COSIT 2026

Call for Papers

We are delighted to announce that the 17^th edition of the Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT) will be held in York, United Kingdom, from September 22^nd to 25^th, 2026!

Established in 1993, COSIT is a biennial international conference series concerned with theoretical aspects of space and spatial information. Spatial information theory examines how space and the external environment is experienced, represented, and communicated by humans, agents and machines.

With the goal of advancing the field of spatial information science and its bordering research areas, work presented at COSIT has explored how decoding and making sense of space shapes human agency in different contexts. Spatial information theory builds on a variety of perspectives on space; it advances computational models of spaces, it challenges consolidated methods in spatial analysis and Geographic Information Science and addresses how cognitive representations of space can be incorporated in formal models of space, at different scales, from geographic to personal space.

We welcome contributions from across any areas under the COSIT topics listed below. This COSIT’s edition theme will be Cognition and Flows, recognising the value of considering the cognitive foundations of human behaviour and their role in shaping large-scale geographic flows and interactions. Given the growing wealth in large, detailed behavioural and environmental data capturing the real world, never have we had such opportunity to close the gap between our understanding of human spatial behaviour and aggregated flows e.g., mobility, migration, inequalities, economic activity, spread of information, etc. In addition to any topics related to spatial information and cognition, we particularly encourage submissions that explore how cognition and behaviour shape the production of flows, their evolution, and ultimately influence the nature of spaces and societies.

COSIT Topics

COSIT is an intensive, single-track conference held over four days, featuring paper presentations and special thematic sessions. It presents original research that spans a wide range of interdisciplinary topics, such as spatial cognition, wayfinding and navigation, spatial reasoning, place and space, human computer interaction, intelligent agents, urban analytics and their interactions with other disciplines, including spatial analysis, Geographic Information Science, neuroscience, cartography, philosophy of mind, and computer science.

We welcome contributions covering conference-relevant topics, such as but not limited to:

• activity-based models of spatial knowledge
• behavioural and cognitive geography
• cartography and geographic visualisation
• causal and statistical models of space
• cognitive representations of geographic information
• cognitive aspects of urban and transport analysis
• concepts of spatial information, such as fields, objects, events, networks, and processes
• context awareness in physical and social spaces
• experienced and perceived spatial phenomena (e.g. liveability, walkability)
• explainable geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) and spatially informed AI
• imagery data and spatial representation
• knowledge representation for space and time
• large-language models (LLMs) and foundation models (FMs), and their utility in spatial cognition and representation
• natural (human) language descriptions of space and place
• navigation, wayfinding, and mobility of sentient beings and robots
• ontology of space and time
• place and spatial information theory
• social and cultural organisation of space
• spatial agent-based simulations of human and social phenomena
• spatial and temporal language
• spatial cognition and neuroscience
• spatial decision support, impact of model design
• spatial information retrieval and encoding of geographic texts
• spatial learning and knowledge acquisition
• spatial storytelling and interactive narratives
• theory and practice of spatial and temporal reasoning
• validity of spatial information methods

Submissions

The COSIT 2026 review process is double-blind (excluding Journal Article or Book Presentation). All submitted manuscripts should omit authors’ names, affiliations, and any other identifying information. This may include, but is not restricted to acknowledgments, self-citations, and references to prior work by the author(s). Please use the third person to identify your own prior work.

Submissions must adopt the LIPIcs LaTeX template (see below). For an accepted contribution to be published in the conference proceedings (full papers, short papers) or included in the conference programme (short poster papers, journal and book presentations), at least one of the paper authors must register by the registration deadline.

Full papers

Full research papers of 12-20 pages (including references) will be reviewed by three members of the programme committee. High-quality submissions will be accepted for presentation at the conference and will be published in the conference proceedings. Selection will be based on relevance to the conference theme and topics, scientific significance, novelty, relation to previously published literature, clarity of presentation, and interdisciplinary considerations. Manuscripts must describe original work that has not been submitted and published elsewhere.

Short papers

Short papers of maximum 7 pages (including references) present late-breaking and in-progress research, with less emphasis on mature results. All submissions will be reviewed by members of the programme committee. Accepted submissions will be selected for either oral or poster presentation at the conference. Authors of short papers accepted for oral presentation will have the option of having their papers included in the conference proceedings. All other accepted short papers will be shared in a non-archival digital repository.

Journal Article or Book Presentation

The conference will run a special thematic session dedicated to providing authors of recently published journal research articles or books on spatial information theory the opportunity to present and share their work in front of the COSIT audience. The article or book must have been published during the years 2024-2026 and should have not been presented at other conferences in the discipline (e.g. COSIT2024, AGILE 2025, ACM SIGSPATIAL 2025 or GIScience 2025). Submissions should include a citation and <1 page summary of the paper's or book's relevance to COSIT. It will be screened by the programme chairs with selection based on relevance to the conference theme and topics. Please submit material directly to cosit.uk@gmail.com.

Proceedings/Template

We offer Open Access publications for the refereed submission tracks in the Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs) Series. LIPIcs provides a LaTeX template for papers: visit this link. Please make sure you use the latest version of the template on that page.

