José Javier López, Ph.D. is Professor of Geography at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he earned his Ph.D. in Geography from Indiana State University, as well as graduate and undergraduate degrees from The University of Akron and the University of Puerto Rico, respectively.
Dr. López has been a faculty member in Minnesota State’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences since the late 1990s, where he teaches a wide range of courses, including Spatial Statistics, Spatial Analysis with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Cultural Geography, Economic Geography, Social Geography, Political Geography, and the Geography of Latin America and the United States.
His research focuses on social and economic geography, spatial analysis, and criminology, with particular attention to the geographic patterns of crime, public safety, and inequality in the United States and internationally. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on topics such as hate crime, human trafficking, law enforcement practices, and spatial disparities, and has contributed to books and applied geographic scholarship.
Dr. López has received numerous recognitions for his contributions to scholarship, teaching, and service, including the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award and the Distinguished Professor Award at Minnesota State University. He has also been an active contributor to the profession through manuscript and grant review, international collaboration, and invited lectures and keynote presentations in the United States and abroad.
GeoAI for Public Governance: Spatial Intelligence for Safer, More Resilient States
Abstract
Government leaders and public administrators must strategically integrate Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) to remain effective in the context of accelerating socioeconomic and geopolitical transformation. Geospatial technologies enable decision-makers to visualize and analyze spatial patterns of socioeconomic phenomena that are often obscured in traditional tabular reports or spreadsheet-based summaries. Broadly construed, geospatial technology encompasses any technology-enabled information system—whether operating on computers, smartphones, or tablets—that supports mapping, location intelligence, navigation, imagery interpretation, and spatial analysis.
The integration of geospatial analysis with artificial intelligence provides governments and private-sector organizations with powerful tools to anticipate operational risks, enhance public safety, and maintain the stability of critical economic systems. Crime prevention initiatives, in particular, depend on high-quality geospatial data, as the spatial distribution of factors associated with criminal activity can be detected, modeled, and visualized with greater precision and efficiency through GeoAI-enabled approaches.
This presentation demonstrates how these methods have improved the rigor and policy relevance of research projects conducted in the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa. Particular emphasis is placed on experiences in developing countries that have achieved political independence more recently and continue to face significant challenges in the collection, management, and integration of geospatial crime data. The lack of robust geospatial analytical capacity can substantially constrain government agencies’ ability to reduce crime and enhance public safety outcomes.
