Welcome to the International Cartographic Association
Welcome to the website of the International Cartographic AssociationGet to know the new ICA Executive Committee for the term 2023-2027
Welcome to the website of the International Cartographic Association
Get to know the new ICA Executive Committee for the term 2023-2027

Alluring bike journey visualisation reveals London’s hubs

The Commission on Geovisualization would like to bring to your attention the work of their member Jo Wood, City University London data visualisation specialist. He created stunning visualisations based on data from the first 5 million journeys made by riders on London’s cycle hire scheme, which were made the focus of a recent New Scientist story.

According to Prof Wood: “Visual analytics allows transport planners and organisations such as Transport for London (TfL) to make better informed decisions to support the movement of people around our cities.”

In the animation, the routes that are least travelled begin to fade out after 15 seconds akin to “a graphic equaliser”, according to collaborator Andrew Huddart, who is manager of the University’s Transport Collaborative Hub.

Around the 1-minute mark, three major systems begin to emerge: routes around, and through Hyde Park in West London and commutes in and out of King’s Cross St Pancras in the north together with bike traffic between Waterloo and the City, toward the east of the capital.

Andrew Huddart believes that the next level of the data visualisation analysis will be the addition of  anonymised user profiles which will provide more information about people’s use of bicycles over time, leading to a better placement of docking stations. This will also assist in balancing the load across the Barclays Cycle Hire network.

First meeting of the Commission on Neocartography

The Commission on Neocartography held its first official meeting following the annual conference of the Society of Cartographers in London earlier this month. The meeting was organised very openly – speakers were invited to “think broadly, and be interesting.” And interesting they were. Six talks shed light on the term of neocartography itself, as well as interesting and potential developments in the field – from psychogeography to experiential engagement.

The meeting is very well documented, so if you didn’t have a chance to attend, you are very welcome to…

Feel free to catch up and join the disucssion at neocartography.icaci.org.

Many thanks to Steve Chilton and the team from UCL for the smooth and friendly organisation of the event.

Latest news of the Commission on Neocartography

The first formal meeting of the Commission on Neocartography will take place on September 5 in London, UK. Steve Chilton organizes the session, which starts directly after the Society of Cartographers conference, and will be held from 3.45pm to 7.15pm at UCL. Details about program and registration can be found on the commission website: neocartography.icaci.org

Please note, that the commissions website also features an event, publications and research section. The commission invites everyone to share information about events, papers/books or research groups, which fall in the commission’s aims. To stay up-to-date, please consider subscribing to the comission’s RSS feed or email updates.

David Rhind is awarded the Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal

Professor David Rhind, Vice Chancellor at City University in London, occupies a unique position in the world of cartography and geographic information.  He was the first academic to become the Director General of Ordnance Survey of Britain, where he was instrumental in replacing analogue cartography with digital, which served as an inspiration for other countries as well as other entities within Britain.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (Britain’s National Academy of Sciences) and he is an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy (Britain’s National Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities). Has received the CBE award from the Queen and several honorary doctorates for his work as a geographer and cartographer.  He remains active in research and publishing and is the author (with three colleagues) of one of the world’s best-selling textbooks in the field, Geographic Information Systems and Science.

Professor Rhind currently chairs the UK Statistics Commission, which advises Parliament and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) on whether Britain’s official statistics are trustworthy.  It influences the allocation of many billions of pounds each year.

A former Vice President of ICA, Professor Rhind has been active in the field for many years, and he has served on numerous committees and boards.  He has been associated with various academic institutions in the past including Birkbeck College, University of London, and the University of Durham.  He also served as Head of the Applications Section in the forward-looking Experimental Cartography Unit, RCA.  He has been a visiting fellow at both ITC in the Netherlands and Australian National University.

He is well known internationally as well as within Britain and has served on numerous boards and committees, but he is also a keen thinker within the field, in recent years concentrating on the position and role of cartography in the Information (or Knowledge-Based) Society, especially in the topics of self financing, financial models and the harmonization of the GI and IT fields.

For his outstanding contributions to cartography and geographic information systems and his expansive role in the broader context of the field, for his productive publication record, and his seminal thinking within the field, the International Cartographic Association awards Vice Chancellor David Rhind its highest honors, the Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal.

Category: General News

Honorary Fellowship for Michael Wood

Michael Wood is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen and was previously on the faculty at the University of Glasgow. He is a cartographer who artfully combines skill in mapmaking with an agenda of scholarly publication and service. His publications in recent years have been focused on the position of cartography within the broader information and social terrain. He thinks on a broad scale about methodology of world cartography starting from its traditional roots to its modern communication and information paradigms and technologies in which we are seeing increasingly customized and individualized mapping.

