News

The Henry Johns Award for 2023, presented annually by the British Cartographic Society in collaboration with Lovell Johns for the most significant article published in The Cartographic Journal, has been awarded this year to a team of authors led by Dr. Markéta Beitlová.

The editorial board of The Cartographic Journal selected the winning article, “Verification of Cartographic Communication Models Using Detection of Map Reading Strategies Based on Eye Movement Recording,” authored by Markéta Beitlová, Stanislav Popelka, Martin Konopka, and Karel Macků, from over twenty nominated submissions.

This article was recognized for its significant empirical findings, which contribute to a better understanding of the map-reading process and encourage a revision of theoretical frameworks in cartographic communication.

The award also includes a monetary prize, which the team has decided to donate to the SOS Floods Czech Republic campaign, organized by the non-governmental nonprofit organization People in Need.

The authors would like to extend their thanks to all the former students who participated in the experiment and provided their maps as stimuli for the study.

This unique model was created at the Department of Geoinformatics under the guidance of Dr. Jan Brus as part of the NAKI project “Friedrich Cardinal von Fürstenberg – The Last Aristocrat on the Throne of the Olomouc Archbishops.” The model is exceptional for its illuminated stained glass windows, precisely reproduced using 3D printing to match the originals in the cathedral. Measuring 120x153x96 cm, the model took two months to print and is made up of 35 parts.

The interactive model allows visitors to assemble the cathedral themselves, and thanks to video mapping, they can enjoy it from a fresh perspective. Come and see how modern technology meets history and discover St. Wenceslas Cathedral in an entirely new light!

is Now on Display at the Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum!

Seize the chance to meet us at public events and learn more about studying at our department! Discover the research projects, client work, and collaborations we’re involved in every day. Most recently, we connected with the community at the Maker Faire in Olomouc, where we enjoyed great interest from children and potential partners alike.

Coming up on 20.11.2024 is our traditional GIS Day – a day dedicated to geoinformatics! In the morning, we’ll welcome schools, and for the first time, we’re opening our doors to the public in the afternoon! Join us at 16:30 for engaging presentations from partners, including the Olomouc Region, the Statutory City of Olomouc, local firefighters, representatives from private geoinformatics firms, and many others.

This year, we’re also part of Olomouc Design Days and Geography Days. Stay tuned for more details on our website: https://www.geoinformatics.upol.cz/for-public/gisday/

New Research Alert: Non-Invasive Technology for Deception Detection
Curious about how infrared thermal imaging (fITI) and eye-tracking could be applied to detect deception in everyday conversations?
Check out our latest study published in Current Psychology (Springer Nature) where Martin Seitl, Stanislav Popelka, Daniel Dostál, and Petra Hypšová dive into this topic!
Analyzing facial temperature and eye fixations, we identified unique physiological and behavioural cues in spontaneous and prepared deception scenarios.
Key Findings:
Facial Temperature: There were no significant temperature shifts during deception, but spontaneous scenarios showed higher forehead and cheek temperatures due to increased cognitive load.
Eye Fixations: During prepared lies, liars increased eye contact, while in spontaneous deception, participants reduced eye contact with the interviewer.
To understand why these patterns emerge, read the full study!

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-024-06840-6

The Hackathon knows its winners!

This weekend, 10 teams and one individual came together at Envelopa Hub to work on exciting projects using open data, and the results were amazing!
Students and professionals competed in multidisciplinary teams, presenting their ideas to an expert jury in the Aula of the Faculty of Science at UP.

1st Place – NTL-CUP: A smart parking app for smart cities – identifying free parking spots using camera systems.
2nd Place – DataQ – Safevision: A system for detecting armed attackers using surveillance cameras.
3rd Place – Střelci – Neboj App: A navigation app that finds the safest route home.

Special Awards:
Best Business Potential Award (ICOK): Team TRIX – A chatbot proposal for the Olomouc Tourism website.
Best Student Team Award (UPOL): Team Střelci – Neboj App.

A huge thank you to all participants, mentors, judges, and partners – we couldn’t have done it without you!

We have successfully kicked off the new academic year at the Department of Geoinformatics!
We welcome more than 50 new undergraduate students in their first year and new Master’s students in both the Czech program and the English Joint Master Degree in Digital Earth.
We also continue to engage with future generations, showcasing our latest scientific achievements at events like the Night of Scientists. We wish all students success and resilience throughout the 2024/2025 academic year!

During the summer, we embarked on the first phases of the groundbreaking EnCLOD project. In close collaboration with our esteemed partners from CityOne and CITIQ, we crafted a sensor network of immense significance. This network will amass a wealth of data on the city of Olomouc, with a primary focus on traffic and temperature. As of last week, we have begun to gather data from 26 traffic sensors, primarily aimed at studying parking demand/occupancy. However, our journey is far from over. We have more sensors to install, and a vast amount of big data to analyze and present as open data to the public. These are small steps towards a smarter city, and your involvement is crucial in this journey.

Many thanks to the Statutory City of Olomouc, the Olomouc Region and Palacký University for their fast and smooth cooperation in designing the network and in dealing with the necessary permits.

We are pleased to announce that Jakub Koníček successfully defended his dissertation on “Visual Analysis in the Identification of Infographics in Cartography” yesterday and has earned his Ph.D.!

We are also happy to share that since September, Jakub has taken up the position of assistant, which means he is staying with our department. ️
We wish him continued success and look forward to further collaboration!