We are delighted to announce a new special issue to be published in Computers, Environment and Urban Systems on GeoAI and spatial data science for fire research. The submission deadline is 31 December 2026.
Special issue information:
Fires hazards, encompassing both wildfires and urban fires, are a growing global concern. In recent decades, fires have been intensified by climate change and human activity and led to devastating ecological, economic, and social consequences. Addressing the complexity of fire management, which includes prevention, early detection, real-time monitoring, spread modelling, emergency evacuation planning, response, suppression, and post-fire recovery, requires advanced methods and tools that are capable of handling vast spatiotemporal datasets and supporting decision making.
This special issue aims to solicit original research that advances the theoretical and practical applications of GeoAI and spatial data science across the entire spectrum of fire research and management. We seek papers that push the boundaries of GeoAI, spatial data science, and GIS to solve critical fire challenges.
We invite submissions covering, but not limited to, the following themes:
1. Fire Risk and Susceptibility Modelling
- Developing novel GeoAI models for regional and global fire risk assessment
- Integrating diverse spatial data (e.g. fuel, topography, land cover, building material, weather) for enhanced fire susceptibility mappingo Spatio-temporal prediction of ignition likelihood using historical fire records
2. Fire Detection and Monitoring
- Real-time or near-real-time fire front tracking and perimeter mapping using satellite/CCTV/drone imagery
- Computer vision for airborne, ground-based, or structural fire detection
- Fine-tuning geospatial foundation models for fire detection, monitoring, and spread detection across diverse landscapes and sensor modalities
3. Fire Dynamics Simulation and Prediction
- Integrating GeoAI with physical process-based fire behaviour models (e.g., FARSITE, WRF-Fire, or structural fire models) for improved forecastso Modelling and predicting fire spread paths and intensity in complex urban and urban-wildland interface (WUI) environments
- Analysing and predict secondary hazards related to fire damage (e.g. structural collapse)
- Modelling fire spread and spatiotemporal dynamics
- Fire and smoke digital twins for real-time modelling, simulation, and scenario analysis
4. Post-Fire Assessment and Recoveryo Rapid assessment of burn extent and severity using imagery data
- Assessing damage to built environments and critical infrastructure following urban fires
- Predicting post-fire hazards (e.g. debris flow and erosion) or analysing long-term recovery and resilience
- Multi-temporal GeoAI analysis for fire resilience assessment and adaptive recovery planning
5. Fire Prevention, Evacuation, and Response
- Optimal placement and relocation of fire fighting resources (e.g. fire stations, equipment, personnel)
- Research on modelling fire evacuation behaviors and optimising evacuation routes and emergency logistics
- Agent based modelling and reinforcement learning methods for adaptive fire control and suppression
Guest editors:
Dr. Huanfa Chen, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, United Kingdom
Dr. Yingjie Hu, Department of Geography, University at Buffalo, United States
Dr. Jing Yao, Urban Analytics Subject Group & Urban Big Data Centre, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Dr. Orhun Aydin, Department of Earth, Environmental and Geospatial Science & ADAPT-STL Resilience Center, Saint Louis University, United States
Dr Qunying Huang, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States
Manuscript submission information:
The Computers, Environment and Urban Systems’s submission system is open for submissions to our special issue titled “GeoAI and spatial data science for fire research”.
When submitting your manuscript, please select the article type “VSI: GeoAI for fire research” from the drop-down list. The deadline to submit the manuscript is 31st December 2026.