Geospatial Theories and Methods
46 innovative methods across 26 research themes · 12 open-source R packages · 260,000+ downloads
Members
Yongze Song
Supervisor
Yongze Song
Associate Professor
Curtin University
Email: yongze.song@curtin.edu.au
Homepage: yongzesong.com
Australian Young Tall Poppy Science Award winner
Fellow of Royal Geographical Society (UK)
Fellow of Harvard Spatial Data Lab (US)
Fellow of DAAD AInet (Germany)
Special Issue Editor (SIE) & Associate Editor – International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Associate Editor – GIScience & Remote Sensing
Special Issue Editor (SIE) – Geomatica
Editor – Geoscientific Model Development
Associate Editor – All Earth
Editor – Journal of Spatial Science
Curtin University
Email: yongze.song@curtin.edu.au
Homepage: yongzesong.com
Australian Young Tall Poppy Science Award winner
Fellow of Royal Geographical Society (UK)
Fellow of Harvard Spatial Data Lab (US)
Fellow of DAAD AInet (Germany)
Special Issue Editor (SIE) & Associate Editor – International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Associate Editor – GIScience & Remote Sensing
Special Issue Editor (SIE) – Geomatica
Editor – Geoscientific Model Development
Associate Editor – All Earth
Editor – Journal of Spatial Science
Zehua Zhang
RID · HSA · RGD · GIGNN · LPI
Zehua Zhang
Postdoc Researcher
Curtin University
PhD: Curtin University (Chancellor's Commendation Award)
Master: University of Melbourne (with Distinction)
Email: Zehua.Zhang@curtin.edu.au
Homepage: ResearchGate
Curtin University
PhD: Curtin University (Chancellor's Commendation Award)
Master: University of Melbourne (with Distinction)
Email: Zehua.Zhang@curtin.edu.au
Homepage: ResearchGate
- Robust Interaction Detector (RID). Spatial Statistics. Highly Cited Paper.
- Heterogeneous spatial autocorrelation (HSA). Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. (Top 4 Most Read Article, 2025) R Code for HSA model
- Geocomplexity explains spatial errors. Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. (Top 30 Most Cited, 2025; Top 1 Most Read, 2023) R package "geocomplexity" · Online GC calculator
- Robust geographical detector (RGD). Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf. Python Code for RGD model
- Geographically informed graph neural network (GIGNN). Spatial Statistics.
- Local effects of pattern interaction (LPI). Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf.
Peng Luo
GHM · GOZH · GPI · LESH · STUH · FFRK
Peng Luo
Assistant Professor
University of Iowa & MIT
PhD: Technical University of Munich
Master: Peking University
Email: peng-luo@uiowa.edu
Homepage: peng-luo.com
University of Iowa & MIT
PhD: Technical University of Munich
Master: Peking University
Email: peng-luo@uiowa.edu
Homepage: peng-luo.com
- Generalized Heterogeneity Model (GHM). Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. (Top 4 Most Cited, 2025; Top 10 Most Read, 2024)
- Geocomplexity explains spatial errors. Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. (Top 30 Most Cited, 2025; Top 1 Most Read, 2023)
- Geographically Optimal Zones-based Heterogeneity (GOZH). ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens. R Code for GOZH model: Code 1; Code 2
- Geographical Pattern Interaction (GPI). Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. (Top 1 Most Read, 2025)
- Locally explained heterogeneity model. Int. J. Digital Earth. R Code for LESH model
- Spatio-temporal unmixing with heterogeneity (STUH). Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf.
- Focal-Feature Regression Kriging (FFRK). Geographical Analysis.
Pengcheng Zhang
DSTGN · GMS · DG · SPOCA · GSE
Pengcheng Zhang
PhD Researcher: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Email: zpcscholar@gmail.com
Email: zpcscholar@gmail.com
- Dynamic spatiotemporal graph network. GIScience & Remote Sensing.
