The growth of the maritime sector has produced an increase of the global maritime traffic and of the activities exploiting the ocean environment and its resources.  Safety and security of maritime navigation remain a concern, like the global societal objective of reducing the environmental impact of maritime activities to pursue a sustainable and inclusive “blue growth”. 
Technological innovations led to the development of automated monitoring systems and maritime sensors networks, producing a tremendous increase of the maritime data available and opening new avenues to interdisciplinary science-driven maritime operations and policy making. Institutional and industrial initiatives are developing infrastructures for maritime data sharing and offering advanced processing, fusion, and analysis, developing added values products in support of the maritime operational and industrial communities, policy making and informed citizenship.  

Taylor & Francis Geo-spatial Information Science (GSIS) is going to publish a journal special issue on Maritime Big Data Integration and Analysis, featuring a selection of the best papers presented at the Maritime Big Data Workshop 2020 (https://sites.google.com/view/mbdw2020/home), and additional papers selected through an open call.  

This special issue will welcome novel big data, artificial intelligence and visual analytics solutions with application for maritime security, safety and security of maritime navigation and transport, Maritime Intelligent Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Maritime situational awareness, maritime environment monitoring and preservation, estimation of the impact of maritime activities on the maritime environment, sustainable fisheries and exploitation of ocean resources, energy efficiency and performance analysis. Topics of interest are:  

Maritime big data management
Artificial intelligence and machine learning for maritime big data
Maritime information systems
Maritime mobility data and behavioural analysis
Maritime network analysis
Information visualisation and visual analytics for maritime data
Maritime information fusion and uncertainty
Maritime situational awareness
Maritime autonomous systems
Maritime decision-aided systems

All submissions will undergo a peer review process.  
The Special Issue is expected to be published in the second half of 2021, and accepted will be open access. 
Publishing costs will be covered by Wuhan University on behalf of authors. 

Instructions for submission
---------------------------
You can submit your paper using the centralised GIS submission system (https://rp.tandfonline.com/submission/create?journalCode=TGSI) by selecting the special issue Maritime Big Data Integration and Analysis.
Follow the instructions for submission available on the GSIS website (https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=tgsi20) 

Important dates
Submission of papers from open call: 31 March 2021 
Notification of acceptance: 31 May 2021
Camera ready submission: 31 July 2021
Publication in GSIS: 2nd half of 2021

Full details are available at this page https://sites.google.com/view/mbdw2020/gsis-special-issue
and on GISIS website https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/maritime-big-data-integration-analysis/?utm_source=TFO&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743


-- Guest editors

Prof Cyril Ray, Arts et Metiers Institute of Technology, Ecole Navale, Naval Academy Research Institute (IRENav), Brest, France
Dr Elena Camossi, NATO Science and Technology Organization, Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation, La Spezia, Italy