Spatial cognition researchers have exacting methods for studying how people navigate, learn, and remember buildings, cities, and other large environments. Architects and planners have similarly careful computational methods for modeling the physical form of these environments. With this combination tutorial and workshop, we hope to further the pairing of behavioral methods and environmental models in spatial cognition research. The morning tutorial session will include a hands-on lesson in using environmental modeling techniques known as space syntax. No prior experience is necessary for the tutorial.

For the afternoon workshop session, researchers and practitioners are invited to submit papers (short or long format) and posters (with an abstract) for presentation. Those who wish to attend without presenting are invited to submit a position paper. Topics to be considered include:

• Using environmental models (axial maps, segment maps, isovists, visibility graph analysis, agents, etc.) to address theoretical questions concerning spatial knowledge, spatial learning, locomotion, wayfinding, and other topics in spatial cognition.
  
• Methodological issues of pairing environmental models and behavioral research methods.
  
• Constructing environmental models that capture psychologically relevant features.
  
• Relating environmental properties, such as visibility, accessibility, and intelligibility, to cognitive processes and behavior.

More background on environmental modeling is available on-line at: http://geocog.geog.ucsb.edu/envmod2010/

Agenda

The workshop/tutorial is planned as a full-day event, with a hands-on tutorial before lunch and a series of workshop-style presentations after lunch.

Morning Tutorial

• opening remarks from the organizers
• an overview talk "Using Computational Models of Environmental Form as Cognitive Descriptions of Real-world Settings"
• hands-on tutorial using DepthMap to create and analyze environmental models (including axial, segment, and visibility-graph analysis); participants will provide their own laptops

Afternoon Workshop

• an opening talk featuring an invited speaker
• presentations on behavioral studies and environmental-modeling projects, based on short- or long-paper submissions
• break for a small poster session at the afternoon coffee break
• wrap-up discussion with all participants

Submissions

All attendees are encouraged to submit one of the following:

Please follow Springer LNCS style <http://www.springer.com/computer+science/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0> Paper and poster submissions will be reviewed by the program committee, and all accepted submissions will be including in proceedings to be issued as an SFB/8 technical report. The proceedings will be circulated to attendees in advance, along with the software and materials to be used in the morning tutorial. Similar to the 2006 workshop, we hope to publish a selection of high-quality papers in a special issue of a journal and/or publish a printed proceedings volume.

Please e-mail submissions as PDF files to Christoph Hölscher <[log in to unmask]>.

• April 14 - deadline for short papers, long papers, and poster abstracts
• May 14 - notification of acceptance
June 28 - submission of position papers; submission of final versions of accepted short papers, long papers, and poster abstracts
August 15 - the workshop/tutorial will be held on the first day of Spatial Cognition 2010

Helen Couclelis (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Clare Davies (United Kingdom)
Sara Fabrikant (University of Zurich)

Nicholas Giudice (University of Maine)
Saif Haq (Texas Tech University)
Young Ook Kim (Sejong University)
Alexander Klippel (Pennsylvania State University)
Daniel Montello (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Tobias Meilinger (Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics)
Rodrigo Mora (University of Santiago de Chile)
Alan Penn (University College London)
Victor Schinazi (University of Pennsylvania)
Renato Troffa (University of Cagliari)
David Waller (Miami University)