Professor Wood was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science at Oxford Brookes University. His teaching includes mapping the environment, topographic mapping, cartographic visualization, and environmental remote sensing. Apart from his regular Departmental teaching and provision of adult evening lecture courses for the local region, he has designed and produced courses on mapping/GIS for various external groups – academic, local government, and commercial (especially oil companies). These courses have run on numerous occasions since the late 1970s. He is a frequent lecturer at professional cartographic events as well.

Professor Wood has served in such roles as external examiner and visiting lecturer on numerous occasions. He has served as President of the British Cartographic Society, member of the UK Committee for Cartography, Honorary President of the Society of Cartographers, and as Vice President, President, and Past President of ICA. During his tenure on the ICA Executive Committee, he was key in developing our Strategic Plan, a document and set of ideas that is guiding ICA into the 21st Century.
For his contributions to the discipline of cartography/GIS and his service to the discipline, and especially for his service to ICA in developing the Strategic Plan, the International Cartographic Association awards Professor Michael Wood its Honorary Fellowship.

Category: General News

Harold Fullard (1915–2001)

Harold Fullard and Roger Anson, Outgoing and Incoming Chairman of the Publications Committee in City dress.

Harold Fullard and Roger Anson, Outgoing and Incoming Chairman of the Publications Committee in City dress.

On February 1 2001 our colleague and friend Harold Fullard suddenly passed away.

He died from a heart attack in his beloved garden in Birkhampsted, Berkshire. Harold was born on 23 April 1915 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He read geography and anthropology at the University of Manchester and graduated in 1936. Equipped with this luggage he entered into the service of Publishers George Philip & Son, London, where he specialised in atlas cartography.

The war years inevitably interrupted this activity. Serving in the Royal Engineers Survey he was engaged in the mapping of Normandy and the Low Countries. In 1944 he was posted to India, then Ceylon and Singapore. He returned to Philip in 1946, where he climbed the ladder from geographical assistant to Director and Cartographic Editor in Chief. He retired officially in 1980 and continued to serve George Philip as consultant cartographer. During his career he prepared, edited and supervised the production of over 130 atlases, predominantly educational, covering many countries and most of them excelling in clarity and legibility. They were used by millions of people in schools, libraries and offices all over the world. In doing so, he became a man of international repute, whether modest Harold liked it or not!

Throughout his busy career he still made time for contributions to cartography in general. He was a founder member of the British Cartographic Society, was treasurer and council member from 1963–68,Vice-President in 1969, and President in 1970.

In addition, he was actively involved in the International Cartographic Association (ICA) from its foundation in the 1950’s. It will be obvious that his experience in international cartography proved to be extremely valuable for the consolidation and growth of the Association. He missed no Conference and by his lectures and writings he contributed to its prestige. For years he served as chairman of the ICA Publications Committee that he moulded into shape by revising its guidelines. During his chairmanship no less than 10 books, written by cartographers of diverging backgrounds and most of them drastically edited by Fullard, were added to the list of ICA Publications. The Seventh General Assembly of the Association, held in Perth, Australia in 1984, presented him with the Honorary Fellowship. On the national level the Royal Society presented him with the Murchison Award for his contribution to educational cartography.

Finally, in recognition of his many merits he was awarded an OBE in the 1980’s,after his retirement. We express our gratitude for all that Harold stood for and brought about and passed on to others. Finally we wish his dear wife Nancy, her two sons and daughter courage and strength to bear and overcome their loss.

F. J. Ormeling Snr.

Further reading: Honorary Fellowship for Harold Fullard

Category: General News

Honorary Fellowship for Christopher Board

Dr. Christopher Board stepped in upon the death of Dr. Lech Ratajski and guided the Commission of Cartographic Communication for seven years. He edited the ICA Newsletter during the past four years. In addition, he was one of the principal organizers of the ICA Conference in Bournemouth in 1991. In recognition of his many outstanding contributions to the ICA through his publications, commission and conference work, Christopher Board is awarded the ICA Honorary Fellowship.

Category: General News

Honorary Fellowship for Roger Anson

Roger Anson served fifteen years as chairman of the ICA Publications Committee.

He established a publication program and systematized the processes for the acceptance of manuscripts for ICA publications. He tirelessly sought authors and guided them through the process. Anson coordinated the ICA Newsletter with Bernard Gutsell for ten years. He has been a very active member of the Commission on Education and Training and has served as co-editor of the Basic Cartography series. In recognition of his many outstanding contributions to the ICA through his organizational work in the Publications Committee and commission work, Roger Anson is awarded the ICA Honorary Fellowship.

Category: General News

Honorary Fellowship for Harold Fullard

Harold Fullard and Roger Anson, Outgoing and Incoming Chairman of the Publications Committee in City dress.

Harold Fullard and Roger Anson, Outgoing and Incoming Chairman of the Publications Committee in City dress.

