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Documents authored by Koukouraki, Eftychia

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2025.13
Assessing Map Reproducibility with Visual Question-Answering: An Empirical Evaluation

Authors: Eftychia Koukouraki, Auriol Degbelo, and Christian Kray

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 346, 13th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2025)

Abstract
Reproducibility is a key principle of the modern scientific method. Maps, as an important means of communicating scientific results in GIScience and across disciplines, should be reproducible. Currently, map reproducibility assessment is done manually, which makes the assessment process tedious and time-consuming, ultimately limiting its efficiency. Hence, this work explores the extent to which Visual Question-Answering (VQA) can be used to automate some tasks relevant to map reproducibility assessment. We selected five state-of-the-art vision language models (VLMs) and followed a three-step approach to evaluate their ability to discriminate between maps and other images, interpret map content, and compare two map images using VQA. Our results show that current VLMs already possess map-reading capabilities and demonstrate understanding of spatial concepts, such as cardinal directions, geographic scope, and legend interpretation. Our paper demonstrates the potential of using VQA to support reproducibility assessment and highlights the outstanding issues that need to be addressed to achieve accurate, trustworthy map descriptions, thereby reducing the time and effort required by human evaluators.
Cite as

Eftychia Koukouraki, Auriol Degbelo, and Christian Kray. Assessing Map Reproducibility with Visual Question-Answering: An Empirical Evaluation. In 13th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 346, pp. 13:1-13:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{koukouraki_et_al:LIPIcs.GIScience.2025.13,
  author =	{Koukouraki, Eftychia and Degbelo, Auriol and Kray, Christian},
  title =	{{Assessing Map Reproducibility with Visual Question-Answering: An Empirical Evaluation}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2025)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:12},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-378-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{346},
  editor =	{Sila-Nowicka, Katarzyna and Moore, Antoni and O'Sullivan, David and Adams, Benjamin and Gahegan, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2025.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-238426},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2025.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: map comparison, computational reproducibility, visual question answering, large language models, GeoAI}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2023.6
Map Reproducibility in Geoscientific Publications: An Exploratory Study

Authors: Eftychia Koukouraki and Christian Kray

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 277, 12th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2023)

Abstract
Reproducibility is a core element of the scientific method. In the Geosciences, the insights derived from geodata are frequently communicated through maps, and the computational methods to create these maps vary in their ease of reproduction. In this paper, we present the results from a study where we tried to reproduce the maps included in geoscientific publications. Following a systematic approach, we collected 27 candidate papers and in four cases, we were able to successfully reproduce the maps they contained. We report on the approach we applied, the issues we encountered and the insights we gained while attempting to reproduce the maps. In addition, we provide an initial set of criteria to assess the success of a map reproduction attempt. We also propose some guidelines for improving map reproducibility in geoscientific publications. Our work sheds a light on the current state of map reproducibility in geoscientific papers and can benefit researchers interested in publishing maps in a more reproducible way.
Cite as

Eftychia Koukouraki and Christian Kray. Map Reproducibility in Geoscientific Publications: An Exploratory Study. In 12th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 277, pp. 6:1-6:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{koukouraki_et_al:LIPIcs.GIScience.2023.6,
  author =	{Koukouraki, Eftychia and Kray, Christian},
  title =	{{Map Reproducibility in Geoscientific Publications: An Exploratory Study}},
  booktitle =	{12th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2023)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-288-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{277},
  editor =	{Beecham, Roger and Long, Jed A. and Smith, Dianna and Zhao, Qunshan and Wise, Sarah},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2023.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-189015},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2023.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: Reproducible Research, Reproduction Assessment, Map Making, Cartography}
}
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