Aims and scope

The aim of International Journal of Geographical Information Science is to provide a forum for the exchange of original ideas, approaches, methods and experiences in the field of GIScience.

International Journal of Geographical Information Science covers the following topics:

    Innovations and novel applications of GIScience in natural resources, social systems and the built environment
    Relevant developments in computer science, cartography, surveying, geography, and engineering
    Fundamental and computational issues of geographic information
    The design, implementation and use of geographical information for monitoring, prediction and decision making
    Novel geospatial approaches to address one or more of the UN SDGs


The journal publishes original articles, reviews, foresight papers, technical communications, editorials and book reviews.

International Journal of Geographical Information Science operates a double-anonymized peer review policy. It does not consider manuscripts with copies deposited in preprint servers that disclose the authors' identities before acceptance for publication. Authors can choose to publish gold open access within this journal.

Special Issue on Ethics in Geospatial AI and Data Science
Submission Date: 2026-04-30

Special Issue Editor(s)

Shaowen Wang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
shaowen@illinois.edu	

Peter Kedron, UC Santa Barbara, USA
peterkedron@ucsb.edu	

Peter T. Darch, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
ptdarch@illinois.edu	

Synopsis

A host of ethical and governance issues arise when using geospatial artificial intelligence (AI) and data science for research, policy, and other purposes. These include questions concerning privacy, consent, bias, equity, assessment of benefits and harms, transparency, data sovereignty, and integrity in research practices and AI algorithm use. New AI developments introduce additional ethical concerns, such as misuse, hallucinations, the perpetuation of stereotypes, and trust resulting from the surging popularity of Large Language Models. Recent efforts, such as the GeoEthics Initiative of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) and the accompanying revision of the AAG’s statement of professional ethics, have brought increased attention to these concerns. However, many questions remain unanswered, and the lack of ethical guidance presents a significant challenge for researchers and practitioners seeking to use geospatial AI and data science to advance scientific knowledge and support decision-making.

This special issue seeks to address this gap in the literature by expanding on the rich tradition of ethics-focused research in geographic information science. We invite manuscripts across a wide range of topics for consideration in this special issue. Contributions may address, but are not limited to, examinations of:

    Geospatial representation and bias in AI and data science
    Privacy and consent in the development and use of geospatial AI and data science
    Governance of geospatial AI
    Environmental impacts of geospatial AI
    Frameworks and tools for guiding the ethical creation and use of geospatial AI
    Explainability and accountability of geospatial AI models and datasets
    Critical approaches to geospatial data ethics
    Geospatial data sovereignty
    Applications of non-western approaches to geospatial data ethics

The guest editors welcome submissions from participants in various discussions of ethical issues arising with artificial intelligence in GIScience, such as the GeoEthics Initiative of the  American Association of Geographers (AAG) and conference sessions at AAG annual meetings organized by the National Science Foundation Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE), the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories in Europe (AGILE) conferences, and AI for Good Global Summits.