- Gaussian Mixture Segmentation (GMS). IEEE Trans. Intell. Transp. Syst.
- Degree of geocomplexity for validation (DG). GISci. & Remote Sens.
- Spatiotemporal Particle Swarm Optimization for Cost Allocation (SPOCA). ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf.
- Generalised spatial error for validation (GSE). GISci. & Remote Sens.
Yang Li
GPI · LESH
Yang Li
Postdoc Researcher:
Beihang University
PhD: Beijing Normal University
Email: isliyang@buaa.edu.cn
Homepage: ResearchGate
Beihang University
PhD: Beijing Normal University
Email: isliyang@buaa.edu.cn
Homepage: ResearchGate
Jiao Hu
LISP · LPA · LPI
Jiao Hu
Research Associate:
Curtin University
PhD: Chengdu University of Technology
Email: jiao.hu@curtin.edu.au
Homepage: ResearchGate
Curtin University
PhD: Chengdu University of Technology
Email: jiao.hu@curtin.edu.au
Homepage: ResearchGate
Rui Qu
LPA
Rui Qu
Research Associate:
Curtin University
PhD: Chengdu University of Technology
Email: rui.qu@curtin.edu.au
Curtin University
PhD: Chengdu University of Technology
Email: rui.qu@curtin.edu.au
Xinyue Yang
Anisotropy
Xinyue Yang
Kai Ren
SOH · SDO · SRK · Anisotropy · GSE
Kai Ren
- Second-dimension outlier-driven heterogeneity model (SOH). Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. R Code for SOH model
- Second-Dimension Outliers (SDO). Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. (Most Read Article, 2026)
- Singularity Regression Kriging (SRK). GISci. & Remote Sens. R Code for SRK model
- Spatial irregular anisotropy in urban heat effects. Sustainable Cities and Society.
- Generalised spatial error for validation (GSE). GISci. & Remote Sens.
Haiyang Liu
GSE · DSI · LPI · DG · PSL
Haiyang Liu
PhD Researcher:
Hokkaido University, Japan
Email: haiyang.liu.q6@elms.hokudai.ac.jp
Homepage: kevinoceanliu.github.io
Hokkaido University, Japan
Email: haiyang.liu.q6@elms.hokudai.ac.jp
Homepage: kevinoceanliu.github.io
- Generalised spatial error for validation (GSE). GISci. & Remote Sens. Data and code for GSE model
- Degree of spatial interpretability (DSI). Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. R Code for DSI model · Online DSI calculator
- Local effects of pattern interaction (LPI). Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf.
- Degree of geocomplexity for validation (DG). GISci. & Remote Sens.
- Pattern similarity learning (PSL). J. Geovis. Spatial Anal.
Lai Chen
ST-MST
Lai Chen
Wenbo Lyu
GCMC · tEDM · gdverse
Yilong Wu
FFRK · ESDA · GSE
PART I
Spatial Prediction via Spatial Feature Modelling
1. Spatial fields
Top 1 Most Read Article
2. Spatial validation
3. Spatial association
4. Spatial autocorrelation
Top 4 Most Read 2025
Most Cited Article
5. Geocomplexity
6. Spatial outliers
7. Geostatistics & kriging
🏆 Highly Cited Paper (Top 1%)
8. Generalized heterogeneity
9. Geographical similarity
10. Spatial singularity
11. Spatial graph network
12. Spatial fusion
13. Spatial transformer
PART II
Spatial Heterogeneity and Driver Analysis
14. Spatial heterogeneity
🏆 Highly Cited Paper (Top 1%)No.1 Most Cited in History
Top 2 Most Read 2026
15. Robust spatial models
16. Spatial interaction
17. Causal discovery
18. Spatial anisotropy
19. Spatial path analysis
20. Spatial segmentation
21. Spatial unmixing
PART III
Spatial Urban Methods: Patterns, Accessibility, and Decisions
22. Spatial accessibility
23. Spatial trade-off
24. Spatial boundary
25. Spatial decision-making
26. Spatial optimization
Important Concepts in Geospatial Analysis
- Spatial fields: generalized covariate field
- Spatial validation: degree of spatial interpretability, degree of geocomplexity, generalised spatial error
- Spatial association: second-dimension spatial association, explainable second-dimension spatial association
