Grant McKenzie
@grantdmckenzie.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Spatial Data Science at McGill University. Place • Mobility • Privacy. https://grantmckenzie.com
Big news from the lab! We've been awarded two @sshrc_crsh grants: an Insight Grant on equity in shared micromobility (who actually gets access to e-scooters/e-bikes across 10 cities) and an Insight Dev Grant on location privacy (how privacy concerns shift by place + who's watching).
New funding: Lab awarded two research grants
The lab has been awarded two new grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada...
platial.science
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
‘Creepy surveillance’: why some cities are shutting down Flock cameras amid privacy concerns
Some cities are cutting ties with firm that provides license plate reader cameras, others are signing new contracts and many are still looking for their footing
theguardian.com
We are pleased to share that the reports from the Data-Driven Mobility Analytics (#DDMA2025) Workshops 2025 (both Montréal & Aalto) have now been published and are openly available on OSF.io platial.science/ddma-2025-mo...
platial.science
Last week, four members of the Platial Analysis Lab participated in the 9th Spatial Knowledge and Information Canada Conference (SKI2026) in Banff, AB. Blog post and photos here: platial.science/platial-at-s...
Platial at SKI Conference 2026
Four members of the team attended the 9th Spatial Knowledge and Information Conference in Banff, AB...
platial.science
New pub on positioning accuracy in high-density urban environments led by Tianyu Li and Yanjia Cao onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A Multi‐Scale Approach to Assessing Positioning Accuracy in High‐Density Urban Environments of Hong Kong
This study examined GPS positioning accuracy in high-density urban environments using Hong Kong as a representative case study. Through field measurements along 32 testing routes using three GPS devi....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Prof. McKenzie will be presenting, in-person, as part of the University of Victoria (BC) lecture series on Friday this week. Come by if you are in town. The talk is titled: The Pulse of a City: Understanding Access and Inclusion through Urban Mobility. Details below. events.uvic.ca/geography/ev...
Geography Lecture Series: Grant McKenzie
Cities are dynamic systems, constantly shaped by the movement of people, goods, and ideas. In this talk, Grant explores these movements to better u...
events.uvic.ca
Registration is now open for the 6th Spatial Data Science Symposium (#SDSS2025)! Registration is free but space is limited, so register soon. Check out the list of thematic sessions, accepted papers, keynotes, and interview. sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net#register
Spatial Data Science Symposium 2025
December 4-5 | Distributed & Online. The symposium aims to bring together researchers from both academia and industry to discuss experiences, insights, methodologies, and applications, taking…
sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net
1/3📍Sharing the report on the 2nd Geoprivacy Workshop for Personalized Health held @liser.lu (published on May 31) with @grantdmckenzie.bsky.social & 20+ international participants. - Full report: osf.io/xrfk4/overview - Workshop webpage: sites.google.com/view/ekgeog/...
Great to have @tiznadoaitken.bsky.social visit us @mcgillgeography.bsky.social @platialanalysis.bsky.social this week. Some really interesting and impressive work.
Earlier this week we hosted the 2nd Data-Driven Mobility Analytics Workshop in Montreal. A day of spotlight talks, lightning talks, and dynamic discussion with participants from across North America and Europe. Read the full recap here: platial.science/reflections-...
Reflections on the 2nd Data-Driven Mobility Analytics Workshop
On October 27, the lab hosted the second Data-Driven Mobility Analytics Workshop in Montreal...
platial.science
Our new paper, “Measuring and Moving on the Street: A Scoping Review of Street Space Allocation Studies,” published in the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, maps global efforts to measure and reimagine urban street allocation. platial.science/a-scoping-re...
A Scoping Review of Street Space Allocation Studies
Daniel Romm and colleagues trace the evolution of street space allocation studies and highlight Montréal’s growing role in this emerging field...
platial.science
🌍✨ Our next seminar is with @grantdmckenzie.bsky.social "Place, Privacy and Mobility: Navigating the intersection of location science and human dynamics" Date: 4th November 2025 @ 2pm UK time (online only). Register here: tinyurl.com/3bzv63rj ✨🌍
Some of our recent work on street space allocation was referenced in an @economist.com article this week, focused on the global rise (and controversy) of cycling. www.economist.com/internationa...
Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport
Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war
economist.com
The call for participation is out for the 9th Spatial Knowledge and Information Conference #SKI2026 Canada. The conference will take place February 19-22, 2026 in Banff, Alberta. Ski all morning, conference all evening. skiconference.ca
Spatial Knowledge and Information Conference (SKI) Canada 2026
February 19-22, 2026 in Banff, AB | Spatial Knowledge and Information Canada brings together researchers GIScience, spatial data science, and related disciplines who live or work in Canada.
skiconference.ca
Deadline extension for #SDSS2025 session proposals! We received a number of requests for an extension so have decided to push the deadline back to Friday, September 19th. Get those session proposals in. sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net
Spatial Data Science Symposium 2025
December 4-5 | Distributed & Online. The symposium aims to bring together researchers from both academia and industry to discuss experiences, insights, methodologies, and applications, taking spatial...
sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net
A quick reminder that the #SDSS2025 deadline for Thematic Session proposals is coming up quickly. We'd love to see a proposal from you on a topic of your choice. The symposium is free, online, and typically has large numbers of engaged attendees. sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net
Spatial Data Science Symposium 2025
December 4-5 | Distributed & Online. The symposium aims to bring together researchers from both academia and industry to discuss experiences, insights, methodologies, and applications, taking spatial...
sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net
The 2nd Data-Driven Mobility Analytics workshop will take place in Montreal on October 27, 2025. We will be discussing current mobility analytics tools, open mobility datasets, and everything in between. Join us by submitting a statement of interest: ptal-io.github.io/ddma2025-mon...
Data-Driven Mobility Analytics Workshops 2025 Montreal
The Data-Driven Mobility Analytics Workshops 2025 aims to broaden the conversation on current analytical tools, frameworks, and open data that support informed decision-making in sustainable transport...
ptal-io.github.io
Looking forward to giving this (virtual) talk at the University of St Andrews for the #BEGIN Seminar Series. November 4th. 14:00 UTC. Register and join us here: tinyurl.com/begin-mckenzie
Kicking off the Spatiotemporal Causal Inference workshop at #GIScience2025 with an introduction by @dinomirmt.bsky.social.
The Spatial Data Science Symposium #SDSS2025 is back. Check out the Call for Sessions and Call for Papers: sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net
Spatial Data Science Symposium 2025
December 4-5 | Distributed & Online. The symposium aims to bring together researchers from both academia and industry to discuss experiences, insights, methodologies, and applications, taking spatial...
sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net
Congrats to lab member @daniel-romm.bsky.social, whose study on Montreal’s bike lanes is gaining national and international media coverage. platial.science/media-spotli...
Media Spotlight on Montreal Cycling Study
A study led by lab member Daniel Romm on Montreal’s cycling infrastructure has received wide media coverage...
platial.science
July data for Canada to US land #border crossing are now online. ptal-io.github.io/border/
US Northern Land Border Traveler Crossings
ptal-io.github.io
Great to see this vision paper come to light (to be presented at #ACMSIGSpatial in November): "Whose Truth? Pluralistic Geo-Alignment for (Agentic) AI." arxiv.org/abs/2508.05432
Whose Truth? Pluralistic Geo-Alignment for (Agentic) AI
AI (super) alignment describes the challenge of ensuring (future) AI systems behave in accordance with societal norms and goals. While a quickly evolving literature is addressing biases and inequaliti...
arxiv.org
Nice to see the videos from the 5th Spatial Data Science Symposium #SDSS2024 now online. Announcement coming shortly for SDSS 2025. www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
5th Spatial Data Science Symposium (SDSS 2024) - YouTube
The Fifth Spatial Data Science Symposium - SDSS2024 was a distributed and online event that took place October 23-24, 2024. All sessions were held online, wi...
youtube.com
US/Canada land #border crossing for the month of May have been released. The map has been updated. ptal-io.github.io/border/
US Northern Land Border Traveler Crossings
ptal-io.github.io
April land border crossings data from Canada to the US have been released. The trend continues: ptal-io.github.io/border/
US Northern Land Border Traveler Crossings
ptal-io.github.io
Great start to the 19th Conference on Location Based Services - in Espoo, Finland this year. #LBS2025
