Following an established tradition, FOSS4G organizes an Academic Track which will run over the three days of the conference. The Scientific Committee of FOSS4G 2026 invites original research contributions addressing any topic or domain connected to open geospatial software, including (but not limited to):

• Open source software development
• Open geospatial science
• Open geospatial data and systems
• Open hardware
• Geo spatial data sharing systems and big data analysis
• GIS for real-time applications, disaster response and recovery
• Geospatial health informatics
• Open geospatial cloud computing and cybersecurity
• Open (geo)education
• Participatory mapping and crowdsourcing
• Digital Twins, urban analytics, sustainable urban planning and development
• Humanitarian, ethical, and peacebuilding applications of open geospatial technologies
• GeoAI and geospatial Machine Learning
• Natural Language Processing and Large Language Models
• Remote Sensing for natural resources management, biodiversity and ecosystem services

Given the Asian location of this year's FOSS4G, authors are strongly invited to make use of data produced by Asian initiatives, fostering regional synergies that unlock new geospatial potential through collaborative research approaches.

All types of papers are welcome, including results achieved, case studies, work in progress, reviews, and demos. However, mere presentations of technology or applications using open source software without properly justifying originality against the scientific state of the art and without particular novelty are outside the scope of the Academic Track and will be rejected. In addition, the use of open source geospatial software and its impact on the work should be properly highlighted. Contributions from PhD students and early-stage researchers are particularly encouraged.

In the evaluation of proposals, the Scientific Committee will pay particular attention to the reproducibility of the research (where this is applicable) and the contribution to the open geospatial domain. Reproducibility is ensured when the research makes all artefacts (input data, computational steps, methods, and code) openly available to obtain consistent results. When available, the code shall be publicly released under an open source license.

We can accept up to 2 papers per registered person. If you choose this option and the two abstracts (for which only one author is registered to the conference) are both accepted, one proposal will be presented through a standard oral presentation and the other one will be presented through a poster or a 5-minute lightning talk (this will be decided at a later stage). Alternatively (and based on the reviews), both can be presented through posters or lightning talks. Regardless of the situation, the authors have to write two papers (see "How to Submit a Paper: Step 2" below).

Regarding the use of generative AI tools, authors must ensure transparency and accountability. Please refer to the 'Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing' section in the Guide for Authors of ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

Session type

• Oral presentation is allocated to a 30 minute slot: 20 minutes for the talk, 5 minutes for questions and answers, and 5 minutes for the participants to change rooms and next speaker setup.
• Poster presentations are an excellent way to spark active discussions and deepen the exchange of ideas at the conference. Poster sessions provide authors with a valuable opportunity to present their work and engage in in-depth technical conversations with participants who share similar interests.
  Posters will be displayed continuously throughout the conference (or the duration of the poster exhibition period), and dedicated core time(60 minutes) will be scheduled when authors are expected to be present at their posters for discussion and Q&A.
• A lightning talk is a 5 minute speaker slot, with 4 minutes for the talk, and 1 minute for the next speaker setup.

How to Submit a Paper

The submission procedure is divided into two steps. Note that both steps are mandatory in order for authors to be able to present their work at the FOSS4G conference.

Step 1

Deadline: March 2, 2026

As a first step, authors are invited to submit abstracts written in English, comprising between 800 and 1,000 words and containing sufficient details for evaluation (including the approach, results, concepts, reasons why it should be considered, and why it would be interesting for the FOSS4G Academic Track audience).

The submitted proposals are not publicly visible until the FOSS4G 2026 Scientific Committee has accepted them after a review period. Until then, the authors can share their proposal for feedback/proofreading with colleagues or friends via a link that is automatically created during submission.

The contributions are evaluated in the abstract review process. Submitted abstracts will be refereed by the members of the Scientific Committee for originality/scientific novelty, relevance for the FOSS4G community, presentation/clarity, and overall scientific value.

As in all fields of science, reproducibility will be considered among the evaluation criteria (see above). Authors will receive feedback and suggestions for improvement to be used for preparing their papers, to be submitted in Step 2.

Step 2

Deadline: June 15, 2026

If the abstract is accepted (acceptance will be planned to announce on April 15th, 2026), the authors are invited to submit a full paper that shall include original and unpublished research. The paper has a maximum length of 8 pages, and the template is available at https://www.isprs.org/documents/orangebook/app5.aspx

All papers should be formatted according to the ISPRS guideline for authors (template), available here in both LaTeX and DOC versions.
https://www.isprs.org/documents/orangebook/PDF/ISPRSguidelines_authors_fullpaper_final.pdf

Submitted papers will not be reviewed again, i.e., the acceptance of the content is solely based on the abstract. However, papers will be checked for conformance to the template (see below) as well as for plagiarism using specialized software. Papers can still be rejected if the quality is insufficient.

Only the work of authors who submit the paper will be included in the Academic Track program (as talks or posters/lightning talks). In other words, no presentation at the Academic Track is possible without submitting the paper.

The papers will be published in The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, listed in:

• ISI Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI) of Web of Science
• SCOPUS
• E/I Compendex
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

As a reference, see the papers published for the Academic Track of previous FOSS4G conferences

Please note that accepted papers will be published only after checking that at least one author is registered to the conference, with a limit of a maximum of two papers per author (as explained above). The papers will be published online on the first day of the conference at the latest.

Notes

Please keep in mind that this is a Free and Open Source Software conference. Submissions promoting restricted-license or closed-source software will not be accepted.

We make the conference contribution available under the CC BY 4.0 license. The conference contribution comprises the abstract, the text contribution for the conference proceedings will be published as a CC BY 4.0 License in the ISPRS Archive. The submission which does not agree with publication as a CC BY 4.0 License will not be accepted.