- Spatial autocorrelation: heterogeneous spatial autocorrelation
- Geocomplexity: geocomplexity
- Spatial outliers: second-dimension outliers, second-dimension outlier-driven heterogeneity, local outliers for context-aware prediction
- Geostatistics or kriging: segment-based regression kriging, focal-feature regression kriging
- Generalized heterogeneity: generalized heterogeneity
- Geographical similarity: geographically optimal similarity, pattern similarity learning
- Spatial singularity: singularity regression kriging
- Spatial graph network: geographically informed graph neural network, dynamic spatiotemporal graph network
- Spatial fusion: spatial context-aware fusion
- Spatial transformer: spatiotemporal multiscale transformer
- Spatial heterogeneity: spatial stratified heterogeneity, local stratified heterogeneity, geographically optimal zones-based heterogeneity, locally explained heterogeneity, spatial stratified heterogeneity family, wavelet geographically weighted regression
- Robust spatial models: robust geographical detector
- Spatial interaction: robust interaction detector, interactive detector for spatial association, geographical pattern interaction, local effects of pattern interaction
- Causal discovery: temporal empirical dynamic modeling, geographical cross mapping cardinality
- Spatial anisotropy: spatial irregular anisotropy
- Spatial path analysis: local pathways of association
- Spatial segmentation: spatial heterogeneity-based segmentation, gaussian mixture segmentation
- Spatial unmixing: spatio-temporal unmixing with heterogeneity
- Spatial accessibility: D2SFCA spatiotemporal accessibility
- Spatial trade-off: spatial trade-off relation, dynamic trade-off, spatial delta model
- Spatial boundary: spatial big data-based city redefinition
- Spatial decision-making: MFSD spatial decision making
- Spatial optimization: spatiotemporal particle swarm optimization for cost allocation
- Advanced geographical detector models: Optimal Parameters-based Geographical Detector (OPGD), Robust Interaction Detector (RID), Local Indicator of Stratified Power (LISP), Geographically Optimal Zones-based Heterogeneity (GOZH), Geographical Pattern Interaction (GPI), Interactive Detector for Spatial Associations (IDSA), Robust Geographical Detector (RGD), Locally Explained Heterogeneity model (LESH), Generalized Heterogeneity Model (GHM), Heterogeneous Spatial Autocorrelation (HSA)
Open-Source Geospatial Software (260,000+ downloads)
Optimal Parameters-based Geographical Detectors (OPGD) for spatial factor exploration. R package "GD" | publication | online OPGD calculator
– Highly Cited Paper · No. 1 Most Cited Article in GIScience & Remote Sensing in 2021–2023
Geographically Optimal Similarity (GOS) for spatial prediction. R package "geosimilarity" | publication | online GOS calculator
Second-Dimension Spatial Association (SDA) for spatial prediction. R package "SecDim" | publication
Geocomplexity. R package "geocomplexity" | publication
Interactive Detector for Spatial Association (IDSA) for spatial factor exploration. R package "IDSA" | publication
– No. 2 Most Cited Article in IJGIS in 2021–2023
Homogenous Segmentation (HS) for segmenting spatial lines data. R package "HS" | publication
Energy Decomposition Analysis (EDA) for analysing carbon emission factors. R package "EDA" | publication
SDGdetector: Detecting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Text. R package "SDGdetector" | publication
gdverse: Analysis of Spatial Stratified Heterogeneity. R package "gdverse" | publication
localsp: Local Indicator of Stratified Power. R package "localsp" | publication
cisp: A Correlation Indicator Based on Spatial Patterns. R package "cisp" | publication