Di shared our "visitor census" work at MN GIS/LIS 2025 and ACSP 2025

Dr Di Zhu recently presented GeoDI lab’s  work, “A Visitor-Enriched Census in U.S. Cities Using Large-Scale Mobile Positioning Data,” at two major academic and professional conferences this October. The project introduces the concept of a “visitor census” that augments traditional population data by capturing human mobility and spatial interactions — offering new insights into how cities are used, visited, and experienced across space and time.

From October 1–3, Dr. Zhu participated in the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Annual Conference, held this year in Duluth, MN. As the premier event for GIS professionals across Minnesota, the conference brings together experts in geospatial science, government, and industry to exchange ideas and showcase innovations in applied mapping and spatial analytics. Dr. Zhu’s talk introduced the visitor census framework to a wide audience of applied GIS users, with discussions centered around its potential applications for regional planning, infrastructure demand modeling, and equitable public resource allocation.

Later in the month, from October 22–25, Dr. Zhu presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) in Minneapolis, MN — one of the leading gatherings for urban planning scholars and educators in North America. The ACSP conference promotes cutting-edge planning research and education, fostering dialogue among academic institutions, students, and practitioners. The visitor census research was featured in a session on spatial data science and urban analytics, where it contributed to discussions on how mobile data and geospatial AI can help reimagine the way planners understand urban populations and mobility.