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How to get to Iasi

By plane: https://www.aeroport-iasi.ro/#flights-table

TAROM: (www.tarom.ro) London, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Bucharest, Bologna, Rome
AIRFRANCE: (wwws.airfrance.fr) Paris via Bucharest
BLUE AIR – (www.blueairweb.com) London, Paris (Beauvais), Brussels, Koln, Berlin, Glasgow, Barcelona, Milano, Torino, Venice, Cluj Napoca, - Timisoara, Oradea, Constanta
AUSTRIAN – (www.austrian.com) via Vienna
WIZZAIR – (www.wizzair.com) Catania, Larnaca, Tel Aviv, Venetia Marco Polo, Rome, London (Luton)

By train: https://www.cfrcalatori.ro/en/

Accommodation in Iasi

University Hotels – Booking can be done by contacting the local organizers

“Gaudeamus” Hotel Address: Str. Codrescu No. 1 Located near important academic objectives and student campuses, it offers University students and professors from abroad special accommodation conditions in rooms with 2 and 3 beds. All rooms are equipped with a private bathroom, air conditioning, refrigerator, TV, telephone, etc. VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE “GAUDEAMUS” HOSPITAL/CANTEEN

“Akademos” Hotel Address: Str. Păcurari, no. 6 The location near the “Mihai Eminescu” Central University Library and the House of Student Culture offers guests the possibility to reach the university buildings in less than 10 minutes on foot. The rooms have two beds each and are equipped with air conditioning, own bathroom, and shower cubicles, refrigerator, modern furniture, and internet connection. “Gaudeamus” and “Akademos” restaurants The restaurant “Gaudeamus” is located on the premises of the “Gaudeamus” hotel and has a capacity of 122 seats. The daily average of those who serve the meal is 200-250 people. The “Akademos” restaurant is set up on the ground floor of the “Akademos” hotel and has a capacity of approximately 110 seats. The daily average of those serving the meal is 238 people. The operating schedule of the canteens-restaurant is from Monday to Friday, between 07.00 and 10.30 breakfast is served, and from 12.00 to 15.00 lunch.

Virtual tours: https://www.uaic.ro/tur-virtual/caminul-si-cantina-gaudeamus/ https://www.uaic.ro/tur-virtual/camin-studentesc-akademos/

Recommended hotels in the city of Iași:

Hotel Majestic ** – Str. Petru Rareş, 7, Iaşi, 700126, Tel: +40232-255557
Hotel Traian ** – Str. Unirii Place, 1, tel. +400232-266666
Hotel Moldova *** – Str. Anastasia Panu, 29, tel. +400232-260240
Hotel Astoria *** – Str. Alexadru Lăpuşneanu, 1, tel. +400232-233888
Hotel Unirea *** – Str. Piața Unirii, 5, tel. +400232-205000
Hotel Ramada ** – Str. Gregory Ureche, 27, tel. +400232-215037
Hotel Select ** – Str. Piața 14 December 1989, 2, tel. +400232-415415

Discover Iasi

For a guide to the best places and experiences in the city of Iasi, please consult the https://iasi.travel/en/ website, created by a collective of teachers-researchers and students from the Department of Geography of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi.

Visa

For information about the visa requirements for traveling in Romania, please visit http://evisa.mae.ro/, which is the best way to find information and apply online for visa.

DEMIX: Digital Elevation Model Intercomparison eXercise

Dr.Peter A. Strobl
European Commission Joint Research Center, Italy

April 5th , 2023
7:00 MDT (UTC -6), 9:00 EDT (UTC -4), 10:00 BRT (UTC - 3), 14:00 BST (UTC +1), 15:00 CEST (UTC +2), 16:00 EEST (UTC +3), 21:00 CST (UTC +8)

Recording available in our YouTube channel

Bio: Peter A. Strobl is a Senior Scientist at European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. He graduated with an MSc in Geophysics (1991) from the University of Munich, and holds a Ph.D. (2000) in Remote Sensing from the University of Potsdam. His main working area concerns the overall data architecture of the Copernicus Earth Observation programme, including the definition of standards, quality metrics and references for geospatial data. He is a member of various international working groups and advisory panels, including the NASA/USGS Landsat Science Team and the EC/ESA Sentinel-2 Quality Working Group, the Copernicus CHIME Mission Advisory Group, co-chair of the OGC Domain Working Group on Digital Global Grid Systems and chair of the CEOS-WGCV Terrain Mapping Sub-Group.

Abstract: This talk is about an initiative launched in 2020 under the auspices of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) to undertake an intercomparison of publicly available continental or global Digital Elevation Models (DEM). The aim was to provide harmonised terminology and methods, as well as practical guidelines and results allowing the user communities to make informed choices for their area of application. Coined as ‘Digital Elevation Model Intercomparison eXercise’ (DEMIX) it was from the start planned and performed in close collaboration with the International Society for Geomorphometry. To pursue the DEMIX task, three subgroups were formed. Subgroup 1 was put in charge of ‘terminology and analytical basis’ and looked into reviewing the terminology and proposing a consistent set of terms that also matches the analytical basis of geomorphology. Subgroup 2 had the task of identifying and testing existing algorithms and toolkits to ensure their compatibility with the definitions and methods laid out by Subgroup 1. It also elaborated a robust benchmarking method known as the ‘wine contest’. Finally, Subgroup 3 provided a platform supporting benchmarking tests by providing access to global candidate and local reference DEMS. The presentation will outline the background and set-up of DEMIX, walk through the main results achieved until now and provide an outlook on possible future applications and evolution.

Conference Venue

“Mihai Eminescu” Aula Magna of “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi

Total capacity: 426 seats, of which 258 are on the ground floor and 168 are on the balcony.

Facilities: laptops; video projection; 7 static microphones – desk; 2 portable microphones; Wireless sound amplification system (2x300 W); Reflectors; the possibility of organizing cocktails and coffee breaks, etc.

See the exact location on Google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/JnGCZXyoJkCfEWGbA

Workshops

For the workshops, PC rooms from the Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology will host the attendees.

Posters

For the posters, there is the Hall of the Echoing Footsteps (https://www.uaic.ro/en/about-uaic/hall-echoing-footsteps/ and the virtual tour https://www.uaic.ro/despre-uaic/prezentare-sala-pasilor-pierduti/), adjacent to the Aula Magna: https://goo.gl/maps/T5VEtcmGWUnS7gLt9

Fieldtrip

The one-day field trip will be an enjoyable itinerary through the Moldavian Plateau, the Romanian Subcarpathians, and the Romanian Carpathians. Geosites, wineries, monasteries, and natural parks will be visited, while geomorphometricians will network, make friends and spend a good time.

Cloud services for global elevation data and seamless geomorphometric analysis

Dr.Tom Hengl
OpenGeoHub Foundation, The Netherlands

February 1st , 2023
7:00 MST (UTC -7), 9:00 EST (UTC -5), 11:00 BRT (UTC - 3), 14:00 GMT (UTC +0), 15:00 CET (UTC +1), 16:00 EET (UTC +2), 22:00 CST (UTC +8)

Recording available in our YouTube channel

Bio: Tom Hengl has more than 20 years of experience as an environmental modeller, predictive soil mapper, data scientist and spatial analyst. He has collaborated on projects with numerous international organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Woods Hole Research Centre, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNCCD, Africa Soil Information Service, PBL and numerous other organizations. His extensive experience in spatial prediction and statistically-based modelling has led him to become a widely recognized expert in the areas of Machine Learning and Big Geodata for environmental modelling.

Abstract: In recent years, a number of global public topography datasets at high spatial resolutions (30m) have been released, including GLO-30 and ALOS AW3D. These can be combined with MERITDEM and ICESat-2 + GEDI point-based ground surface elevation data and global canopy height estimates to produce an ensemble estimate of the terrain/land surface height. Our results for Continental Europe show that machine learning can be used to remove canopy and buildings, although some post-processing is still needed to create hydrologically correct DTMs. The produced ensemble model is shared as Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFFs to allow for unrestricted access simply via QGIS or similar. Google Earth, Microsoft Planetary computer, OpenEO.cloud further provide “free” computing capacity allowing for the testing of algorithms and methods. These types of data infrastructures will revolutionize Geomorphometry and lead to more accurate, more usable and easier to access flood / landslide risks maps and similar.