Authors unfamiliar with LaTeX are encouraged to use Overleaf, an online LaTeX editor, easy to use and that does not require any local installation. Overleaf comes with the LIPIcs template pre-loaded (can be found here).

Authors who want to use other text editors should stay close to the sample article’s layout for their paper submitted for review. Should their papers be accepted for publication, they must be converted to LaTeX using the LIPIcs LaTeX class and template.

Authors are responsible for the conversion of their papers to the LaTeX template.

Thematic Sessions

We invite proposals for thematic sessions to take place during the conference. These short sessions should focus on a specific topic within spatial information theory or tie into the general conference topic of Cognition and Flows and can take on a range of formats (e.g., lightning talks, panel, discussion, hands-on activity, workshop).

Activities that can fit into a 45 minute or 1.5 hour long session are welcome. Thematic session organisers, speakers, and participants need to be registered for the main conference to attend. To submit a proposal, please complete this form by Friday, February 13th February 27^th, 2026. Decisions will be made on March 6^th, 2026. Please direct any questions regarding thematic sessions to Dr. Clio Andris at clio@gatech.edu.

Doctoral Mentoring Programme

The COSIT community welcomes and supports the active participation of doctoral students. Following the experience of the previous two editions of the COSIT doctoral mentoring programme, the Doctoral Mentoring Programme at COSIT 2026 revolves around three different pillars for engaging with the COSIT community:

• Feedback: Choose from three different formats to present your doctoral research and receive constructive community feedback, based on your stage of study.
• Mentorship: Meet one-on-one with experienced international scholars in the field.
• Insights Presentation: Present your work as a lightning talk during a dedicated conference session.

Feedback Pillar

Based on your research experience and stage of study, choose how you wish to contribute and get feedback:

1. Early Stage Proposal: Submit a proposal on how you are going to tackle a particular research problem or question, how you plan to use a specific method, etc.
2. Later Stage Summary: Submit a summary of your ongoing PhD research. This is meant for ongoing work in the middle-to-late stages of preparation.
3. Peer-Reviewed Submission: Submit your research for peer review, for either the full or short paper tracks. There will be a 'Best Student Paper' award (details to follow).

Mentorship Pillar

The doctoral mentoring chair will match the candidate with an experienced scholar who will provide feedback and discuss selected research issues in one-to-one, in person meetings.

Insights Presentation Pillar

One conference session at this year’s COSIT 2026 conference will be dedicated to doctoral lightning presentations, open exclusively to doctoral students. As COSIT is a single-track conference, the participant will present to all conference participants. This is a fantastic opportunity for early career researchers to present their work to a large audience of like-minded researchers.

How to Apply

To apply for the doctoral mentoring program, submit an Expression of Interest (EOI), up to 7 pages in length (maximum). Please use the LaTeX template provided for the conference to write your EOI. You will need to submit this as a single PDF document through the form below. The EOI must include:

1. A brief biographical note, including contact data (name, affiliation, email address) and stage of your doctoral degree (e.g., First year, Final Year, etc.)
2. A maximum one-page overview of your PhD research or proposed research.
3. A maximum one-page overview of your PhD research or proposed research.
4. Your chosen type of Feedback Pillar A, B, or C, for the selected option:

1. Early Stage Proposal: Provide a detailed account of your research problem / issue, method, etc., and the specifics of what you wish to get feedback on.
2. Later Stage Summary: Provide a detailed summary/proposal/plan of your PhD research, with enough specifics to enable specific feedback on it.
3. Peer-Reviewed Submission: Provide the submitted abstract of your paper for peer review and describe how this paper fits into your overall PhD research goals.

All submitted EOIs will be ranked but not formally peer-reviewed. Accepted EOIs will be distributed among the mentees and their COSIT 2026 mentors as a single PDF document. Doctoral mentees will also be encouraged to publish their one-page PhD topic overviews (item 2 above) in a document that will be shared with all conference attendees and archived via the Open Science Framework with the volume DOI.

Please complete this form to submit your Expression of Interest (EOI) to the Doctoral Mentoring Chair. Any questions regarding this programme can be sent to Dr. Crystal Bae at cbae@uchicago.edu.

Registration

Coming soon!

York

York, a historic city nestled in northern England, boasts a rich history that stretches back to its Roman origins. Its urban landscape features the Gothic grandeur of York Minster, the narrow streets of the Shambles, and remnants of Roman walls. It is an active urban hub of commerce, culture, and education, with a high density of entertainment venues. Its compact, walkable layout means it is regularly featured as one of the best cities to live in the UK.

Transportation

While York does not have an international airport itself, it is located on the East Coast Mainline of the UK rail network and continues to be a major rail hub. There are frequent, direct trains to London (~2hrs), Leeds (30mins), and Manchester (~1.5hrs). Trains from Manchester Airport are direct (hourly), while connections from Leeds-Bradford Airport and London Airports require an additional train connection. The centre of York is very old and compact, and there are heavy limits on vehicular movement, thus making your experience pleasant and enjoyable.

Visa Information

Please visit this website to check if you will need a UK visa to attend the conference. Please contact us if you require a letter of invitation for the UK visa application.