wellman, Science Analytics and Synthesis, USGS
4National Map Data as Geospatial Knowledge Graphs10:15 AM30 mins10:45 AMTorsten Hahmann, University of Maine
5Break10:45 AM15 mins11:00 AMAll
 Multiscale Representation    Larry Stanislawski, Lead
6Project overview11:00 AM10 mins11:10 AMLarry Stanislawski
7Generalization Assessment tools (Line displacement and legibility)11:10 AM20 mins11:30 AMBarry Kronenfeld, Eastern Illinois University
8Application of displacement and legibility assessment tools on US Topo Map hydrography lines11:30 AM20 mins11:50 AMViktor Butkovich, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Bethany Walker, NGTOC Cartographic Applied Research Section (CARS)
9Lunch11:50 AM60 mins12:50 PMAll
10A Multimodal Dataset and Geospatial Deep Learning Framework for Predicting Flood Peaks12:50 PM30 mins01:20 PMWen Zhou, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
11Assessment of hydrography data in Alaska for training GeoAI hydrography extraction models01:20 PM30 mins01:50 PMLarry Stanislawski
12Clustering Alaska watersheds for transfer learning models01:50 PM25 mins02:15 PMRaghu Yelugam, Missouri University of Science and Technology
13Break02:15 PM15 mins02:30 PMAll
14Generalization of data for map scales02:30 PM30 mins03:00 PMCEGIS/NGTOC/NGP
 Stream Modeling and Mapping   Ethan Shavers, Lead
15Application of the Scale Specific Sinuosity metric03:00 PM10 mins03:10 PMEthan Shavers 
16Modeling the relationship between planform geometry and roughness coefficients03:10 PM25 mins03:35 PMGazi Mahbub-Morshed, Colorado School of Mines
17Baseline Flow Resistance Parameters for Remote Sensing River Discharge 03:35 PM25 mins04:00 PMMerritt Harlan, USGS Water Resources Mission Area – Observing Systems Division

 

 

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Start time: 

  • 11:00 AM Eastern
  • 10:00 AM Central
  • 9:00 AM Mountain*
  • 8:00 AM Pacific
  • 7:00 AM Alaska

*All agenda times are listed in Mountain time zone.

#Activity DetailStart TimeDuration (minutes)End TimeSpeaker
 Plenary    
1National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC) Director's Update09:00 AM30 mins09:30 AMKim Mantey, Director, NGTOC
2AI for Science: From Foundation Models to Agentic Workflows09:30 AM30 mins10:00 AMRahul Ramachandran, Marshall Space Flight Center - NASA
 GeoAI Feature Extraction   Ernie Liu, Lead
33DEP lidar classification and building footprint extraction using Deep Learning (DL) models10:00 AM30 mins10:30 AMErnie Liu
4Break10:30 AM15 mins10:45 AMAll
5Integrating Generative AI and Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing for 3DEP Textured Surface Reconstruction and Digital Surface Model (DSM) Change Updating10:45 AM25 mins11:10 AMRongjun Qin, Ohio State University
6GeoAI for Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) Error Detection 11:10 AM25 mins11:35 AMCEGIS/NGTOC/NGP
73DEP lidar error detection using Deep Learning (DL) models11:35 AM25 mins12:00 PMKevin Lai, XTS Contractor
8Lunch12:00 PM60 mins01:00 PMAll
9Advancing spatial decision support: from participatory GIS to GeoAI01:00 PM30 mins01:30 PMZhe (Sarina) Zhang, Texas A&M University       
 Big Data Architecture   Phillip Thiem, Lead
10Project Overview01:30 PM15 mins01:45 PMPhilip Thiem
11Data Center Automation01:45 PM30 mins02:15 PMBryan Campbell, NGTOC IT Services
12Research Data Management02:15 PM30 mins02:45 PMPhilip Thiem
13Break02:45 PM15 mins03:00 PMAll
14Hydro conflation and Catchment Generation03:00 PM50 mins03:50 PMCEGIS/NGTOC/NGP
15Closing Session03:50 PM10 mins04:00 PMAll

 

Samantha T Arundel, PhD

Research Director
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
Senior Science Advisor
National Geospatial Program

Ethan Shavers, PhD

CEGIS Section Chief/ Supervisory Geographer
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
Phone
573-308-3688

Larry Stanislawski

Research Cartographer
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
Phone
573-308-3914

Philip Thiem

Computer Scientist
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
Phone
573-308-3514

Jung kuan (Ernie) Liu

Physical Research Scientist
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)

The Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS) is proud to host the 2026 18th CEGIS Annual Research Meeting June 23-25, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.

