UrbanGeoEval: A City-Scale Benchmark for Evaluating Large Language Models in Geospatial Reasoning

AbstractCurrent evaluations of geospatial reasoning in LLMs are frequently impeded by the entanglement of factual recall and spatial logic, which often obscures the models’ true capabilities in complex city-scale environments. To address this, we introduce UrbanGeoEval, a comprehensive benchmark featuring a dual-module framework designed to disentangle these competencies. The Knowledge Module assesses urban memory via scalable map-based queries, while the Reasoning Module isolates pure logical inference across 3,148 realistic tasks by providing necessary geospatial context. Unlike prior benchmarks that hand the model pre-computed spatial text, UrbanGeoEval provides raw geometry and forces the model to act as a spatial computing engine. Our evaluation methodology introduces a reliable hybrid pipeline that merges deterministic programmatic checks with an LLM-as-a-Judge, achieving expert-level evaluation accuracy. Extensive experiments on 18 widely used LLMs uncover critical insights: (1) models exhibit severe geographic biases and resolution gaps; (2) failures in complex multi-hop tasks often stem from brittle foundational spatial skills rather than high-level logic deficits. UrbanGeoEval provides a precise diagnostic tool for advancing urban geospatial intelligence in LLMs.