COSIT 2026 in York, UK

September 25, 2026

This weekend I am returning from York, UK, where I attended the 17th Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2026), held September 22 to 25 at The Hospitium in the York Museum Gardens. COSIT is a biennial conference on the theoretical foundations of space and spatial information, and this year it had a record 150 attendees, more than COSIT 2024, which our lab hosted in Quebec City. It is great to see this community continue to grow.

The conference theme, Cognition and Flows, explored how human cognition and behaviour shape large-scale geographic flows. Presentations spanned spatial reasoning in large language and foundation models, navigation and wayfinding, geospatial semantics and qualitative reasoning, and the analysis of mobility and pedestrian flows. There were keynotes from Krzysztof Janowicz, Laura Alessandretti, and Hugo Spiers.

This year I helped to co-organize the thematic session Generated Geography: Responsible GeoAI in the Era of Foundation Models, which used live, audience-driven experiments to examine how AI systems represent geographic space. I also chaired the Language and Foundation Models paper session, served as a mentor for the Doctoral Mentoring Programme, and took part in the COSIT steering committee meeting.

Overall, it was great to reconnect with longtime colleagues and collaborators and to meet so many new researchers and students. The proceedings are available open access through Dagstuhl’s LIPIcs series. See you at COSIT 2028 in Vienna!

Grant McKenzie

Romm, Daniel; Verma, Priyanka; Qiang, Dan; Sadeghi, Farzaneh; Zhu, Jenny; Johnston, Mackenzie; McKenzie, Grant

Urban mobility responses to wildfire smoke-related air quality advisories in Montréal, Canada Journal Article

In: Health & Place, vol. 101, iss. September 2026, no. 103736, 2026.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Verma, Priyanka; McKenzie, Grant

When cities look alike but move differently: comparing urban regions using micromobility trip patterns Journal Article

In: Journal of Location Based Services, 2026.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Qiang, Dan; McKenzie, Grant

How events move us: Estimating the causal effects of special events on shared micromobility Journal Article

In: Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis, vol. 10, iss. 1, 2025.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

@article{nokey,

title = {How events move us: Estimating the causal effects of special events on shared micromobility},

author = {Dan Qiang and Grant McKenzie},

url = {http://grantmckenzie.com/academics/Qiang2025b.pdf},

doi = {10.1007/s41651-025-00244-1},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-12-05},

urldate = {2025-12-05},

journal = {Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis},

volume = {10},

issue = {1},

publisher = {Springer},

abstract = {Special events, such as festivals, parades, and protests, can cause sudden surges or disruptions in travel demand, thereby placing stress on transportation systems. As shared micromobility becomes an increasingly important part of urban transportation, understanding how these events affect its ridership is crucial for ensuring safety, efficiency, and sustainability. In this study, we investigate the causal impacts of various event types by applying Double Machine Learning (DML) to high-resolution shared micromobility trip data (e-bikes and e-scooters) and multi-source event records in Washington, D.C. These events include government-authorized large events, independently organized small events, and government-registered protests. Our results show that many events have far stronger actual influences on shared micromobility than correlational analysis suggests, as confounding factors can mask their actual impact. For instance, festivals show four to seven times greater impact under causal estimation. We also find that the increase in gas prices suppresses discretionary travel, resulting in reduced shared micromobility usage during events. Another key insight is the different demand mechanisms: large events interact with temporal and built environment features to boost ridership, whereas small events are primarily influenced by temporal features, such as event duration and weather, with little influence from infrastructure factors. These findings highlight the need for tailored policies, including infrastructure investment for large events and operational incentives for smaller ones. This research provides a causal foundation for urban mobility planning, supporting the development of more resilient and efficient transportation systems in event-dense urban areas.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

Romm, Daniel; Chavez, Jose Arturo Jasso; Kinman, Lexi; Salsabilian, Pegah; McKenzie, Grant; Manaugh, Kevin

The Cars are Going to be Alright: Examining Micromobility Infrastructure Space Allocation and Potential Improvement Scenarios in Montréal Journal Article

In: Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research, no. 100071, 2025.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

@article{Romm2025,

title = {The Cars are Going to be Alright: Examining Micromobility Infrastructure Space Allocation and Potential Improvement Scenarios in Montréal},

author = {Daniel Romm and Jose Arturo Jasso Chavez and Lexi Kinman and Pegah Salsabilian and Grant McKenzie and Kevin Manaugh},

doi = {10.1016/j.jcmr.2025.100071},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-06-07},

urldate = {2025-06-03},

journal = {Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research},

number = {100071},

abstract = {Many cities today are redesigning their streetscapes to redress the historical privilege afforded to the automobile in planning and policy. Much streetscape redesign is around transport infrastructure space, which largely prioritizes car travel and marginalizes other travel modes. Attempts by planners and policy makers to this end often are met with public opposition by advocates of the car, protesting about losing space on the street. This is empirically investigated with the case of Montréal by determining the allocation of street space to transport infrastructures, deriving measures of infrastructure space per traveller, and devising an Equal Infrastructure Allocation score to measure the imbalance between infrastructure provision per travel mode. Per borough, the distribution of transport infrastructure is examined, alongside correlations with demographic, socio-economic, land use, and crash rate variables. Potential scenarios of significant micromobility infrastructure improvement are modelled to test how infrastructure space apportionment per mode changes. This investigation discovers that even large improvements to micromobility infrastructure have a minor effect on space allocated to automobiles. Equal Infrastructure Allocation score and associated indicators are presented as useful tools for planners and policy makers implementing micromobility infrastructure projects, to better communicate with the public and address potential opposition.  },

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}