The International Society for Geomorphometry and the Organizing Committee, are pleased to announce the seventh Geomorphometry Conference to be held in Iasi, Romania, July 10-14 2023. The event is hosted by the Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology (www.geo.uaic.ro), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (www.uaic.ro).

300 words abstracts and 4-page extended abstracts are expected to be submitted through the Easy Chair system by 15th January 2023 (link for submission)

Contributions to the conference will be evaluated by the scientific committee, and authors will be notified of acceptance/rejection of their abstract by 28th February 2023; extended abstracts (maximum 4 pages) will be collected into a volume of proceedings that will be available online before the conference and printed at the conference. The following template should be used for the extended abstracts: template.

Important links:

Conference website: https://www.geo.uaic.ro/geomorphometry2023/

Abstract template: https://www.geo.uaic.ro/geomorphometry2023/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/geomorphometry_2023_template.doc

EasyChair submission: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=geomorphometry2023

Calendar

EasyChair system opens for submissions: 10th November 2022
Extended 4-page abstracts due to EasyChair: 15th January 2023
Workshop proposals due: 15th February 2023
Notification of acceptance and required revisions: 28th February 2023
Registration opens: 1st March 2023
Final camera-ready digital manuscripts due: 30th April 2023
Early registration deadline: 1st May 2023
Conference: 10th-14th July 2023

Whitebox Workflows Next Gen, a complete rewrite of the Whitebox geospatial analysis platform, is now publicly available for Python, R, and QGIS.

Built from the ground up in pure Rust, Whitebox Next Gen provides more than 700 geospatial analysis tools for geomorphometry, terrain analysis, spatial hydrology, LiDAR processing, remote sensing, vector GIS, and spatial statistics. All three interfaces run on the same high-performance backend, allowing users to work in scripts, notebooks, statistical workflows, or a familiar desktop GIS environment.

Whitebox Next Gen is not an incremental update to the previous Whitebox architecture. It replaces the earlier monolithic system with a modular, full-stack geospatial platform. Core capabilities for raster and vector I/O, coordinate systems and reprojection, vector topology, spatial indexing, LiDAR processing, and other foundational operations are implemented directly within the Whitebox codebase rather than delegated to external C or C++ GIS libraries. This approach provides consistent cross-platform behaviour, fewer system-level dependencies, tighter control over performance and correctness, and greater flexibility for continued research and development

Highlights

More than 700 tools for geomorphometry, hydrology, LiDAR, remote sensing, vector analysis, spatial statistics, and general geospatial processing
Publicly available interfaces for Python, R, and QGIS
A modular, high-performance backend written entirely in Rust, including wbprojection, wbraster, wbvector, wblidar, wbspatialstats, and wbtopology open-source (MIT/Apache licensed) backend libraries
Most of the 80+ tools that existed within the previous extension product have been migrated to the new Whitebox open core, including the tools for advanced surface curvature analysis and DEM processing
Native coordinate-reference-system handling and reprojection workflows via wbprojection
Expanded raster support (19 formats), including GeoTIFF, Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COGs), GeoPackage Raster, and JPEG2000
Expanded vector support (12 formats), including Shapefile, GeoPackage, FlatGeobuf, GeoParquet, GeoJSON, TopoJSON, and GML
Modern point-cloud support, including LAS, LAZ, COPC, E57, and PLY
A dedicated topology engine supporting robust vector analysis, network analysis, route-event workflows, and linear referencing
Local-first processing on Windows, macOS, and Linux
A consistent analysis platform across Python scripts and R workflows
A newly updated and more advanced QGIS Processing toolbox

Whitebox has particular strengths in terrain analysis, geomorphometry, spatial hydrology, and LiDAR processing. Whitebox Next Gen carries these areas forward while substantially expanding the project’s capabilities for vector analysis, remote sensing, modern spatial data formats, and reproducible geospatial workflows.

