People
Dr Stef De Sabbata
Associate Professor of Geographical Information Science
School/Department: Geography Geology and The Environment, School of
Telephone: +44 (0)116 252 3812
Email: sds27@leicester.ac.uk
Profile
I am an Associate Professor of Geographical Information Science at the School of Geography Geology and the Environment and Research Theme Lead for Cultural Informatics at the Institute for Digital Culture of the University of Leicester. My research focuses on geographic data science and the application of artificial intelligence to human geography and internet studies. I teach data science, geographic artificial intelligence, information visualization and GIS. I am the Chair of the Geographic Information Science Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society with IBG. I am also part of the steering committee of GIScience Research UK (GISRUK), and I was the chair of the GISRUK 2018 conference. I am a member of the Commission on Location-Based Services of the International Cartographic Association.
Before joining the University of Leicester in 2015, I was a Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford (2013-2015) and a Junior Research Fellow at the Wolfson College of the University of Oxford (2014-2015), and thereafter, a Research Associate of the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford (2015-2021). I was awarded a PhD from the Department of Geography of the University of Zurich in 2013 and a BSc and an MSc in computer science from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Udine.
Research
Publications
Liu, P., & De Sabbata, S. (2021). A graph-based semi-supervised approach to classification learning in digital geographies. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 86, 101583. doi:10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2020.101583
Ballatore, A., & De Sabbata, S. (2020). Los Angeles as a digital place: The geographies of user-generated content. Transactions in GIS, 24(4), 880-902. doi:10.1111/tgis.12600
Gardner, Z., Mooney, P., De Sabbata, S., & Dowthwaite, L. (2020). Quantifying gendered participation in OpenStreetMap: responding to theories of female (under) representation in crowdsourced mapping. GeoJournal, 85(6), 1603-1620. doi:10.1007/s10708-019-10035-z
De Sabbata, S., & Liu, P. (2019). Deep learning geodemographics with autoencoders and geographic convolution. In 22nd AGILE Conference on Geo-information Science.
Bright, J., De Sabbata, S., Lee, S., Ganesh, B., & Humphreys, D. K. (2018). OpenStreetMap data for alcohol research: Reliability assessment and quality indicators. Health & Place, 50, 130-136. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2018.01.009
Acheson, E., De Sabbata, S., & Purves, R. S. (2017). A quantitative analysis of global gazetteers: Patterns of coverage for common feature types. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 64, 309-320. doi:10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2017.03.007
Reichenbacher, T., De Sabbata, S., Purves, R. S., & Fabrikant, S. I. (2016). Assessing geographic relevance for mobile search: A computational model and its validation via crowdsourcing. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 67(11), 2620-2634. doi:10.1002/asi.23625
Graham, M., De Sabbata, S., & Zook, M. A. (2015). Towards a study of information geographies: (im)mutable augmentations and a mapping of the geographies of information. Geo: Geography and Environment, 2 (1), 88-105. doi:10.1002/geo2.8
De Sabbata, S., Mizzaro, S., & Reichenbacher, T. (2015). Geographic dimensions of relevance. Journal of Documentation, 71(4), 650-666. doi:10.1108/JD-12-2013-0167
De Sabbata, S., & Reichenbacher, T. (2012). Criteria of geographic relevance: An experimental study. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 26(8), 1495-1520. doi:10.1080/13658816.2011.639303
Supervision
Geographic data science
Geographic information science
GIS
Geocomputation
Artificial intelligence
Machine learning
Deep learning
Geographic relevance
Location-based services
Geographic information retrieval
Natural language processing
Information geographies
Digital geographies
Internet geographies
Volunteered geographic information
User-generated content
Big data
Citizen science
Public participation GIS
Critical GIS
Information visualisation
Cartography
Teaching
Press and media
Geographic information science
Geographic data science
Geographic artificial intelligence
Geocomputation
GIS
Location-based services
Geographic information retrieval
Natural language processing
Digital geographies
Volunteered geographic information
Information visualisation
Cartography
Urban geography
Activities
Secretary of the GIScience Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society
Member of the steering committee of GIScience Research UK (GISRUK)
Chair of the 26th Annual GIScience Research UK (GISRUK) Conference 2018
Member of the commission of the Commission on Location Based Services of the International Cartographic Association (ICA/ACI)
Awards
Journal of Documentation Highly Commended Paper Award 2016 for: De Sabbata S. Mizzaro S. & Reichenbacher T. (2015). Geographic dimensions of relevance. Journal of Documentation 71(4) 650-666.
Leicester Students’ Union Superstar Award nomination for teaching (2016-17) best personal tutor (2017-18 and 2020-21) and best supervisor (2020-21).
Qualifications
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy