The 4^th edition of the International Conference on “Future Smart Cities”, the 4^th edition of the International Conference Resilient and Responsible Architecture and Urbanism”, and the 7^th edition “Earth Observation for Environmental Changes” & 9^th edition “Geo-information Technologies for Natural Disaster Management” was held in collaboration with Xiamen University Malaysia, and took place virtually from the 3^rd to the 5^th of December 2021, due to the travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.

The Conference offers an interdisciplinary forum in the fields of Environment, Sustainable Development, Remote Sensing, Surveying and Mapping, Geodesy and Geosciences, Forestry, Renewable Energy, Smart Cities, City Planning, Urban Design, Transportation, Natural Hazards, Disaster Management, and Climate Change Science, among many others.  

Among the main topics discussed in the conference:

1-     Challenges and Key Components for Developing Smart Cities.

2-     Computational Advancements in Future Smart Cities.

3-     The Path to Resiliency: Theory and Application.

4-     Earth Observation for Environmental Changes & Geo-information Technologies.

5-     Resiliency for the Future.

Day 1:

Welcoming Session:

The Opening Ceremony started with the online registration and welcoming speeches from the Conference Chair and IEREK’s founder.

First a Presentation about IEREK introducing IEREK as a company and its activities to the audience.

Following IEREK’s introduction, short welcoming speeches were given by the conference chair Prof. Jonathan Li, Dean of School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, and the conference co-chair Prof. Saeid Pirasteh, Head of GeoAI Smarter Map and LiDAR Lab, southwest Jiaotong, China, and Prof. Zhang Ying Assistant President XMUM, Malaysia.

Finally, a video Presentation about XMUM University Malaysia was presented by Dr. Geetha Kanaparan, Assistant Dean of School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia.

Plenary session:

A plenary session was Moderated by Prof. Wang Hui Qiong, Director of Research Management Centre, Xiamen University Malaysia started by introducing the first keynote speaker Prof. Qiao Xiang, Professor of Computer Science at Xiamen, China , whose speech was entitled: “Toward Flexible, Efficient Smart Cities: A Network-Application Integration Perspective”, and the Second keynote Prof. Raed A. Abd-Alhameed, Professor of Electromagnetic and Radio Frequency Engineering at the University of Bradford, Uk, whose speech entitled: “Wireless Sensor Network for blockage and leakage within the sewer infrastructure in Urban Catchments”.

After the keynote speech was the First Session of the conference titled “Challenges and Key Components for Developing Smart Cities”. The session was moderated by Professor Siti Nurliana, Xiamen University Malaysia, and Professor Norma Liyana Binti Omar, Xiamen University Malaysia. The session had nine presentations before a short break.

Following the short break was the second Session entitled “Computational Advancements in Future Smart Cities” then started and was moderated by Professor Lawal Billa,The University of Nottingham, The United Kingdom, and Dr. Debashish Das, Xiamen University Malaysia. Four presentations were discussed during the second session and concluded the first day of the Conference.

Day 2:

The second day of the conference was Moderated by Prof. Yasser Mahgoub, Program Director, Faculty of Architecture, Galala University, Egypt by Introducing the Third Keynote Prof. Shasoen Wang, Dean and Professor of Architecture in School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Xiamen University, whose speech was entitled: “Resiliency on a Building Scale”

After the keynote speech, the Third Session entitled “The Path to Resiliency: Theory and Application”, which is moderated by Professor Yasser Mahgoub, Galala University, Egypt, and Professor Ahmad Affandi Supli, Xiamen University Malaysia. The third session discussed eight presentations, before a short break.

After the short break a new session was Moderated by Professor. Ahmad Affandi Supli, Xiamen University Malaysia started by introducing the third Keynote Prof. Saeid Pirasteh, Head of GeoAI Smarter Map and LiDAR Lab, Southwest Jiaotong University, China, whose speech was entitled: “Geospatial Infrastructure Management Ecosystem (GeoIME) Earthquake Preparedness and resiliency” and the Fiifth Keynote Prof. Arnis Asmat, Associate professor in the Program Environmanetal Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia, whose speech was entitled: “Google The Environment: What’s Next?”

the Next was the Fourth Session of the conference entitled “Earth Observation for Environmental Changes & Geo-information Technologies” and it was moderated by Professor Shabnam Jabari, University of New Brunswick, Canada, and Prof. Saeid Pirasteh, Jiaotong University, China. Four presentations were discussed during the Fourth session and concluded the second day of the Conference with the Sixth Keynote Prof. Amor Laaribi, Previously Senior Statistician in charge of Geosptial Information in Support SDGs Indicator Framework, United Nations, New York, whose speech was entitled: “Integration and Statistical Information in Support of Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Developments Goals”.

Day 3:

The Third day of the Confernece Started with the speeches of the remainig keynote speakers Prof. Anna Laura Pisello, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Perugia in Italy, with a speech entitled: “A View of Urban Resilience to Climate Change”, and Prof.Baojie He, Professor at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqinq University, China, with a speech entitled: “Creation of Cool Cities and Communities”.

After the Keynote Speeches, The Fifth Session, which is moderated by professor Liuyan Qian, Southwest Jiaotong University, China, and Professor Donia Zhang, Neoland School oc Chinese Culture and Chinese Culture Publishing. The Fifth and the last session discussed nine presentions.

A discussion and a Questions and Answers session followed, Introducing Presentation by Prof. Honschao Fan, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway, IEREK Upcoming Events 2022 & 2023 By Toka Amer, Operation Manager, IEREK,   and the Conference was concluded by Closing Ceremony & Awards Announcement selecting the Best paper and Best Presentation was led by Prof. Hamid Tahaei, Cagir, Xiamen University Malaysia, Prof Siti Nurliana Jamali, Co-Chair, Xiamen University Malaysia, and  a Panel session where final remarks and feedback were discussed.

An International Conference from the Comfort of Your Own Home!

Due to the uncertainties and restrictions inflicted by the #COVID19 pandemic, and for everyone's safety following the Health Organization's recommendations, it is in everyone's interest to host the conference online. As pioneers of this movement, IEREK is proud to be hosting this conference online. IEREK believes that rather than giving in to this disease and stopping our progress, pushing forward is of utmost importance.

So, how can participating in an international Video Conference boost your career, future potentials, and experience?

• ✔ Obtain an internationally accredited certification of participation which could boost your future academic career opportunities.
• ✔ Save costs of travel & accommodation.
• ✔ Discuss your research paper online with professors, stakeholders, and other authors (Online Oral Presentation).
• ✔ Get the chance to publish your paper with Springer in the ASTI Book Series.
• ✔ Be part of IEREK`s loyalty membership Program & get a fair discount applicable to all your future participation in any of the international Conferences organized by IEREK.
• ✔ Make sure that your paper will get the maximum exposure in front of a relevant audience, as we share samples of publications within our weekly newsletter and online platforms.
• ✔ Becoming a part of our weekly newsletter to get tips, previous publications materials, and more.

All of these and much more are benefits of participation in the EOEC-7th & GiT4NDM-9th international video conferences.

About the EOEC-7th & GiT4NDM-9th Edition:

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 has become a priority in every country. This addresses the global challenges we face, including those related to climate, environmental degradation, sustainable development, community resilience, food security, and socio-economics. Earth observations and geoinformation technologies support response efforts, evaluation, and monitoring of natural hazards and disasters. Considering the Future Trends in geospatial information management: the five to ten-year vision released by the United Nations-Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) gives us insights for future earth observation systems and Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) and related cross-disciplines.

There are different natural hazards and disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, forest fires, industrial pollution, resource extraction, and urban expansion. Generating geospatial Apps and smart maps within Open GIS frameworks for various applications such as the COVID-19 pandemic disaster, finding the nearest route to a hospital, or detect the most affected areas of contagion, and many other daily events are examples of the challenges we know. 

Understanding the environmental changes and predicting impacts from disasters before they occur will help mitigate and prevent future losses to a community. Furthermore, communities require timely and adequate geospatial information to guide decision-making in response to disasters. Therefore, to build a better environment for future generations, there is a need for more integration between remote sensing, sensors, 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence techniques for geospatial data to better monitor, analyze, and predict environmental impacts from climate change and disasters.

This conference will connect interdisciplinary researchers that seek to address new challenges in a world where the environment can be monitored remotely and assessed virtually. The 7^th EOEC-9^th GiT4NDM will cover various thoughts of climate change, pre-and post-disaster management, and how to associate with earth observation systems and artificial intelligence to develop a smart environment.

Moreover, this event aims to understand the bridge between artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and how to effectively implement these technologies to address global-regional-local concerns related to climate and environmental change, prediction and mapping of disasters, and community resiliency. We continue to remain highly relevant in geospatial science and remote sensing by sharing high-quality research presentations and papers, reliable, trusted, and updated information for a wide range of applications considering resiliency.

• 1. GeoAI and Sensors & IOT

  1-1 Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for the geospatial world, smart environment & city

  1-2 Deep learning for image and LiDAR data processing techniques

  1-3 Human interaction from remote sensing images

  1-4 Web-based multidimensional GIS for disaster risk management & web-mobile applications development

  1-5 Wireless sensor networks for agricultural and ecological disasters

  1-6 Global geodetic observing systems for environmental change studies

  1-7 Internet of things for disaster management state-of-the-art and prospects

  1-8 Cybersecurity for IOT, Enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity

  1-9 Enhancing 5G for disaster management

• 2. Geological and Environmental

  2-1 Remote Sensing of changes in snow and ice, frozen ground, ice sheets and glaciers, and arctic seawater ice.

  2-2 Climate-induced hazards mapping and vulnerability assessment, landslides, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, drought, water and air pollution, health (e.g., COVID-19), and others.

  2-3 Quality assurance for environmental change databases

  2-4 Multi-sensor integration for monitoring marine disasters and environmental changes

  2-5 Monitoring and managing meteorological and geological disasters

  2-6 Foggy weather/heavy rain, impact on quality of life (e.g., car accidents)

• 3. Climate Change and Land Use-Land Cover & Marine

  3-1 Monitoring, modeling for land use and land cover

  3-2 Global lands cover and change information services and systems

  3-3 Modeling and analysis of environmental impacts from sea-level rise

  3-4 Spatiotemporal modeling of global landscape dynamics

  3-5 Red tide, impact on marine life and policy management

  3-6 Sand twisters and rigorous winds

• 4. LiDAR and Remote Sensing & GIS

  4-1 Point cloud processing, BIM and smart 3D visualization

  4-2 HD maps for autonomous vehicle, smart cities and urban emergency search and rescue

  4-3 Dense 3D scanning and imaging techniques for disaster response

  4-4 Image processing techniques

  4-5 Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS for predicting, monitoring and responding to hydro-meteorological extremes

  4-6 UAV systems for hazard mapping and damage assessment

  4-7 Laser scanning for indoor mapping and evacuation simulations

  4-8 Mobile mapping for transportation emergency response

  4-9 New geospatial technologies in early warning, forecasting, and monitoring of natural hazard chains and data sharing

  4-10 Public participation of using GIS for disaster preparedness and planning

Amor Laaribi

Previously Senior Statistician in charge of Geospatial Information in support of SDGs Indicator Framework, United Nations, New York, USA.

Dr. Laaribi completed a Bachelor of Science in Physics (1977), a Master’s degree in Hydraulics and Land Management (1979), an Engineer Diploma in Informatics and Applied Mathematics (1981), and a Ph.D. in GIS (1994). He has over 30 years of experience working in the areas of geospatial information for decision-making and sustainable development; Dr. Laaribi joined the United Nations Statistics Division Office in 2000 to define and plan the priorities of the UN in the geospatial information area and to promote its use with census mapping in developing countries. He contributed to the foundation of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) and acted as the Substantive Secretary of the UN Expert Group on the Integration of Statistical and Geospatial Information in support of the 2030 Agenda and its related SDGs Indicator Framework. He also acted as the Secretary of the UN Regional Cartographic Conferences for Asia & the Pacific and the Americas, as well as the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN). Prior to the UN, he worked 10 years as a senior engineer in Applied Numerical Analysis to water supply, led a 4-year pioneering research on evaluation methodologies through the use of GIS and Multi-criteria Analysis for Spatial Decision Support Systems, and acted for 5 years as Advisor to the Tunisian Minister of Economic Development and the national coordinator of its National Spatial Data infrastructure. 

Anna Laura Pisello

Assistant Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Perugia in Italy.

Doctor Anna Laura Pisello is an Assistant Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Perugia in Italy. She is the author of more than 80 papers, 50 of which are published in international peer-reviewed journals. She is the winner of five international academic awards 2013–2017. Her research falls into two main areas of interest: innovative smart materials for multifunctional optimization and thermophysical characterization of building envelopes, and indoor-outdoor microclimate for environmental comfort and energy saving, with a focus on the resilience of dense urban areas and cities to climate change. Within the framework of these two main themes, she investigates the following topics: energy efficiency and thermal-energy performance optimization in buildings; new analysis methods to estimate the effect of innovative strategies; continuous monitoring techniques to detect the thermal-energy performance of buildings; high albedo solutions for passive cooling and as a mitigation strategy against the urban heat island phenomenon; local climate boundary conditions affecting building thermal-energy behavior; indoor-outdoor microclimate analysis for the preservation of cultural heritage. 

Arnis Asmat

Associate professor in the Program Environmental Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia.

Arnis Asmat is an Associate professor in the Program Environmental Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences. She is currently holding a position as a Director of UiTM Green Centre (UGC), Office of Development (Infrastructure & Info structure). She was a recipient of the PhD Commonwealth Scholarship, United Kingdom, in 2005 and graduated in 2009 from Southampton. She is a geographer by training. Her physics and technology interests led her to focus on using remote sensing and spatial analysis (GIS) to make accurate quantitative measurements of the Earth and its atmosphere. She is active in doing research and supervises postgraduate students. Her research focuses on aerosol, extreme weather, climate change science, global environmental change and earth observation, and climate change resilience using earth observation data. She published and co-authored numerous articles and established a research group in the Climate Change and Carbon Footprint at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to drive and initiate more research on global environmental/climate change/low carbon campus. She was former Director of Community Research (CoRe) under Green Technology and Sustainable Development (GTSD) at Office of Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) (February 2016-June 2020). 

Special Session:

Baojie He

Professor at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, China.

Dr. Baojie is a Professor at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, China. Dr. He was ranked as one of the single-year 100,000 global scientists by Mendeley, 2020. Baojie has the strong academic capability with 57 peer-reviewed papers published in high-ranking journals and oral presentations in great conferences. Dr. Baojie’s outcomes have high impacts in energy and built environment and have been widely cited by peers, which enables Baojie to have seven highly cited/hot papers recognised by the world-known database of Web of Science and a high H-index (Scopus: 25; Google Scholar: 24). Baojie has been involved in several large research projects on energy and built environment in Australia in the name of Postdoc Research Fellow, Research Associate and Research Assistant. Baojie has been the Associate Editor, Leading Guest Editor, Editorial Board Member, Sessional Chair, Scientific Committee of a variety of reputable international journals and conferences. 

Conference Program & Planning committee

Wang Hui Qiong, Xiamen University Malaysia (Chair)

Geetha Kanaparan, Xiamen University Malaysia (Co-Chair)

Awards Committee Chair

Hamid Tahaei, Xiamen University Malaysia (Chair)

Siti Nurliana Jamali, Xiamen University Malaysia (Co-Chair)

Publication committee

Mohamed Alswaitti, Xiamen University Malaysia (Chair)

Das Debashish, Xiamen University Malaysia (Co-chair)

International Advisory committee

Maria Antonia Brovelli, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Scientific Committee

Abbas Rajabifard, University of Melbourne, Australia

Ahmad Affandi Supli - Xiamen University Malaysia

Amor Laaribi, UN, the United States of America

Das Debashish – Xiamen University Malaysia

Davood Mafi-Gholami, Shahrekord University, Iran

Fabiola Yépez, National Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico

Geetha Kanaparan - Xiamen University Malaysia

Guoxiang Liu, Southwest Jiaotong University, China

Hamid Tahaei - Xiamen University Malaysia

Heng Yu Ping - Xiamen University Malaysia

Hongchao Fan, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

José Marcato Junior, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Julian Smit, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Karel Pavelka, Czech Technical University, Czech Republic

Lim Thian Li - Xiamen University Malaysia

Liyuan Qian, Southwest Jiaotong University, China

Mahnaz Mahdavi Shahri, Azad University of Shiraz, Iran

Masood Varshosaz, KNT University, Iran

Md Iftekhar Salam - Xiamen University Malaysia

Miraz Mahdi Hassan - Xiamen University Malaysia

Mohammad Firuz Ramli, Xiamen University Malaysia

Mohammed Alswaitti – Xiamen University Malaysia

Naeema Al-Hosani, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Nelly Lucero Ramírez Serrato, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

Norma Liyana binti Omar - Xiamen University Malaysia

Qing Zhu, Southwest Jiaotong University, China

Rifaat M. Abdalla, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Shabnam Jabari, University of New Brunswick, Canada

Shattri Mansor, Universiti Putra Malaysia

Sisi Zlatanova, University of New South Wales, Australia

Siti Nurliana Jamali - Xiamen University Malaysia

Syed Mohammad Asghar Rizvi, Aligarh Muslim University, India

Uwe Stilla, Technical University of Munich, Germany

Wesley Nunes Gonçalves, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Wong Lai Wan - Xiamen University Malaysia

Xianfeng Zhang, Peking University, China

Xiaojun Yang, Florida State University, USA

Yifang Ban, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Yuhong He, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada

ASTI book series by Springer

Authors can choose to publish their research as a chapter in a title in the Advances in Science, Technology and Innovation  (ASTI) Book Series by Springer. The series particularly features conceptual and empirical contributions from various interrelated fields of science, technology, and innovation, emphasizing digital transformation that focuses on providing practical solutions to ensure food, water, and energy security to achieve the SDGs.

