GeoEducation Summit 2026
Join educators, researchers, students, geospatial professionals, and industry representatives
at the BayGeo / San José State University Spatial Analytics and Visualization Institute
(SAVI) GeoEducation Summit IX to explore the evolving geospatial landscape and strengthen
connections across education, research, and practice.
The Summit provides a forum for participants to:
- Share geospatial projects, research, and teaching innovations.
- Learn emerging GIS, spatial analytics, and visualization tools.
- Network with Bay Area GIS experts, educators, and future geospatial leaders.
- Discuss the future of geospatial education and workforce development.
Agenda
09:00 AM - 09:30 AM - Arrival and Light Breakfast
09:30 AM - 10:20 AM - Welcome and Introductions
- Welcome from Summit organizing team
- Keynote plenary - GeoAI: Campus to Industry (moderator: Dr. Anne Marie Todd, Dean of the SJSU College of Social Science)
10:30 AM - 11:20 PM - Morning Sessions #1
- Community College Regional Advisory Board Part I — An Overview (facilitator: Allison Meezan, Foothill College) (Part II of this session will be at 1:30 p.m.)
- OpenStreetMap applications (instructor: Cam Denney, BayGeo)
- Student Track: How AI is changing the way people find and use Earth observation data (facilitator: Rishi Madhok)
- Presentation: Applying AI to Real-World Geospatial Workflows with ArcGIS (facilitator: Canserina Kurnia, Esri)
11:30 AM - 12:20 PM - Morning Sessions #2
- Student Track: Panel discussion: Hot GIS skills ready for the market! (moderator: Judi Heher, BayGeo & SJSU)
- Lightning Talks — From Static Maps to Digital Twins (moderator: Dr. Ahoura Zandiatashbar, SJSU)
- Presentation: From Flight to Insight: Drone Reality Mapping Workflows for GIS (instructor: Jeremiah Johnson, Esri)
- Presentations: Data and Remote Sensing (Karla King, Planet Labs & Dr. Marcel Moran, SJSU)
12:20 PM - 01:30 PM - Lunch and Conversation
- Lunch (provided by BayGeo/SJSU SAVI, thanks to our generous sponsors) and Conversation
- Student Poster and WebApp Showcase
- Drone demo towards the end of the lunch period (presenters: Owen Hussey, SJSU & Jeremiah Johnson, Esri)
01:30 PM - 02:20 PM - Afternoon Sessions #1
- Student Track: Networking with GIS industry reps (facilitator: SJSU Career Center)
- Community College Regional Advisory Board Part II — Discussion about next steps (facilitator: Allison Meezan, Foothill College)
- High School student session: OpenStreetMap applications (instructor: Cam Denney, BayGeo); Open GeoData Projects (instructor: Minh Nguyen); Let’s talk Geo-Curriculum Design! (facilitator: Rick Kos, BayGeo & SJSU)
02:30 PM - 03:20 PM - Afternoon Sessions #2
- High School / Student Track — Poster & WebApp Presentations (moderator: Dr. Marcel Moran, SJSU)
- Geography and GISci Applications and Innovations (presenters: Preethi Balaji & Jack Stevens)
- A Map for a Cat (presenter: Andrew Middleton) Auditory Urbanism: How Train Melodies Influence Transit Space Perception in Japan (presenter: Jessie Kong)
- Mapping Care: Everyday Spatial Mobility among Zero-gen Elderly Migrants (presenter: Dr. Yining Tan, SJSU)
- Presentations: Explanations as geospatial objects: A spatial framework for evaluating explainable AI in GeoAI (presenter: Christopher Swindell); Multi-source remote sensing for flood mapping as a predictor of Arsenic contamination in smallholder rice paddies in Cambodia (presenter: My-Thu Tran)
03:00 PM - 04:00 PM - Closing Plenary
- Closing plenary - No Straight Lines: Career Journeys in GIScience (moderator: Dr. Katherine Cushing, SJSU)
05:00 PM - 07:00 PM - Social Event / GeoBeers, no host (at San Pedro Square)
