Contact Information

• Email: xiongliyang@njnu.edu.cn
• Mailing Address: School of Geography Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, 1 Wenyuan Road

Educational Background

• Ph.D. in Cartography and GIS, Nanjing Normal University, 2015
• B.S., Northwestern University, majoring in Geographic Information Systems, 2010
• B.S., Northwestern University, 2010, majoring in Computer Application Software.

Research Experience

• 2023-Present, Nanjing Normal University, School of Geographic Sciences, Professor
• 2017-2023, Nanjing Normal University, School of Geographic Sciences, Associate Professor
• 2015-2017, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Postdoctoral Fellow, USA

Main Research Interests

• GIS Spatial Analysis, Digital Terrain Modeling and Analysis, Landscape Evolution Modeling and Simulation

Academic Affiliations

•  Vice Chair, Natural Resources Information System Research Committee, Chinese Society for Natural Resources (2024–)
• Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Geographical Information Science (2024–)
• Co-Chair, Education and Capability Building Working Group, International Society for Digital Earth (2023-)
• Associate Editor, Journal of Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (2023-)
• Secretary General, Virtual Teaching and Research Office of Geographic Information Science Program, Ministry of Education (2022-)
• Secretary General, Education Working Committee, China Geographic Information Industry Association (2021-)
• Deputy Secretary General, Council of Remote Sensing and GIS Society of Jiangsu Province (2020-)
• Vice Chairman, Digital Mountain Specialized Committee, International Society for Digital Earth (2017-)

Honors and Awards

• Ministry of Education 2024 Yangtze River Scholars Program Young Scholars
• National Teaching Achievement Award, Second Prize Winner (Ranked 10th), 2023
• Top Ten Young Teachers of Nanjing Normal University, 2023
• Outstanding Young Backbone Teachers of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions under the "Green and Blue Project", 2022
• Outstanding Teacher Award, Nanjing Normal University, 2022
• Teaching Master and Teaching Team Member of Civics and Politics Program of the Ministry of Education (ranked 5th), 2021
• Second Prize of the First Teaching Innovation Competition for College Teachers in Jiangsu Province, 2021
• Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Science and Technology Award for Youth in Jiangsu Province, 2018
• New Talent Award of GIS in Colleges and Universities, 2018
• Nanjing Normal University "Young and Middle-aged Leading Talents" Young Academic Backbone, 2018
• Second Prize of Natural Science Award of the Ministry of Education (ranked eighth), 2017
• National GIS Young Teachers' Lecture Competition Grand Prize, 2017
• Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of Jiangsu Province, 2016

10 representative publications (corresponding author)

• 1.    Li-Yang Xiong, Guo-An Tang. Loess Landform Inheritance: Modeling and Discovery. SPRINGER, 2019 (Monograph in English).
• 2.    Xiong LY, Li SJ, Hu GH, Wang K, Chen M, Zhu AX, Tang GA. 2023. Past rainfall-driven erosion on the Chinese loess plateau inferred from archaeological evidence from Wucheng City, Shanxi. Communications Earth & Environment, 4, 4. 
• 3.    Xiong L, Li S, Tang G, Strobl J. 2022. Geomorphometry and terrain analysis: Data, methods, platforms and applications. Earth-Science Reviews, 233, 104191.
• 4.    Xiong L, Li S, Wang H, Chen J, Yu F, Shen N, & Tang G. 2025. Towards the next generation of digital terrain modelling and analysis: New value-added perspective for geoscience. Information Geography, 1(1), 100017.
• 5.    Xiong Liyang, Tang Guoan, Yang Xin, Li Fayuan. 2021. Research Progress and Prospects in Digital Terrain Analysis for Geomorphological Origins. Acta Geographica Sinica, 76(03):595-611.
• 6.    Xiong LY, Tang GA, Zhu AX, Qian YQ. 2017. A peak-cluster assessment method for the identification of upland planation surfaces. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 31(2), 387-404.
• 7.    Xiong Liyang, Tang Guoan, Yuan Baoyin, Lu Zhongchen, Li Fayuan, Zhang Lei. 2014. Inheritance-Based Study on Landform Evolution in Key Erosion Areas of the Loess Plateau Using DEM. Science China Series D: Earth Sciences, 44: 313–321.
• 8.    Yu F, Xiong L*, Wang H, Tang G, Strobl J. 2025. A global scale submarine landform dataset driven by terrain knowledge. Scientific Data, 12, 870.
• 9.    Li S, Hu G, Cheng X, Xiong L*, Tang G, Strobl J. 2022. Integrating topographic knowledge into deep learning for the void-filling of digital elevation models. Remote Sensing of Environment, 269, 112818.
• 10.    Chen J, Xiong L*, Yin B, Hu G, Tang G. 2023. Integrating topographic knowledge into point cloud simplification for terrain modelling. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 37 (5), 988-1008.

Major research projects undertaken (participated)

• January 2024–December 2027, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) General Program Project (Research on Geometric Vector-Based Terrain Analysis Models) (Principal Investigator)
• January 2020–December 2023, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) General Program Project (Research on the Development and Evolution of Loess Gully Landforms Based on Gully Profile Clusters) (Principal Investigator)
•  January 2017–December 2019, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Young Scientist Fund Project (Study on the Inheritance of Loess Landforms on the Loess Plateau Based on DEM) (Principal Investigator)
• January 2020–December 2024, NSFC Key Project (Research on Digital Terrain Analysis Theories and Methods for Geomorphological Origins) (Project Participant)

Authorised Patents and Software

• 1. Xiong Liyang, Shen Wang. A Geometric Vector-Based Method for Dynamic Simulation of River Terrain. Chinese Patent (ZL 2024 10017887.9), Granted
• 2. Li Ke, Xiong Liyang, Tang Guoan. A Virtual Terrain Generation Method Based on Terrain Features. Chinese Patent (ZL 2019 10542296.2), Granted
• 3. Hu Guanghui, Xiong Liyang. A Method for Calculating Second-Order Terrain Factors of DEM Based on Mathematical Vector Geometry. Chinese Patent (ZL 2018 11633316.9), Granted
• 4. Zhao Fei, Xiong Liyang, Dai Wen, Tang Guoan. Method for Automatic Extraction of Terraced Fields Based on High-Precision UAV-Acquired DEM Data. Chinese Patent (ZL 2019 10729929.0), Granted