President’s Blog: Report on EuroCarto 2024

From the 9th to the 11th of September 2024, the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) hosted the 4th European Cartographic Conference, EuroCarto 2024. The conference was endorsed by the International Cartographic Association (ICA) as Regional Cartographic Conference and jointly organized by the Research Unit Cartography at TU Wien, the German (DGfK), Austrian (ÖKK), Swiss (SGK), British (BCS) and Czech (ČKS) Cartographic Societies. Sponsored by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), the Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying (BEV), the browser-based GIS platform Atlas and the digital map data supplier Collins Bartholomew, the conference provided a forum for discussion, exchange, and research collaboration for cartographers and professionals in related disciplines.

Eleven pre-conference workshops, meetings, and a reception ceremony kicked off Eurocarto 2024 on Sunday, prior to the main conference days. The reception was officially opened by ICA President Prof. Georg Gartner, who delivered a welcome address followed by:

A keynote speech by Prof. Lorenz Hurni from ETH Zürich
A statement session from the presidents of the Cartographic Societies: Jochen Schiewe (DGfK), Mark Wigley (SGK), Alex Kent (BCS), and Václav Talhofer (ČKS)
Greetings from the EuroSDR President Wolfgang Gold
An insight session with Ester Scheck, during which early-career cartographers Lily Houtman, Luka Laval, Danai-Maria Kontou, Markéta Beitlová, Eliezer Fajardo Figueroa, and Merve Keskin shared their perspectives and experiences.

Over the following three days, 322 participants from 48 countries attended the conference in person. EuroCarto 2024 featured 187 oral presentations organized in triple-stream sessions and 33 poster presentations showcasing the latest research in cartography. Topics included Atlas Cartography, Cartographic Education, Perception and Cognition, Visualization and Design, and Collaborative Mapping, among others. The proceedings are available in the open-access Abstracts of the International Cartographic Association Series (Volume 7).

Besides the technical and scientific program, the conference offered social networking opportunities, including an ice-breaker reception at the opening ceremony, a conference dinner at Badeschiff Wien with “Food without Borders” and a farewell event. Additionally, participants could engage in side activities such as the “Vienna Mapped Out – a collective mapping experience” installation by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the “Vienna 360° / Wien 360°” map installation by Juliette Bricker, the Next Generation Cartographers Meetup, a startup meeting of the ICA working group on “Standards in Cartography,” and a guided city tour of Vienna.

At the closing ceremony, Thomas Schulz, Secretary-General and Treasurer of the ICA, recognized 11 early-career scientists and professionals in cartography and GIScience, presenting them with awards and scholarship certificates. Georg Gartner presented the EuroCarto 2024 Inspiring Presentation Awards, honouring Mihir Desai (1st place), Jakob Listabarth and Dirk Burghardt (2nd place), and Ken Field (3rd place). With these final recognitions, Georg Gartner officially closed the event, expressing his gratitude to all participants and organizers for making EuroCarto 2024 a memorable and successful conference.

A large number of overwhelmingly positive feedback and reactions demonstrated that the conference was successfully used for exchanging ideas, networking, gaining positive momentum and energy and simply to be part of the great family of cartography! It was especially remarkable, that so many young and early career scholars participated pro-actively in all conference elements!

For more insights and pictures of the event, visit www.eurocarto2024.org.

Category: President's Blog

Tag: Austria, EuroCarto

Invitation to the 19th International Conference on Location Based Services (LBS 2025)

Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (National Land Survey of Finland) and Aalto University are pleased to invite you to the 19th International Conference on Location Based Services (LBS2025), which will take place in Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland on 7-9 May 2025. The conference is a joint effort of the ICA Commission on Location Based Services, the Commission on Digital Transformation of National Mapping Agencies, and the Commission on Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization.

Built on the success of previous conferences in this series, LBS 2025 is addressed to scholars and researchers, digital industry / market operators, and students of different backgrounds (scientific, engineering and humanistic) whose work is either focused on or relevant to location-based services (LBS). The conference will offer a common ground to colleagues from various disciplines and practices where they can meet, interact and exchange knowledge, experience, plans and ideas on how LBS can and could be improved and on how it will influence both science and society.