IEEE Xplore® Digital Library

Conference proceedings will be submitted for inclusion in the IEEE Xplore® Digital Library, a powerful resource for the discovery of science. Authors whose papers fall into technical fields such as electrical and electronics engineering, telecommunications, etc., can choose this option as their publishing platform.

International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation by Elsevier

Authors can choose to publish their research in The International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation by Elsevier. This journal publishes original papers that apply earth observation data to inventorisation and management of natural resources and the environment. The journal accepts contributions of the highest quality, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Authors must refer to, and abide by, the following instructions in submitting their abstracts/ papers:

Step 1: Abstract Submission Process

- The author should prepare and submit an Abstract (250 300 words) through the website and before the abstract submission deadline.

- The abstract should clearly state the purpose, results, and conclusions of the work to be described in the final paper.

- The author should select the most relevant topic for the paper from the corresponding conference topics.

- The author can use/download an abstract writing template to submit the abstract file accordingly.

To download the Abstract Writing Template, Click Here

Step 2: Abstract Review

- Upon submission, an abstract will undergo a preliminary evaluation process by members of our scientific committee.

-A relevant topic of the conference should be proposed with clear writing, aims, and objectives of the study clearly presented and sound literature and methodology of the work.

- The author will receive a notification by email, within 2 weeks, of:

• Approval, after which they will be requested to prepare and submit their full/short paper submissions.
• Rejection, if the topic proposed does not fit the theme of the conference.

Step 3: Paper Submission & Preliminary Review

There are 2 types of paper submission at this conference:

• Short Paper 
• Full/Long Paper 

Short Paper:

- A short paper submission consists of 4–5 pages and suits researches that make significant contributions, but still in progress or can be reported briefly.

- The structure of a short paper should contain its abstract, keywords, introduction, problem statements, and the hypothetical solution along with further studies that they will go through when they want to extend their paper to be published online.

- A short paper is only included in the conference Abstracts book and will not have a chance to be published online by Springer or by IEREK’s Journals unless the author extends their work to a full-length paper and pay the corresponding fee.

Full-Length Paper:

- The Full/ Long paper submission is 8 – 12+ pages in length.

- The full paper should state the major issue(s) addressed, the potential significance of the work, the theoretical and methodological approach(es) pursued, major findings, conclusions, implications, and relevant scholarly references.

- A full/long paper will be included in the conference abstracts book as well as get published online by Springer or by IEREK PRESS Journals.

- The author should submit the full/short paper written on the writing template, through our online system before the paper submission deadline.

- The full/short paper should be written in English as it's the official language of the conference.

Step 4: Similarity Check/ Plagiarism Detection

All Chapters will be screened for similarity using iThenticate; a Turnitin Plagiarism detection software, used for academic publishers. Springer Similarity guidelines are as follows:

• Max. % from all sources: 10-15%
• Max. % from one source: 3-5%
• Higher than 30% (all sources): Reject completely
• Lower than 30% (all sources): Ask for revision to decrease the similarities  

To download Paper Writing Template,   Click Here

Step 5: Payment Completion & Confirmation

Once Preliminary approval for presentation at the conference and/or consideration for publication is granted, authors will be expected to complete payment in reference to the Conference Fees.

Note: 
In this phase of revision, the research paper will be evaluated based on its originality, structure, and relativity to the conference theme. If the paper gets acceptance by one reviewer, a paper preliminary acceptance notification will be sent to the author accordingly.

- As soon as payment is confirmed and done successfully, corresponding official documents can be issued from our end such as:

• A signed/stamped preliminary acceptance letter
• Receipt of Payment
• Visa Invitation Letter

Step 6: Rigorous Peer Review Process (Full-length papers only)

Only after payment is confirmed,

- and the full paper submission deadline is reached, a submitted full-length paper is assigned to an Editor from the Editorial Board, in alignment with IEREK’s revision SOP (double-blind process).

- Each paper/ chapter is evaluated by a minimum of two reviewers, after which a final decision by the responsible Editor is made. There is no maximum to the number of times a paper can be reviewed, depending on the quality of the submission.

- Once a decision is made by the Editors, IEREK Editors will communicate one of the following three final decisions:

• Accepted without comments
• Revise and Resubmit – Minor or Major revision
• Final Rejection

- If modifications are in order, authors will be sent the relevant instructions and a deadline will be set. Missed deadlines may result in complete exclusion from the final publication/ final rejection.

- A back and forth process, modifications will be sent back to the responsible Editor/ Series Editor and another round of evaluation conducted.