Conference Location: Delmenhorst, Germany
Conference dates: 2010-04-23 - 2010-04-24
Abstract deadline: 0000-00-00
Conference URL: http://www.h-w-k.de/

Description

Research in the areas of spatial cognition and geographic information science has undergone a rapid development within the past decades, as reflected by steadily growing numbers of researchers addressing spatial topics, national as well as trans-regional conferences and meetings, and major research projects spanning a wide variety of related issues, transcending disciplinary boundaries. Recent developments have now highlighted a widespread substantial interest in establishing a reliable basis for combining insights and representation models from various sources. In particular, the existing manifold approaches to interpreting spatial representations in language deserve to be systematically combined with behavioral navigation data, associated cognitive processes and strategies, and formal representation systems capturing cognitively relevant categories and features of space. Substantial steps towards this goal have been brought forward both within the recently concluded tandem project on wayfinding strategies in behavior and language (funded by the Volkswagen Foundation from 2007 to 2009), and by a number of contributions to, and discussions at, the recent COSIT conference in Aber Wrac'h (France, September 21-25, 2009), reflecting not only the considerable progress already emerging in this regard, but also the necessity to substantiate interdisciplinary approaches systematically, and clarify open issues. In this workshop, we will bring together experts and discussants working in the areas of spatial behavior and linguistic representation and the relationship between them, pushing further towards the shared goal of a systematic interdisciplinary basis for understanding spatial cognition.