Call for Papers

The Call for Papers is currently open. We call for full papers, work in progress, and showcases.

Important Dates

Deadline for full papers: 1.11.2024
Deadline for work in progress/abstracts: 1.2.2025
Deadline for showcases: 15.2.2024
Registration:
- Early bird: 31.3.2025
- Regular: 1.4.2025
LBS 2025 Conference, Otaniemi, Espoo: 7.–9.5.2025

Topics

We invite contributions in the following areas (but not limited to):

Geospatial Artificial intelligence (GeoAI) and LBS

Geography/GIScience-guided AI
Explainable GeoAI
GeoAI-enabled LBS

Context modelling and context-awareness

Smart environments and ambient spatial intelligence
Indoor spatial data modelling and mapping
Place modelling and understanding
Context modelling, personalisation, and context-aware adaptation

Mobile user interface and interaction

Visualisation techniques for LBS
Mobile human-computer interaction
Augmented reality and mixed reality

User studies and evaluation

Evaluation methodologies for LBS
User experiences of LBS
Mobile spatial cognition
Landmarks in LBS
Human wayfinding and navigation

Analysis, acquisition, management of location big data

Crowdsourcing and internet of things
Spatial data science and big data analytics
Computational mobility and activity analytics
Descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics
Ubiquitous Positioning

Outdoor and indoor positioning

Multi-sensor system and sensor fusion
Social and behavioural implications of LBS

Location privacy

Legal, ethical, and business aspects of LBS
Biases in location data analytics and GeoAI
Innovative LBS and applications

LBS and security

Disruptive technologies and LBS
Intelligent navigation systems
Smart cities and sustainable mobility
Autonomous and connected vehicles
Public health
Location based social networks and games
Digital humanities

More information regarding LBS 2025 can be found at lbsconference.org.

Category: Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization, Commission News, Digital Transformation of the National Mapping Agencies, Location Based Services

Tag: cfp, Finland

eCARTO News September 2024

eCARTO News captures the latest cartographic news and developments from around the world. If you have any general cartography items of interest then please email them to David Fraser, editor of eCARTO News.

Opportunities

Industry Solutions Manager, National Mapping & Charting USA – esri.com
Industry Solutions Specialist, National Mapping & Charting USA – esri.com
J.B. Harley Research Fellowships – maphistory.info
Curator of Maps Librarian – myworkdayjobs.com
‘It deserves to be called iconic’: London tube map creator’s archive goes up for sale – theguardian.com
Libraries to offer fall workshops on maps and GIS topics – psu.edu

Gatherings

Ethnolinguistic cartography (18th–21st centuries) in comparative perspective: genre, political conflicts, memory – cas.cz
Maps are too exciting – ox.ac.uk

Education & Training

Oxford Seminars in Cartography – bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Publications

Atlas of Design Volume 7 – Atlas of Design
Mapping New Zealand from Tasman to Cook – lutterworth.com
Mapping the State – uolpress.co.uk

The Need For Maps

European militaries rush to catch up on space traffic mapping – defensenews.com
New school mapping technology improving law enforcement emergency response time – cbsnews.com
Modern mapping at Mawson – antarctica.gov.au
Maps reveal how climate change could redraw national borders – prnewswire.com

Applications of Mapping

Continental mapping uncovers Australia’s hidden geology – ga.gov.au/
Civic body begins GIS, GPS mapping of trees – ribuneindia.com
Interactive map launched in bid to save the bittern – rnz.co.nz
Back Issues: Putting mayors on the map – thepost.co.nz
Researchers explore novel approach to map forest dieback in satellite images – phys.org
Oceanography, seafloor mapping and satellite combine to map world’s strongest current – csiro.au
Biodiversity tool maps ecosystem services – albertafarmexpress.ca

Maps, Atlases and Globes

Complex, Hidden Landscape Mapped a Mile under Greenland Ice – Scientific American
Giant interactive map of the Great Lakes – ottawa.ctvnews.ca
Map shows Australia before humans arrived – news.com.au

Industry

‘Time travel’: Google Maps unveils exciting new features for Street View – thenews.com.pk
Dynamic Map Platform Expands HD Map Coverage to 16 European Countries – businesswire.com
Google and Harvard unveil most detailed ever map of human brain – tbsnews.net

Out of this World

Astronomers unveil the most detailed map of the Milky Way – msn.com
CSIRO 3D mapping tech blasts off for International Space Station – csiro.au

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the weblink authors are their own and do not represent the official position of the ICA. The links are assembled for information and education purposes only.

