<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">



















</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Hello
everyone,<br>
<br>
This is a gentle reminder that our next Geospatial/GIS meetup will be held on
Zoom <b>tomorrow</b>, Wednesday October 15, from 12:00 - 12:50 pm.<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt 40px;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="https://ucr.zoom.us/j/91599392166?pwd=LmLhdsfq1EJapb95yLlVeGalMUCBa3.1" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(70,120,134);text-decoration:underline">https://ucr.zoom.us/j/91599392166?pwd=LmLhdsfq1EJapb95yLlVeGalMUCBa3.1</a> <br>
<br>
Meeting ID: 915 9939 2166<br>
Passcode: 743342 <span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Note that we'll be piloting a new system tomorrow for attendees to sign in. We'll
appreciate your patience as we give it a try.  <span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">We'll start the meetup with announcements of general interest (<i>including</i> the <b>final call</b> to <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVCb_SyiK9UhN1piARD1xGlI2_VZwHYlv4cckjOTsbm7rscg/viewform">submit a presentation proposal</a> for UC GIS Week in November!) </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The meetup
will be recorded, and notes will be shared.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Dr. Ahmed
Eldawy will present on <b>Natural Language Maps: Generative AI
for Spatial Data Generation, Querying, and Visualization</b><span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt 40px;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Maps are
powerful, but making sense of them has traditionally required specialized
expertise in GIS software, complex query languages, and significant manual
effort. Advances in large language models (LLMs) and generative AI are
beginning to change this dynamic, opening new ways of working with spatial data
that are far more intuitive. Instead of relying on specialized tools, users can
now describe the data they need or write complex geographic questions, and
intelligent systems can translate those intentions into concrete results. This
talk will highlight recent progress in three key directions: generating
realistic spatial datasets from textual descriptions, answering complex
questions that combine spatial reasoning with external knowledge, and automatically
creating styles that make map visualizations more effective and interpretable.
Taken together, these advances illustrate a new paradigm where geospatial data
can be explored and understood through a natural and accessible interface.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt 40px;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Ahmed Eldawy is an Associate Professor in Computer Science at the University of
California Riverside. His research interests lie in the broad area of databases
with a focus on big data management and spatial data processing. Ahmed led the
research and development in many open source projects for big spatial data
exploration and visualization including UCR-Star, an interactive repository for
geospatial data. His work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). <span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Registering for the meetup is appreciated but not required. If you haven't already done so, you
may register through <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/geospatialgis-meetups-tickets-1730709040329?aff=oddtdtcreator">Eventbrite</a>, or respond to the calendar
invitation many of you received on September 30. <span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Feel free to
forward this email, especially to anyone who may be interested in the intersection of AI and GIS.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I hope you’ll
be able to join us!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Best,<span></span></span></p>





<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:15.6933px;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br></p></div></div></div></div>

</div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b><span style="color:black;border:1pt none windowtext;padding:0in">Janet Reyes</span></b><span style="color:black;border:1pt none windowtext;padding:0in"><br>
<i>Geospatial Information Librarian</i></span><span style="font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-size-adjust:inherit"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125);border:1pt none windowtext;padding:0in"><br>
</span><span style="color:black;border:1pt none windowtext;padding:0in"></span><span style="font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-size-adjust:inherit">UCR
Library | University of California, Riverside</span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"></span></font></p>

<p style="margin:0in"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif"><span style="font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-size-adjust:inherit"><span style="color:black;border:1pt none windowtext;padding:0in">P.O. Box 5900 | Orbach Library, Room 118</span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;color:black"></span></font></p>

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