The annual research meeting is a special occasion to celebrate our accomplishments, explore ongoing projects, and foster collaboration for future endeavors. This year's gathering featured a broad range of presentations from our researchers and their collaborators as well as engaging discussions.

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

see agenda

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

see agenda

Thursday, June 25, 2026

see agenda

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Start time: 

  • 11:00 AM Eastern
  • 10:00 AM Central
  • 9:00 AM Mountain*
  • 8:00 AM Pacific
  • 7:00 AM Alaska

*All agenda times are listed in Mountain time zone.

#Activity DetailStart Time (MT)Duration (minutes)End Time (MT)Speaker
1GeoAI-Enabled National Mapping Needs Structure, Not Just Models09:00 AM30 mins09:30 AMSam Arundel, Director, CEGIS
2National Geospatial Program (NGP) Director's Update09:30 AM30 mins10:00 AMBecci Anderson, Acting Director, NGP
 Keynote    
3GeoAI-empowered image geo-localization10:00 AM30 mins10:30 AMSong Gao, University of Wisconsin–Madison
4Break10:30 AM15 mins10:45 AMAll 
 AI-Enabled Geospatial Analysis   Sam Arundel, Director, CEGIS Lead
5Critical GeoAI10:45 AM30 mins11:15 AMWenwen Li, Arizona State University
6AI-ready data11:15 AM30 mins11:45 AMSam Arundel, Director, CEGIS
7Towards the Next Generation of Spatial Representation Learning11:45 AM30 mins12:15 PMGengchen Mai, University of Texas at Austin
8Lunch12:15 PM60 mins01:15 PMAll
9AI-ready Data in Operations01:15 PM30 mins01:45 PMCEGIS/NGTOC/NGP
10AI in Cartography01:45 PM30 mins02:15 PMRaimund Schnürer, Dinser Expertise
11Geospatial Agentic Services: A Framework for Interoperable Geospatial Intelligence02:15 PM30 mins02:45 PMZhenlong Li, Pennsylvania State University
12Break02:45 PM15 mins03:00 PMAll 
 Terrain    
13Landforms update03:00 PM30 mins03:30 PMGaurav Sinha, Ohio University; Michael von Pohle, Ames Research Center - NASA
14Ridge/Summit feature extraction03:30 PM30 mins04:00 PMXiran Zhou, Harvard visiting scholar

 

 

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Start time: 

  • 11:00 AM Eastern
  • 10:00 AM Central
  • 9:00 AM Mountain*
  • 8:00 AM Pacific
  • 7:00 AM Alaska

*All agenda times are listed in Mountain time zone.

