The Department of Land Surveying and Geospatial Science (LSGS) is pleased to share that Prof. Qihao WENG, Director of the Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Geomatics (RCAIG) and Chair Professor of Geomatics and Artificial Intelligence in LSGS at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), participated in the 2026 IEEE Asia-Pacific Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (AP-GARSS 2026), held in Qingdao, China, from 11 to 14 October 2026. Invited as a plenary speaker, Prof. WENG delivered a presentation entitled “Intelligent Earth Observation and Geospatial Analytics: Transforming Cities for Sustainable Futures”, highlighting the transformative role of geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) and Earth observation technologies in addressing urban and environmental challenges.
Sponsored by the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (IEEE GRSS), the symposium was organised under the theme “Remote Sensing Applications in Sustainable Clean Earth Growth” and provided a platform for researchers, engineers, and practitioners to exchange advances in geoscience and remote sensing research, technologies, and applications. The symposium also highlighted the integration of multi-sensor observation, sensing technologies, and data analytics with sustainable development practices.
In his plenary presentation, Prof. WENG discussed how the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and Earth observation (EO) technologies is reshaping the observation, modelling, and management of rapidly evolving urban environments, particularly in the context of accelerating urbanisation and increasing climate-related challenges. He outlined how advances in deep learning, multimodal data fusion, real-time streaming analytics, and geospatial foundation models are transforming the research paradigm for urban observing, sensing, imaging, and mapping.
The presentation reviewed the evolution of EO image processing and the integration of heterogeneous geospatial data sources, demonstrating how GeoAI enables scalable, autonomous, and interpretable analyses of complex urban systems. Prof. WENG also highlighted a range of remote sensing applications, including high-resolution urban landcover and land-use mapping, 3D semantic building reconstruction, road network extraction, and the analysis of dynamic human-environment interactions.
Moreover, Prof. WENG examined emerging research directions that are shaping the future of geospatial science, including cross-modal learning, physics-informed AI, knowledge-driven AI, and the development of ethical, trustworthy, and explainable AI systems. He emphasised that integrating advanced remote sensing technologies with state-of-the-art AI methodologies can generate actionable insights to support sustainable urban planning, climate resilience, and disaster mitigation.
In addition to Prof. WENG's plenary presentation, other RCAIG researchers also shared their latest research at AP-GARSS 2026.
Dr. Abbas Haider, whose research focuses on climate change and atmosphere-biosphere-sea interactions, presented his study entitled “Estimating Seasonal Glacier Melt Phenology from Alpha Earth Embeddings across High Mountain Asia.” The presentation explored the application of Earth observation data and geospatial analytics to better understand seasonal glacier melt dynamics across High Mountain Asia, contributing to research on cryosphere monitoring, climate variability, and environmental change.
Dr. Chouaib El Hachimi presented a benchmarking study of Geospatial Foundation Models for informal settlement mapping across African cities. The study evaluated the application of geospatial foundation models in identifying and mapping informal settlements and demonstrated how accurate mapping of such settlements can contribute to the study of urban heat patterns, particularly in African cities where informal settlements constitute a significant component of the urban landscape. The presentation highlighted the role of Earth observation data and Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) techniques in supporting urban and environmental research.
Together, these presentations reflected the breadth of RCAIG's research activities, spanning urban analytics, Earth observation, climate science, and GeoAI applications.
Prof. WENG currently serves as Chair Professor of Geomatics and Artificial Intelligence and Global STEM Scholar at PolyU, where he directs both RCAIG and the Jockey Club STEM Lab of Earth Observations. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and Lead of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO)’s Global Urban Observation and Information Initiative. Prof. WENG is a Foreign Member of Academia Europaea and an elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Association of Geographers (AAG), the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), and the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). His distinguished career has been recognised through numerous international honours, including the NASA Senior Fellowship, the AAG Distinguished Scholarship Honors Award, the Taylor & Francis Lifetime Achievement Award, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, the AAG Wilbanks Prize for Transformational Research, and the AAG Remote Sensing Specialty Group Lifetime Achievement Award.
Prof. WENG’s participation as a plenary speaker at AP-GARSS 2026 reflects LSGS and RCAIG’s continued engagement with the international geoscience and remote sensing communities and its commitment to advancing technological innovations at the intersection of Earth observation, geomatics, and geospatial artificial intelligence. Through interdisciplinary research, international collaboration, and knowledge transfer, LSGS and RCAIG continue to contribute to the development of geospatial technologies for addressing urban, climate, environmental, and societal challenges.