Category: eCARTO News, General News

President’s Blog: Preparing for ICC 2025

Preparations for the International Cartographic Conference 2025 in Vancouver, Canada are under way!

The Local Organizing Committee, chaired by Emmanuel Stefanakis, met with the Executive Committee of ICA (here at the stunning Museum of Anthropology, a possible social event site) just recently to discuss plans and issues of what promises to be a great International Cartographic Conference, scheduled from August 16 to August 22, 2025!

The Local Organizing Committee with the ICA Executive Committee at the Museum of Anthropology

The Local Organizing Committee of ICC2025 with the ICA Executive Committee at the Museum of Anthropology

The Conference Venue, the Vancouver Convention Centre, can’t be more central. It is located right at the stunning downtown waterfront of Vancouver, close to Stanley Park and the famous Seawall. Several conference rooms of various sizes will allow to host several technical sessions as well as the Map- and Barbara-Petchenik-Children-Map Competition. Hotels of various price classes are basically around the corner. And, Vancouver seems to be a most promising city for social and side events and it can be expected, that visiting the ICC 2025 will lead to rich cartographic as well as touristic experiences!

The Local Organizing Committee consists of dedicated collegues from Academia, Governmental Agencies and Industry, including Emmanuel Stefanakis, Jonathan Li, Julia Siemer, Abolfazi Mostafavi, Saied Pirasteh, Suzana Dragicevic and Steve Westley. Canada has hosted International Cartographic Conferences before, and especially the ICC 1999 in Ottawa is still seen of many as eventually “one of the most successful conferences ever” and it seems as if Canada is accepting the challenge to try to beat this!

It is of particular interest, that the role of cartography in the context of the rich indigenous heritage and culture will play an important role at the conference as well as a focus on “mapping the arctic”, which perfectly underpins the theme of the conference as “Mapping the Future: Innovation, Inclusion, and Sustainability”.

So, it is now time to think about planning your participation! The Call for Papers will be released soon. You might want to make sure, that the Barbara-Petchenik-Children-Map Competition is processed in your country accordingly, and that “your” maps make it all the way to be part of the International Map Exhibition at Vancouver next year. And finally, you might want to consider becoming explicitly seen through becoming a sponsor of the ICC 2025.

Check out https://icc2025.com!

Category: President's Blog

Tag: Canada, ICC2025

Winners of the 2024 ICA-IMIA Recognition of Excellence in Cartography

Every year, two exemplary maps are chosen from the hundreds of entries in the Map Gallery of the Esri User Conference to receive the prestigious ICA-IMIA Recognition of Excellence in Cartography award. This award is jointly sponsored by the International Cartographic Association and the International Map Industry Association. Presented annually since 2016, this award promotes and recognizes excellence in map design and advancement in cartography. Judges select from all registered submissions in the Map Gallery the two maps that they have determined best exhibit excellence in all aspects of cartographic design and production.

This year’s winners are:

Redlining Makes Us Sick, authored by Melissa Alexander and Gena Falzon of Blue Cottage of CannonDesign. Here’s what the judges said about this winner: “A very powerful and effective map that delivers analysis and cartographic information by illustrating the different aspects of redlining.” See this StoryMap online at https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/events/uc/agenda/virtual-map-gallery#/submission-detail/34922.

Arctic Carbon Monitoring Network, authored by Christina Shintani of Woodwell Climate Research Center. Here’s what the judges said about this winner: “A great example of cartographic excellence: it’s a beautiful map that displays a complex environmental issue in an easy-to-interpret and well-thought-out design.” See a PDF of this map at https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/events/uc/agenda/virtual-map-gallery#/submission-detail/34949.

To see all the winners of the ICA-IMIA award, visit https://imiamaps.org/the-ica-imia-awards/. To see all of the maps in the 2024 Esri Map Gallery, visit https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/events/uc/agenda/virtual-map-gallery#/. And to see all of the map in all Esri Map Galleries, visit https://mapgallery.esri.com/.

