Dear Colleagues and Participants,

There are now only three weeks remaining until the GIS-IDEAS 2026 Conference. We are pleased to share with you the preliminary conference program (attached).

As part of the conference activities, September 24, 2026, will be dedicated to Training Workshops. We are pleased to announce two specialized hands-on workshops focusing on the application of QGIS and its powerful ecosystem of plugins in Remote Sensing and geospatial analysis:

Workshop 1: Mapping Land Surface Temperature (LST) from Satellite Data Using a QGIS Plugin

Workshop 2: Urban Land Cover Classification Using the EnMAP-Box QGIS Plugin

QGIS has become one of the world's leading open-source Geographic Information System platforms, offering an increasingly powerful and user-friendly environment that is now approaching the convenience and functionality of many commercial GIS and remote sensing software packages. Unlike proprietary software, however, QGIS is freely available and open source, providing not only a cost-effective alternative but also significant opportunities for researchers and developers to create new tools, plugins, and innovative geospatial applications. Its continuously expanding plugin ecosystem makes QGIS an increasingly important platform for scientific research, education, and professional applications.

The workshops will be conducted by Prof. Maria Antonia Brovelli and Dr. Pham Thi Mai Thy, both of whom have extensive experience in GIS, Remote Sensing, Earth Observation, and geospatial technologies. Brief CVs of the instructors are provided below for your reference. 

Prof. Maria Antonia Brovelli holds a degree in Physics and a PhD in Geodesy and Cartography. She is a Full Professor at Politecnico di Milano (PoliMI), where she teaches GIS, Earth Observation and sustainable development-related subjects. Her research focuses on Geomatics, GIS, Earth Observation, Open-Source GIS, Big Geo Data, GEOAI and Geospatial Foundation Models. She has held numerous leading positions in international scientific organizations and initiatives, including ISPRS, ESA, the United Nations Open GIS Initiative, UN-GGIM Academic Network and OSGeo. She is currently the Head of GEOLab at Politecnico di Milano and has an extensive record of international research projects and scientific publications.

For detailed information on her academic and scientific background, please refer to:

https://www.gisgeolab.polimi.it/docs/cvs/CV_Brovelli_27012025.pdf

Dr. Pham Thi Mai Thy is a specialist in Remote Sensing and holds a PhD in Remote Sensing from Osaka City University, Japan. She has more than 20 years of experience in applying Remote Sensing and GIS technologies to environmental monitoring, natural resource management, land use assessment, and natural hazard studies. She has served as Principal Investigator for two national-level research projects under Vietnam's Space Science and Technology Program. She is also a member of the Capacity Building Working Group (WGCapD) on space science within the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS).

For detailed information on her scientific and academic background, please refer to:

Dr. Pham Thi Mai Thy's full scientific profile

Authors and conference participants who are interested in joining the workshops are kindly invited to register directly with the Conference Secretariat via:

Email:vananhtdavt@gmail.com
Mobile: +84 986 811 971

Please note that participation in the Training Workshops is strictly limited to a maximum of 20 participants. Registration will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis and will be closed immediately once the maximum number of participants has been reached.

We therefore strongly encourage interested participants to register as early as possible.

Thank you very much for your interest and support. We look forward to welcoming you to the GIS-IDEAS 2026 Conference and Training Workshops.

Best regards,

GIS-IDEAS 2026 Scretariat