Robert Weibel
Professor Emeritus of Geographic Information Science, UZH
Group Leader, UZH Healthy Longevity Center
I obtained an MSc (1985) and a PhD degree (1989, with distinction) in Geography from the University of Zurich (UZH), both degrees with a specialization in GIScience. In 1988 I was a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Geography, SUNY at Buffalo. After two years (1989-1991) as a senior software engineer working for Computervision GIS, Inc. on SYSTEM 9 (the first commercial GIS with object-oriented behavior) I returned to the academic world, first as a Research Associate, then Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography, University of Zurich. From 10/2000 to 01/2025, I was a Full Professor of Geographical Information Science. I am currently a group leader at the UZH Healthy Longevity Center (HLC)
I was a Visiting Scientist at Institut Géographique National (IGN) in Paris (1994), the GIScience Center at UC Berkeley (2000), the Centre de Recherche en Géomatique at Université Laval, Québec, Canada (2000), the Finnish Geodetic Institute (FGI, 2007), and the Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh (2007).
I served as Chair of the UZH Department of Geography 2010-2024. I was the Chair of European COST Action IC0903 «Knowledge Discovery from Moving Objects (MOVE)» (2009-2013). I was a Co-Director and PI of the UZH Research Priority Program URPP Language and Space (PI 2013-2024; co-chair 2019-2024); a PI of the URPP Dynamics of Healthy Aging (2021-2024); and a PI of the NCCR Evolving Language (2020-2024).
My Research projects
My publications on
Google Scholar
My publications on
ResearchGate
Research Interests
- Computational movement analysis: Techniques for analysing movement patterns of moving objects; movement simulation; applications in animal ecology, mobility analytics and health sciences
- Language and space: methods of spatial analysis/statistcs for linguistics, area formation of language and language varieties, language evolution in space and time
- Computational cartography: algorithms for map generalization; machine learning / deep learning in map generalization; methods for cartographic pattern recognition; multiple representation databases (MRDB)
Selected Functions
Management
- Co-director, University Research Priority Program Language and Space, University of Zurich, 08/2019 – 12/2024
- Chair, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, 08/2010 – 07/2014
- Program Director, Specialized MSc in Geographic Information Science, University of Zurich, 01/2015 – 07/2018
Editor Positions
- Regional Editor, Europe and Africa, International Journal of Geographical Information Science (journal pages); 08/2012 – 12/2018
- Associate Editor, ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems (TSAS) (journal pages); 06/2013 – 12/2023
Editorial Boards
- International Journal of Geographical Information Science (journal pages); since 10/1993
- GeoInformatica (journal pages); since 02/1996
- International Journal of Cartography (journal pages); since 08/2014
- Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis (journal pages); since 08/2017
- Journal of Spatial Information Science (JOSIS) (journal pages); 08/2009 – 06/2025
- ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems (TSAS) (journal pages); 06/2013 – 12/2023
- Cartography and Geographic Information Science (journal pages); 08/1996 – 07/2000
- Computers, Environment and Urban Systems (CEUS) (journal pages); 01/1999 – 04/2005
Guest Editorships
- Special Issue on Map Generalization, Cartography and Geographic Information Systems, 25(4), 1995. (journal pages)
- Special Issue on Automated Map Generalization, GeoInformatica, 2(4), 1998. (journal pages)
- Special Issue on Progressive Transmission of Spatial Datasets in the Web Environment. Computers & Geosciences, 35(11), 2009. (journal pages)
- Special Issue on Analysis of Movement Data. International Journal of Geographic Information Science, 30(5), 2016. (journal pages)
- Special Issue on Geographic Data Science. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 37(5), Sept/Oct 2017. (journal pages)
- Special Issue in Memoriam of Rein Ahas on Computational Movement Analysis. International Journal of Geographic Information Science, 32(7), 2018. (journal pages)
- Special Issue on Visual Movement Analytics. Information Visualization, 18(1), 2019. (journal pages)
- Special Issue on Computational Movement Analysis. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 32(12), 2020. (journal pages)
- Special Issue on Advances and Challenges in Sensor-based Research in Mobility, Health, and Place. Health & Place, 79, 2023. (journal pages)
- Special Issue on Data-driven Movement Analysis. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 39(5), 2025. (journal pages)
Organization of Conferences and Workshops
- General Chair, Conference GIScience 2010, 14-17 September 2010 (www.giscience2010.org)
- Chair and Co-chair of the international workshop series Workshop on Progress in Automated Map Generalization: Barcelona (1995), Gävle (S, 1997), Ottawa (1999), Beijing (2001), Ottawa (2002), Paris (2003)
- Co-chair of Dagstuhl Seminars on Computational Cartography: 1999, 2001, 2008, 2010
- Co-chair of Workshops on Analysis of Movement Data: 2014 (at GIScience Conference, Vienna), 2016 (at AGILE, Helsinki), 2016 (at GIScience, Montréal), 2017 (at Lorentz Center, Leiden NL), 2018 (at GIScience, Melbourne), 2021 (at GIScience, Poznan), 2023 (at GIScience, Leeds)
- Co-Chair, Workshop on Movement: New Sensors, New Data, New Challenges, 21-25 August 2017, Lorentz Center, University of Leiden (NL)
- Organized diverse other workshops. More than 25 in total.
Committees (selected)
- Initiator and Chair, European COST Action IC0903 «Knowledge Discovery from Moving Objects (MOVE)»; 10/2009 – 10/2013
- Chair, Commission on Map Generalization, International Cartographic Association (ICA); 1992 – 2003
- Research Committee, Swiss National Park (SNP); 2009 – 2023
- Research Committee, Wildnispark Zürich (Wilderness Park Zurich), 2011 – 2017.
- Executive Committee, Swiss Organization for Geoinformation (SOGI); 2004 – 2006
- Chair, Working Group «Aus- und Weiterbildung» (Education and Continuing Education), Swiss Organization for Geoinformation (SOGI); 05/2004 – 04/2006
- Executive Committee, Swiss Society of Cartography; 1994 – 2003
Advising of MSc and PhD Students