GI_Forum publishes high quality original research across the transdisciplinary field of Geographic Information Science (GIScience). The journal provides a platform for dialogue among GI-Scientists and educators, technologists and critical thinkers in an ongoing effort to advance the field and ultimately contribute to the creation of an informed GISociety. Submissions concentrate on innovation in education, science, methodology and technologies in the spatial domain and their role towards a more just, ethical and sustainable science and society. GI_Forum implements the policy of open access publication after a double-blind peer review process through a highly international team of seasoned scientists for quality assurance. Special emphasis is put on actively supporting young scientists through formative reviews of their submissions. Only English language contributions are published. Starting 2016, GI_Forum publishes two issues a Year. Joumal Information is available at: GI-Forum GI_Forum is listed on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

The QGIS project is a prominent open-source geographic information system (GIS) that has evolved over two decades, contributing significantly to the geospatial community. This paper presents the development, governance, and operational challenges faced by QGIS, providing an in-depth analysis of its growth from a hobby project to a global platform. We examine the project’s organizational structure, release management, and infrastructure, alongside the financial model that sustains its development. The paper also addresses key challenges such as licensing complexities, group decision-making dynamics, and the balancing of innovation with stability in an open-source environment. Additionally, we highlight QGIS’s broad applicability across industries and its continued success in fostering community-driven development.

Processing is an object-oriented Python framework for the popular open source Geographic Information System QGIS, which provides a seamless integration of geoprocessing tools from a variety of different software libraries. In this paper, we present the development history, software architecture and features of the Processing framework, which make it a versatile tool for the development of geoprocessing algorithms and workflows, as well as an efficient integration platform for algorithms from different sources. Using real-world application examples, we furthermore illustrate how the Processing architecture enables typical geoprocessing use cases in research and development, such as automating and documenting workflows, combining algorithms from different software libraries, as well as developing and integrating custom algorithms. Finally, we discuss how Processing can facilitate reproducible research and provide an outlook towards future development goals.

The movement and transport of people and goods is spatial by its very nature. Thus, geospatial fundamentals of transport systems need to be adequately considered in transport models. Until recently, this was not always the case. Instead, transport research and geography evolved widely independently in domain silos. However, driven by recent conceptual, methodological and technical developments, the need for an integrated approach is obvious. This paper attempts to outline the potential of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for transport modeling. We identify three fields of transport modeling where the spatial perspective can significantly contribute to a more efficient modeling process and more reliable model results, namely, geospatial data, disaggregated transport models and the role of geo-visualization. For these three fields, available findings from various domains are compiled, before open aspects are formulated as research directions, with exemplary research questions. The overall aim of this paper is to strengthen the spatial perspective in transport modeling and to call for a further integration of GIS in the domain of transport modeling.