Conference on Spatial Information Theory Proceedings of the COSIT ’ 03 Doctoral

Foreword The COSIT Doctoral Colloquium is a unique opportunity for PhD students to present their research in a supportive environment to an international audience of students, researchers, and faculty. At the Colloquium, students receive feedback on issues such as how to identify and refine research questions, how to orally present research, and how to publish research, as well as insights into how to successfully complete a PhD in an interdisciplinary field. Doctoral Colloquium participants also attend the full COSIT conference, for some their first experience of an international conference. To participate in the Colloquium, students were required to submit a brief summary of their work in advance of COSIT 2003, collected together in these proceedings. Students at any stage of their PhD are encouraged to participate in the Colloquium. As a result, the summaries range from sketch proposals, to complete short papers. This diversity reinforces the supportive atmosphere of the Colloquium, with students able to share and exchange their ideas and experiences of completing a doctorate with other students from across the entire spectrum of COSIT disciplines. These proceedings, along with a wide variety of information on the Doctoral Colloquium and COSIT more generally, can be found on the Web at Several people and organizations provided invaluable assistance and support for the Colloquium. First, I am extremely grateful to Jack Dangermond and ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) for providing the generous financial support for four ESRI Student Awards. The ESRI student awards helped fund the travel and accommodation expenses of Doctoral Colloquium participants attending the conference. Awards were made on the basis of both need and academic merit. In addition to their summary, all award applicants submitted a brief statement explaining why attendance at the Doctoral Colloquium is important to them. The standard of applications was very high, making the final decision extremely difficult and underlining the excellent achievements of the four eventual ESRI Student Award recipients (I am indebted to Sabine Timpf and the COSIT local organizing committee in Zurich for dealing with the innumerable local organizational tasks connected with the Colloquium, all efficiently completed while I was safely on a different continent! I would also like to thank Mike Worboys, Lars Kulik, and my wife Helen for their helpful conversations, suggestions, and advice on the Colloquium over the past 3 or 4 months. Finally, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all those students who submitted …