| Title | GIS Applications and AI Integration |
| Lecturer | Prof. Dr. Namchul Shin Information Systems in the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems Pace University, New York, NY, USA |
| Date | January 11, 12 & 13, 2027 with classes from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day |
| Room/Address | Georg Schumann-Bau (SCH/B37) TU Dresden |
| Seminar content | The course introduces innovative applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with a strong emphasis on solving real-world business and societal challenges. Rather than treating GIS as a standalone technical tool, the course frames GIS as an integrated system for addressing complex problems such as sustainability, urban planning, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A distinctive feature of the course is its systems architecture perspective, which situates GIS within a broader ecosystem of data pipelines, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). By bridging GIS and AI—fields often treated in isolation—the course integrates both fields into a coherent teaching concept that helps students reflect current developments in industry, sustainability management, and innovation-oriented business practice. Furthermore, the integration of AI technologies – including Natural Language Processing (NLP), transformer-based models, and AI assisted coding – enables students to design innovative, location-aware analytical workflows and supports the development of future-oriented digital competencies. |
| Structure | Day 1 Morning:
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| Prerequisites | Familiarity with GIS and Python is helpful for the sessions. However, this is not a must. |
| Preparation material | Further information will follow in the third quarter of 2026. |
| Certificate | Doctoral candidates from the Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dresden can earn a certificate according to § 9 of the Ph.D. doctoral regulations (PromO 2018): Doctoral candidates of Business Administration: § 9 (1) Nr. 5 or 6 Doctoral candidates of Business Information Systems: § 9 (1) Nr. 6 Doctoral candidates of Economics: § 9 (1) Nr. 6 Doctoral candidates from other universities can earn a certificate as well. |
| Assignment | As outlined in the course schedule, participants will complete one practical project each day. These projects are designed to reinforce the workshop topics by enabling participants to: (1) practice geospatial mapping and spatial analysis; (2) apply GIS techniques to solve spatial decision-making problems through site selection and analysis; and (3) build an AI-powered GIS agent using Python and the OpenAI Agents SDK to perform geospatial analysis. For Projects #1 and #2, participants must submit their mapping outputs, including map URLs, screenshots, and any other relevant supporting materials. For Project #3, participants must submit their source code and results, such as a Jupyter Notebook (.ipynb) and/or a Word document describing the implementation and outputs. |
| Registration | Participation is limited (max. 20). To register send an e-mail to Dr. Uta Schwarz: uta.schwarz@tu-dresden.de Phone: +49 351 463-33141 |