Attending conferences is one of the most crucial milestones in our academic journey as a PhD student. It means not only gaining knowledge but also following the most up-to-date research in the field, interacting with experienced academics, and getting the opportunity to share our research with a wide range of experts and receive their opinions to improve our research.

For the last two years, I have had the chance to attend the ‘Location Based Services’ conference held in Munich in 2022 and in Ghent in 2023. During this time, I had the opportunity to follow the latest developments in location-based services. Thanks to this valuable annual event, we meet the leading names in this field. Organised by Haosheng Huang and Nico Van de Weghe from Ghent University this year, this conference is a meeting point that brings together academics from around the world every year.

At the conference, interesting and valuable sessions were held in the ‘Location Based Services’ field, such as ‘LBS and Cycling,’ ‘GeoAI, Urban and Mobility Analytics,’ ‘User Experience, Privacy,’ ‘Innovative LBS Applications,’ ‘User Studies and Data Analysis,’ ‘Wayfinding and Navigation,’ and ‘Positioning and Tracking.’ The sessions offered a broad perspective covering various aspects of this field. In particular, GeoAI sessions attracted attention with the many studies and exciting projects presented in these sessions. GeoAI discusses how artificial intelligence technologies can be used to develop location-based services and innovations in this field. This session became one of the conference’s highlights with its impressive presentations.

I had the chance to present our research at this conference. My presentation was titled ‘The Importance of Communication with Missing Data with Colours of Map for Decision-Making.’ In this presentation, I discussed the importance of communication with missing data and how this communication can be perceived through map colours. The valuable suggestions and feedback I received regarding my research will guide me in the further stages of my research.

Such events are excellent opportunities for students like me to follow new developments in our field, meet experts, and develop our research further!