#Activity DetailStart TimeDuration (minutes)End TimeSpeaker
 Plenary    
1The Power of Knowledge Networks: From Urban Flooding and Water-Energy Nexus - to the Intelligent National Map09:00 AM30 mins09:30 AMLilit Yeghiazarian, University of Cincinnati
 Geospatial Semantics and Knowledge Graphs   Sam Arundel, Director, CEGIS, Lead
2Knowledge graph work at the National Science Foundation09:30 AM30 mins10:00 AMJemin George, National Science Foundation
3Knowledge graph work in the USGS10:00 AM15 mins10:15 AMTristan Wellman, Science Analytics and Synthesis, USGS
4National Map Data as Geospatial Knowledge Graphs10:15 AM30 mins10:45 AMTorsten Hahmann, University of Maine
5Break10:45 AM15 mins11:00 AMAll
 Multiscale Representation    Larry Stanislawski, Lead
6Project overview11:00 AM10 mins11:10 AMLarry Stanislawski
7Generalization Assessment tools (Line displacement and legibility)11:10 AM20 mins11:30 AMBarry Kronenfeld, Eastern Illinois University
8Application of displacement and legibility assessment tools on US Topo Map hydrography lines11:30 AM20 mins11:50 AMViktor Butkovich, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Bethany Walker, NGTOC Cartographic Applied Research Section (CARS)
9Lunch11:50 AM60 mins12:50 PMAll
10A Multimodal Dataset and Geospatial Deep Learning Framework for Predicting Flood Peaks12:50 PM30 mins01:20 PMWen Zhou, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
11Assessment of hydrography data in Alaska for training GeoAI hydrography extraction models01:20 PM30 mins01:50 PMLarry Stanislawski
12Clustering Alaska watersheds for transfer learning models01:50 PM25 mins02:15 PMRaghu Yelugam, Missouri University of Science and Technology
13Break02:15 PM15 mins02:30 PMAll
14Generalization of data for map scales02:30 PM30 mins03:00 PMCEGIS/NGTOC/NGP
 Stream Modeling and Mapping   Ethan Shavers, Lead
15Application of the Scale Specific Sinuosity metric03:00 PM10 mins03:10 PMEthan Shavers 
16Modeling the relationship between planform geometry and roughness coefficients03:10 PM25 mins03:35 PMGazi Mahbub-Morshed, Colorado School of Mines
17Baseline Flow Resistance Parameters for Remote Sensing River Discharge 03:35 PM25 mins04:00 PMMerritt Harlan, USGS Water Resources Mission Area – Observing Systems Division

 

 

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Start time: 

  • 11:00 AM Eastern
  • 10:00 AM Central
  • 9:00 AM Mountain*
  • 8:00 AM Pacific
  • 7:00 AM Alaska

*All agenda times are listed in Mountain time zone.

#Activity DetailStart TimeDuration (minutes)End TimeSpeaker
 Plenary    
1National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC) Director's Update09:00 AM30 mins09:30 AMKim Mantey, Director, NGTOC
2AI for Science: From Foundation Models to Agentic Workflows09:30 AM30 mins10:00 AMRahul Ramachandran, Marshall Space Flight Center - NASA
 GeoAI Feature Extraction   Ernie Liu, Lead
33DEP lidar classification and building footprint extraction using Deep Learning (DL) models10:00 AM30 mins10:30 AMErnie Liu
4Break10:30 AM15 mins10:45 AMAll
5Integrating Generative AI and Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing for 3DEP Textured Surface Reconstruction and Digital Surface Model (DSM) Change Updating10:45 AM25 mins11:10 AMRongjun Qin, Ohio State University
6GeoAI for Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) Error Detection 11:10 AM25 mins11:35 AMCEGIS/NGTOC/NGP
73DEP lidar error detection using Deep Learning (DL) models11:35 AM25 mins12:00 PMKevin Lai, XTS Contractor
8Lunch12:00 PM60 mins01:00 PMAll
9Advancing spatial decision support: from participatory GIS to GeoAI01:00 PM30 mins01:30 PMZhe (Sarina) Zhang, Texas A&M University       
 Big Data Architecture   Phillip Thiem, Lead
10Project Overview01:30 PM15 mins01:45 PMPhilip Thiem
11Data Center Automation01:45 PM30 mins02:15 PMBryan Campbell, NGTOC IT Services
12Research Data Management02:15 PM30 mins02:45 PMPhilip Thiem
13Break02:45 PM15 mins03:00 PMAll
14Hydro conflation and Catchment Generation03:00 PM50 mins03:50 PMCEGIS/NGTOC/NGP
15Closing Session03:50 PM10 mins04:00 PMAll

 

Samantha T Arundel, PhD

Research Director
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
Senior Science Advisor
National Geospatial Program

Ethan Shavers, PhD

CEGIS Section Chief/ Supervisory Geographer
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
Phone
573-308-3688

Larry Stanislawski

Research Cartographer
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
Phone
573-308-3914

Philip Thiem

Computer Scientist
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
Phone
573-308-3514

Jung kuan (Ernie) Liu

Physical Research Scientist
National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS)
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