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Topic · Geography, Planning and Development

Geographic Information Systems Studies

Geographic Information Systems Studies is a research topic within Geography, Planning and Development. Science Explorer counts 30k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the collection, analysis, and utilization of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and geospatial crowdsourcing. It explores topics such as participatory GIS, OpenStreetMap, citizen science, spatial data infrastructure, web-based GIS, crowdsourced mapping, geovisualization, and the semantic web.

  • Volunteered Geographic Information
  • Geospatial Crowdsourcing
  • Participatory GIS
  • OpenStreetMap
  • Citizen Science
  • Spatial Data Infrastructure
  • Web-based GIS
  • Crowdsourced Mapping
  • Geovisualization
  • Semantic Web
Research works
30k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
27% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Geographic Information Systems Studies

Which countries lead Geographic Information Systems Studies research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (830 and 770 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 830 works
  2. 2 United States 770 works
  3. 3 Germany 296 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 220 works
  5. 5 France 196 works
  6. 6 Brazil 181 works
  7. 7 India 180 works
  8. 8 Italy 159 works
  9. 9 Japan 110 works
  10. 10 Canada 105 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 27.2%United States: 25.3%Germany: 9.7%United Kingdom: 7.2%6 others listed: 30.5%27%largest
China830 · 27.2%United States770 · 25.3%Germany296 · 9.7%United Kingdom220 · 7.2%6 others listed931 · 30.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Geographic Information Systems Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Geographic Information Systems Studies research, followed by Wuhan University and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 57 works
  2. 2 Wuhan UniversityChina 42 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 41 works
  4. 4 China University of GeosciencesChina 23 works
  5. 5 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 22 works
  6. 6 Leibniz AssociationGermany 19 works
  7. 7 University of TwenteNetherlands 18 works
  8. 8 Technical University of MunichGermany 17 works
  9. 9 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 17 works
  10. 10 Nanjing Normal UniversityChina 17 works

Who are the leading researchers in Geographic Information Systems Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Geographic Information Systems Studies include Philippe Ciais, Li Fei-Fei and Kai You Wang.

  1. 1 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  2. 2 Li Fei-Fei United States 225k citations
  3. 3 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  4. 4 Trevor J. Darrell United States 206k citations
  5. 5 David Alan Bennett United States 190k citations
  6. 6 Luc Van Gool Switzerland 177k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Geographic Information Systems Studies?

The most cited paper in Geographic Information Systems Studies is "Status of land cover classification accuracy assessment" (Giles M. Foody, 2002), with 4,605 citations. Next come "Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography" (4,543) and "OpenStreetMap: User-Generated Street Maps" (3,226).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Status of land cover classification accuracy assessment Giles M. Foody · Remote Sensing of Environment Apr 2002 4,605
2 Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography Michael Frank Goodchild · GeoJournal 19 Nov 2007 4,543
3 OpenStreetMap: User-Generated Street Maps Muki Haklay, Patrick Weber · IEEE Pervasive Computing Open access Oct 2008 3,226
4 The design and analysis of spatial data structures Hanan Samet · CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) Aug 1989 2,381
5 GIS‐based multicriteria decision analysis: a survey of the literature Jacek Malczewski · International Journal of Geographical Information Systems Open access 23 Jun 2006 2,282
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Geographic Information Systems Studies research done?

The largest centres of Geographic Information Systems Studies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Wuhan (China), Nanjing (China) and Paris (France).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 216 works
  2. 2 WuhanChina 99 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 58 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 49 works
  5. 5 LondonUnited Kingdom 46 works
  6. 6 TokyoJapan 44 works
  7. 7 New YorkUnited States 36 works
  8. 8 ViennaAustria 36 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 35 works
  10. 10 ShanghaiChina 35 works
See Geographic Information Systems Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Geographic Information Systems Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Wuhan University, China University of Geosciences and University of California, Santa Barbara score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 26.28%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Beihang UniversityUniversity of Califo…China University of …Wuhan University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Wuhan UniversityChina 72.829.7%7.3×42 +30.3%
2China University of GeosciencesChina 68.530.2%12.8×24 +37.6%
3University of California, Santa BarbaraUnited States 56.235.0%7.8×10 -53.3%
4Beihang UniversityChina 55.647.8%2.0×9 +195.2%
5University of Wisconsin–MadisonUnited States 53.918.4%3.9×14 +78.8%
6Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznańPoland 53.218.0%9.4×15 +5.2%
7Ruhr University BochumGermany 50.020.8%6.5×11 +58.6%
8University of ZurichSwitzerland 48.521.4%4.3×12 -6.1%
9National Technical University of AthensGreece 48.111.4%14.2×15 +21.8%
10Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 47.930.1%3.0×10 +1.6%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Geographic Information Systems Studies, country by country

Is Geographic Information Systems Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2014.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Geographic Information Systems Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.020% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Geographic Information Systems Studies0.022% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Geographic Information Systems Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Geographic Information Systems Studies10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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