CyberGIS—referred to as geographic information science and systems (GIS) based on advanced computing and cyberinfrastructure —represents a vibrant interdisciplinary field for bridging advanced cyberinfrastructure, geographic information science and technologies, and various geospatial knowledge domains to solve pressing scientific and societal problems.

Spatially heterogeneous and multi-scale changes across the globe, such as population growth, climate change, and accelerated resource and environmental degradation, have posed grand challenges ranging from energy and environmental sustainability to health and wellness. To tackle these challenges, which exhibit tremendous geo and spatial complexity, requires critical knowledge of spatial patterns and their driving processes across a number of spatial and temporal scales by combining rich spatiotemporal data, analytics and models to form novel problem-solving approaches enabled by cyberGIS.

The CyberGIS Center for Advanced Digital & Spatial Studies, directed by Dr. Shaowen Wang, is located in the National History Building on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Geospatial data science represents an emerging interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field intersecting among three broad knowledge domains: geospatial sciences and technologies, mathematical and statistical sciences, and cyberinfrastructure and computational sciences. The core of this intersection encompasses fertile synergies and interactions between big data and cyberGIS with geospatial principles guiding discovery and innovation. The Geospatial Data Science Distinguished Speaker Series brings leading thinkers and practitioners in this exciting field to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to conduct public lectures and engage with the campus community.