What is so fascinating about your research area?
I am passionate about the fast-growing interdisciplinary field of Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI), as it combines advanced AI techniques such as knowledge graphs and machine learning with spatial data and geographical sciences to address real-world challenges. GeoAI research has a significant impact on our understanding of and ability to address environmental, societal, and urban challenges. It continually evolves as AI technology advances such as foundation models, making it an exciting area for research innovation.
Which central message should your students remember?
I encourage students to keep curiosity and a mindset of lifelong learning even after graduation. The pursuit of knowledge and skills is a lifelong endeavor.
Why did you decide to do research and teach at our Faculty?
Professor Krzysztof Janowicz is a renowned scholar in the field of Geoinformatics. I am very excited to collaborate with Professor Janowicz's team on the research area of GeoAI and to extend my academic network in Europe. I never had a teaching experience in Europe. I look forward to the interaction with students at the University of Vienna.
Which three publications characterise your work?
Hou, X., Gao, S., Li, Q., Kang, Y., Chen, N., Chen, K., Rao, J., Ellenberg, J., & Patz, J. A. (2021). Intracounty modeling of COVID-19 infection with human mobility: Assessing spatial heterogeneity with business traffic, age, and race. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(24), e2020524118.
Gao, S., Janowicz, K., Montello, D. R., Hu, Y., Yang, J. A., McKenzie, G., Ju, Y., Gong, L., Adams, B., & Yan, B. (2017). A data-synthesis-driven method for detecting and extracting vague cognitive regions. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 31(6), 1245-1271.
Gao, S., Janowicz, K., & Couclelis, H. (2017). Extracting urban functional regions from points of interest and human activities on location‐based social networks. Transactions in GIS, 21(3), 446-467.
Thank you & welcome to our Faculty!
- Dr. Song Gao is an Associate Professor in Geographic Information Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States, where he leads the Geospatial Data Science Lab. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His main research interests include GeoAI, Human Mobility, and Social Sensing. He is the (co-)author of over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, published in prominent journals such as PNAS. He was the recipient of the Waldo Tobler Young Researcher Award in GIScience, UCGIS Early/Mid-Career Research Award, AAG Spatial Analysis & Modeling Emerging Scholar Award, and among the Web of Science Top 1% global highly cited researchers list of 2022 & 2023.
- Working group / host professor: Spatial Data Science and Geocommunication / Prof. Krzysztof Janowicz
- Course in winter term 2023: Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI)