Born in a distant part of Europe, he was naturally surrounded by family interest in foreign lands and geography, and, as it happened prophetically, had a Philip’s globe for a ninth birthday present. At university he read Geography, Geology and Anthropology with a view to entering the Colonial Service but when entry to that Service was restricted, he turned to research in Anthropology, and then, in 1938, to Cartography when the firm of George Philip & Son in London required a Geographical Assistant to their Cartographic Editor.

The war years inevitably interrupted this activity. He served in the Royal Artillery in 1940, in the Royal Engineers (Field) in 1941–42 and in the Royal Engineers (Survey) 1942–1946. He was engaged in the mapping of Normandy from November 1942 to March 1944 using air photographs, in mapping and survey in Normandy, Belgium and Holland in 1944–45 and in air survey revision of German maps 1944–45. He was posted to India, then Ceylon and Singapore, for mapping of parts of S.E. Asia in 1945–46. He considers that he was indeed fortunate to have been in the R.E. Survey and to have worked, both during the war and since, with such skilled professional and practical men.

He returned to Philip in 1946 as Assistant Cartographic Editor, was made Cartographic Editor in 1955, and Director and Cartographic Editor in 1965 of both the publishing and printing companies of the Group. In 1969, he helped to establish Mitchell Beazley Ltd as a new and innovative publishing house in London, and, in 1970, to found and become a director of George Philip O’Neil Pty. in Melbourne. He retired officially in January 1980 and has continued to serve the firm as a consultant cartographer.

In the course of some forty years he edited for the firm, and through them for several other publishers throughout the world, educational atlases and maps, globes and relief models at all levels from primary to university. He also edited thematic atlases and maps of many kinds: geological, vegetation, climate, economic, historical, transport and navigational, and the Geographical Digest annually from its start in 1963 to 1980.

The Royal Geographical Society presented him with the Murchison Award in 1976 for contributions to educational cartography.

Throughout his busy career, he still made time for contributions to cartography in general. He was a founder member of the British Cartographic Society, was Treasurer and member of Council from 1963–1968, Vice-President in 1969, President in 1970, and was made Honorary Member of the Society in 1981. He attended the first general assembly of the ICA in Paris in 1962, lectured at the first technical meeting of the ICA in Frankfurt in 1967 and has participated in every biennial meeting since then. He has been a member of the Publications Committee of the ICA since its inception in 1974, and its chairman since 1976.

The ICA presented Harold Fullard with the Honorary Fellowship for his valuable contribution over the years, particulary in the capacity of chairman of the Publications Committee, during the Seventh General Assembly in Perth, Australia, 1984. On this occasion he was addressed by President Ormeling in the following way:

“There is one in our midst whose merits and achievements deserve special attention. When we established the Publications Committee in the early Seventies we had to find a capable chairman with experience in mapping and publishing who was also willing to undertake ICA duties. We found one in Britain in the person of Harold Fullard. By that time Fullard had been in mapping and publishing since 1938. As a young geographer he entered into the service of publishers Philip and Son, London, where he specialised in atlas cartography and climbed the ladder from geographical assistant to Director and Cartographic Editor in Chief. Since 1938, he prepared, edited and supervised the production of over 130 atlases, covering many countries and most of them excelling in clarity and legibility, used by millions of people in schools, libraries and offices all over the world. In doing so he became a man of international repute, whether he liked it or not. It is not ICA’s custom to advertise, not even to mention, names of commercial publishers but the combination of Philip-Fullard is so unusual that an exception to this rule seems to be justified.

We caught Fullard on the summit of his career, a happy state of affairs which continued to be effective for a long time. He was familiar with ICA as a participant of what is called in ICA history, the Chicago conference in 1958. He attended the birth of ICA and with his experience in international cartography he further served it in an excellent way. I even venture to say that if the experiment of the Publications Committee was successful, it was due to his effort. He moulded it into shape, drafted and revised its guidelines, chaired its meetings in his modest but efficient way, and reported to Executive Committee meetings and General Assemblies. Moreover he corresponded with authors with diverging backgrounds and experience in cartography; not always easy, as became obvious during the preparation of the publication Basic Cartography for Technicians and Students (1984), which, without Fullard’s assistance would not have appeared.

As a token of gratitude and respect, the Executive Committee upon recommendation of the Committee for the Selection of Award Recipients, has decided to confer the Honorary Fellowship of the Association to Harold Fullard and I am honoured to present him with the accompanying diploma which once more reflects our appreciation.

Speaking of evolution Fullard once said that specialisation leads to increasing lack of adaptability to changing circumstances and those unsuitable forms are doomed to be succeeded by simpler and more adaptable ones. “A bony fish” he said “can never evolve into any other form than bonier fishes”. The statement does not apply to the distinguished Fullard himself, as during his specialisation or perhaps better “bonification”, he never lost his range of vision and mental attitude which characterises the generalist. It was this combination that made him irreplaceable!”

 

Further reading: Obituary for Harold Fullard

Category: General News
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