Get started

The geomorphometry community is invited to explore Whitebox Next Gen, test its tools and workflows, report issues, and contribute to the continued development of the project.

First round of the DEMIX exercise published final report

Global digital elevation models (DEMs) have become routine operational inputs across mapping, environmental monitoring, modelling and Earth-observation workflows. Their broad coverage and global availability have made them data that many practitioners simply take for granted. But knowledge of the terrain and topography of Earth’s surface is fundamental for monitoring and understanding terrestrial ecosystems and the planet’s habitability. For that reason, the CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) maintains a subgroup dedicated to digital topography and the quality of DEMs, the ‘Terrain Mapping Sub-Group (TMSG).

DEMs are representations of elevation in the form of a georectified grid, at global scale commonly derived from space-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) or stereoscopic optical observations, while regionally and locally airborne Laser induced detection and ranging (LIDAR) has become the primary source. DEMs can be classified as digital surface models (DSMs) when depicting the lower surface of the atmosphere or digital terrain models (DTMs) when depicting the top of the lithosphere (the Earth’s crust).

A wide variety of DEM products exist – each having different characteristics which suit different applications. It can be challenging to understand which of the available DEM products are fit for purpose for certain applications or regions. That is the practical gap addressed by the Digital Elevation Model Intercomparison Exercise (DEMIX) undertaken by TMSG. By exposing where widely used global DEMs agree, where they differ and how those differences affect rankings, the exercise delivered evidence to users for selecting a DEM rather than defaulting to one by habit.

DEM products were compared through a ‘wine contest,’ which identified requirements of openness, reproducibility, adaptability, and statistical rigour. The characteristics, evaluations, and ranking for each DEM were collected in a GIS database with over 50,000 entries. A quantitative assessment was carried out for each global DEM based on pixel-by-pixel differences of geomorphometric parameters against finer spatial resolution (1-5 m resolution) reference DEMs.

The study incorporates an unprecedented amount of high quality reference data covering a broad range of landforms and surface types, comparing their characteristics without resampling or interpolation. Users are invited to consult the results of DEMIX in order to make informed choices when needing to use a DEM, or in some cases a combination of the most relevant DEMs for their applications.

The final rankings of the wine contest, presented below, compared the six DEMs based on land cover (forest, urban, or barren), slope (cliff, steep, gentle, or flat), differences in elevation, slope and roughness, and statistical metrics.

Led by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) Terrain Mapping Subgroup (TMSG) established DEMIX in partnership with the International Society for Geomorphometry. Several members of the International Society of the Geomorphometry contributed significantly and we hosted various secssions at our latest conference. The exercise was performed over a three-year period starting in 2020, with community-wide calls for participation and an assembly of experts producing a number of peer-reviewed publications, culminating with a JRC reference report published in July 2026.

The objective of DEMIX was to propose a procedure to rank the available free and open global DEMs, taking into consideration user needs while promoting the implementation of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles. The exercise compared DEMs based on criteria for land cover and terrain slope categories, representative testing, and a statistically sound ranking approach. The report outputs tailored recommendations regarding available DEM products that are not limited to one domain, geographic area, or landscape type, with flexibility for different user needs and applications.

A major challenge in the comparison of the global DEMs were the varying formats, data, and metadata contents. The adoption of a common set of standards would enhance the quality and interoperability of global DEMs and streamline the exchange and utilisation of DEM data for both providers and users. DEMIX makes the following recommendations for data providers:

● Adopt a standardised grid layout, with complete grid definitions and encodings following ISO/OGC rules.

● Include vertical datum information as part of raster DEM files.

● Clearly indicate the product version in the file names.

● Participate in future DEMIX rounds, which serve as a neutral platform for independently evaluating products before their release.

● Provide high quality, finer resolution, accurate, and multi-temporal elevation data to be used as a reference alongside DEM products.

Global DEMs are indispensable operational geospatial datasets, but they should not be treated as error-free or interchangeable. DEMIX delivered to the global community a systematic and transparent method to help choose elevation products more intelligently and help define what better elevation measurements should look like in the future.

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