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Showing 52 of 52 publications
Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition - Workshop (CVPR-W), 2026
We developed a unified multimodal GeoAI framework that learns shared representations from satellite imagery, audio, and text to predict and map realistic soundscapes anywhere on Earth.
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 2025
We produced a 10 m canopy height map for Pakistan’s western Himalayas by fusing GEDI LiDAR and Sentinel-2 data with a U-Net CNN.
Journal of Himalayan Earth Science, 2025
We predict current and future habitats of Cedrus deodara using MaxEnt, showing precipitation-driven suitability and significant future habitat contraction under climate change.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2025
We use Sentinel-5P data to assess how COVID-19 lockdowns affected key air pollutants across Punjab, revealing a strong drop in NO₂ and mixed trends in CO, SO₂, and HCHO. The findings support more targeted air-quality actions for protecting public health.
Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 2025
We propose a novel retrieval-augmented strategy for multi-resolution geo-embeddings, called RANGE. Our method is based on the intuition that the visual features of a location can be estimated by aggregating visual features from multiple similar-looking locations.
Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2025
We developed Fields of The World (FTW), the largest global dataset for crop field boundary segmentation, to advance more accurate and generalizable ML models for agricultural monitoring.
Journal of Public Health, 2025
In this review we found that while AI holds great promise for improving urban health research, there's a critical need to integrate spatial equity into these studies. Only 10% of the studies we reviewed explicitly considered spatial inequities, highlighting an important gap in the field.
IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV), 2025
TaxaBind is a suite of multimodal models useful for downstream ecological tasks covering six modalities: ground-level image, geographic location, satellite image, text, audio, and environmental features.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2025
We analyzed three decades (1990–2020) of Landsat imagery to assess forest cover change and fragmentation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, revealing gradual decline, increased patchiness, and critical hotspots to guide conservation and UN-REDD⁺ strategies.
Kuwait Journal of Science, 2025
We conducted the first global review of Species Distribution Modelling in mountainous environments (1997–2022), highlighting the growing role of remote sensing and machine learning in supporting forest management under climate change.
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Conference on Multimedia, 2024
We develop a probabilistic, multi-scale, and metadata-aware embedding space that connects audio, text, and overhead imagery. This enables the creation of dynamic, multi-scale soundscape maps for any geographic region, along with uncertainty estimates for the mapping.
American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2024
We extended deep learning approaches combining GEDI LiDAR and satellite imagery to predict forest vertical structural diversity across complex landscapes, advancing understanding of carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes.
American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2024
We present a generative model that synthesizes realistic, multi-temporal satellite imagery conditioned on location, text, or layout, enabling simulations of past, present, and future Earth surface scenarios.
American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2024
We highlighted the importance of field boundaries as core geospatial datasets, essential for agricultural assessments, climate policies, and MRV of greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable land management.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2024
We examined COPD incidence in Pakistan (2019–2020) using spatial scan statistics and machine learning, revealing pollution-linked clusters and highlighting the urgent need for air quality interventions.
Indonesian Journal of Geography, 2024
We applied GIS, remote sensing, and AHP to identify suitable solid waste disposal sites in D.G. Khan, providing policymakers with a spatial framework to reduce environmental and health risks.
IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2024
We developed GeoBind, a deep-learning model that uses satellite imagery to align text, image, and audio into a shared embedding space, enabling versatile multimodal reasoning about geographic locations.
Environmental Earth Sciences, 2024
We analyzed multi-year Landsat data to assess urban heat island dynamics in Punjab’s districts, showing how land cover change drives surface temperature variations and forecasting future scenarios with CA modeling.
Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition - Workshop (CVPR-W), 2024, Best Paper Award
We introduced Sat2Cap, a weakly supervised framework for zero-shot mapping that learns textual concepts from satellite imagery via contrastive alignment, enabling scalable multimodal mapping without text-labeled data.
Desalination and Water Treatment, 2023
We mapped groundwater potential zones in Lahore using ten geospatial parameters and weighted overlay analysis, providing a validated framework to guide sustainable agricultural water management.
Preprint, 2023
We developed a species distribution model that integrates taxonomic hierarchy via large language models, enabling zero-shot range prediction and introducing a novel proximity-aware evaluation metric that outperforms existing baselines.
Geography, Environment, Sustainability, 2023
We analyzed multi-year Landsat data to assess water quality dynamics in Tarbela reservoir, finding long-term deterioration but signs of environmental healing in 2020, with policy implications for sediment and turbidity management.
In Concepts and Applications of Remote Sensing in Forestry, 2023
We applied MaxEnt modeling with 26 climatic, biophysical, and topographic variables to predict the potential distribution of four native tree species in AJK, identifying hotspots for conservation and sustainable forest management.
EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality, 2022
We performed landslide susceptibility analysis in Astore, Pakistan using GIS, remote sensing, and AHP, identifying five risk zones with slope, lithology, and land cover as key triggering factors.
International Journal of Innovations in Science & Technology, 2022
We mapped police-station-level crime data (murder, rape, kidnapping, vehicle theft and dacoity) for District Kasur in 2021 using GIS interpolation, producing crime type, rate and density maps to show how geospatial tools can support policing and law enforcement.
Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 2022
We analyzed monthly streamflow trends across 13 HKH sub-basins in Pakistan using innovative polygon trend analysis, revealing increased flows in glaciated basins and widespread decreases downstream, with implications for floods, hydropower, and water management.
Express Sunday Magazine, 2022
We highlighted the rapid urban sprawl of Lahore, showing significant loss of tree cover (1990–2017) alongside expanding built-up areas, underscoring urgent needs for urban greening and sustainable planning.
In Computers in Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2022
We analyzed 1990–2017 Landsat data with GEE and CART classification to map urban sprawl, LST, and land cover change in Lahore, revealing rapid urban growth, tree and green space loss, and rising temperatures, with implications for sustainable urban planning.
Land Degradation & Development, 2022
We assessed soil erosion dynamics across Pakistan (2005–2015) using RUSLE and six influencing factors, revealing intensified erosion driven by land use changes, with implications for targeted conservation policies.
Advances in Space Research, 2021
We combined Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 optical time-series data with a random forest classifier to achieve 97% accuracy in crop type mapping, demonstrating the power of integrating radar and optical imagery for precision agriculture.
Forests, 2021
We synthesized 73 studies (1993–2021) on forest mapping in Pakistan, highlighting the dominance of supervised classification methods, limited use of active remote sensing, and the need for advanced tools to support REDD⁺ and sustainable forest management.
Forests, 2021
We reviewed 44 global studies (2004–2019) on forest aboveground biomass estimation using high-resolution optical imagery, highlighting common sensors, modeling approaches, strengths, and gaps, with implications for REDD⁺ monitoring and real-time biomass assessment.
Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2020
We assessed agricultural land suitability in AJK, Pakistan using GIS, AHP, and eight biophysical and climatic criteria, identifying only ~13% as highly suitable and highlighting priorities for sustainable land use planning.
Geography, Environment, Sustainability, 2020
We applied Change Vector Analysis with Landsat data (2000–2017) in Duy Tien, Vietnam to capture both categorical and radiometric land cover dynamics, revealing vegetation–soil index shifts and rapid urban expansion.
Geography, Environment, Sustainability, 2020
We integrated GIS and AHP to zone flood hazards in the Lam river basin, Vietnam showing that adding relative slope length as a sixth factor improved map accuracy and alignment with historic flood events.
Pakistan Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Series A: Physical Sciences, 2020
We used Landsat-8 and ASTER DEM with GIS-based modeling to identify suitable tea cultivation zones in Mansehra and Abbottabad, finding ~13% highly suitable land to reduce Pakistan’s heavy tea imports.
In Making Green Cities, 2020
We analyzed land use and land cover change along River Ravi in Lahore (1990–2017), showing tripled urban growth, loss of water bodies and green areas, and alarming biodiversity decline linked to urbanization.
Inżynieria Mineralna – Journal of the Polish Mineral Engineering Society, 2019
We developed and field-tested a low-cost UAV system for 3D mapping and air quality monitoring in open-pit mines, demonstrating accurate topographic modeling and pollutant detection at Vietnam’s Coc Sau coal mine.
International Journal of Economic and Environmental Geology, 2019
We analyzed the November 2016 smog event in Lahore using MODIS and Landsat imagery with GIS, showing dense smog cover severely reduced visibility to nearly 100 meters.
Journal of Mining and Earth Sciences, 2018
We designed three optimized observation lines for monitoring mining-induced deformation in Mong Duong colliery, proposing an improved method that adjusts the angle of draw to ensure accurate control points and compliance with Vietnam’s mine surveying standards.
MIT Technology Review Magazine, 2018
We analyzed Landsat imagery (1990–2017) to assess Lahore’s urban expansion and tree cover loss, revealing that green depletion from 2010–2017 exceeded the decline of the previous two decades.
In Geo-Spatial Technologies and Earth Resources (GTER 2017), 2017
M.Phil. thesis, published as a monograph by Noor Publishing, 2017 (ISBN 978-620-2-34061-8)
My M.Phil. research (University of the Punjab, 2011–2013), quantifying aboveground tree carbon stock in the moist temperate Himalayan forest of Pakistan by combining field inventory with satellite remote sensing and GIS.
First International Conference on Emerging Trends in Earth and Environmental Sciences (ETEES), 2017
We quantified aboveground carbon storage in Ayubia National Park using field data, remote sensing, and GIS, estimating 252 tC/ha and demonstrating a scalable approach for carbon monitoring in Pakistan’s forests.
First International Conference on Emerging Trends in Earth and Environmental Sciences (ETEES), 2017
We developed a GIS-based framework for real-time water loss assessment and leakage detection in Faisalabad’s pipeline network, enabling accurate mapping of leak locations to support sustainable urban water management.
Journal of Geographic Information System, 2016
We applied GIS and AHP to identify and prioritize suitable landfill sites in Sahiwal, integrating land-use, environmental, and proximity criteria to ensure sustainable and eco-friendly solid waste management.
Pakistan Journal of Science, 2015
We analyzed Punjab University’s transit system using GIS-based service area modeling, revealing that only 26% of users live within an 8-minute walk to bus stops, highlighting critical gaps for future transport planning.
International Conference on Aerospace Science and Engineering (ICASE), 2013
International Conference on Aerospace Science and Engineering (ICASE), 2013
10th Meeting of the Saudi Society for Geosciences: Geosciences for Sustainable Development, 2013
We conducted drainage morphometry analysis of the Haro River basin using DEM and ArcGIS, identifying dendritic to semi-dendritic patterns and elongated basin shape with low flood potential.
Pakistan Journal of Science, 2013
We assessed accessibility of 11 neighborhood parks in Sheikhupura using GIS network analysis, finding they serve less than 11% of the population and highlighting gaps in spatial distribution for sustainable urban planning.
5th National Undergraduate Medical Research Fair, 2012
We mapped health facilities in Lahore against population distribution using GIS to assess how well the location of health services matches where people live.
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