Category: General News

Tag: ESRI, ICA-IMIA Award for Excellence in Cartography, IMIA

eCARTO News August 2024

eCARTO News captures the latest Cartographic and Geosciences’ news and developments from around the world.

With the eCARTO News editor being unavailable for all of August the following news links for ICA member countries have been extracted from the Internet. For some ICA member countries appropriate news links could not be discovered. If you have news links to share from your country please forward them to David Fraser, editor-eCARTO news, and they will be published in the September issue.

Argentina: Jaguar Conservation: Smart Maps Guide Ecosystem Revitalization in Argentina – esri.com
Australia: Investments to map Australian resources that will power our future prosperity – ga.gov.au
Austria:Researchers map Austria’s pig trade network for the first time – eurekalert.org
Bangladesh: Collaboration, Innovation Address Food Security Needs in Bangladesh with New Rice Mapping Method – cnr.ncsu.edu
Belgium: UAVs Across Europe: Commercial Drone Applications in Belgium – commercialuavnews.com
Benin: Benin leaps into 21st century with new national map – phys.org
Botswana: Ancestral homeland of modern humans in Botswana, study finds – aljazeera.com
Brazil: Brazil places itself at the center of the new world map – agenzianova.com
Bulgaria: A map of Bulgaria made of flowers presented in Washington – bnr.bg
Canada: Five Canadian cities can now be seen virtually on Google Maps – toronto.ctvnews.ca
Chile: Four gigantic mountains discovered underwater near Chile – kidsnews.com.au
China: US, China gearing up with big missions to map Moon’s water ice – indiatoday.in
Columbia: Marcus G. Langseth Maps the World’s Oceans – news.columbia.edu
Craotia: The oldest map of Croatia yet has been found in Venice’s State Archives – timeout.com
Cuba: Tsunami map strengthens disaster risk reduction in Cuba – plenglish.com
Cyprus: Archaeologists uncover Roman roads from ancient Cyprus – sydney.edu.au
Czechia: Here’s why the Czech Republic has changed its name to Czechia – timeout.com
Denmark: Danish Geodata Agency and EOMAP unite to map Denmark’s shallows – hydro-international.com
Ecuador: Drone and geospatial team becomes first to map the Coca River in the Amazon basin – phys.org
Estonia: Estonia gains 95 islands, but loses 4 square kilometers with updated map – news.err.ee
Finland: Military exercise apparently disrupts weather images from Lapland – yle.fi
France: A 4,000-year-old treasure map of France’s – arkeonews.net
Georgia: Georgia joins online mapping tool to reduce bee-killing ‘pesticide drift’ – gpb.org
Germany: German campaign aims to get youngsters excited about mapping and surveying – gim-international.com
Greece: Lost Ancient Greek Sky Map Discovered at Sinai Monastery – greekreporter.com
Hungary: MAP shows where you should never build anything ever in Hungary
dailynewshungary.com
India: ISRO scientists create the first undersea map of Ram Setu – timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Indonesia: Independent project steps in as government slow to map Indonesian ancestral lands – news.mongabay.com
Ireland: Irish peat soils are far more vast than previously known, suggests study – phys.org
Italy: A 2,500-year-old celestial map carved on the surface of a circular stone found in Italy – arkeonews.net
Japan: Intellias and ZENRIN to Deliver Japan Map Data at Global Scale – geospatialworld.net
Jordan: Jordan approves climate codes; maps 35 earthquake zones – jordannews.jo
Kenya: Site Maps For Slum Upgrade Ready – kenyanews.go.ke
Korea: On Korea’s streets, Naver beats Google – asianews.network
Latvia: Latvia Joins The MICHELIN Guide Collection! – guide.michelin.com
Lithuania: Apple Maps explores the streets of Lithuania, find out in which cities the Apple Maps car will appear – kaipkada.lt
Madagascar: Madatlas: digital cartography for Madagascar – univ-gustave-eiffel.fr
Malaysia: Study maps human uptake of microplastics across 109 countries – phys.org
Mexico: Researchers develop forest extent map for Mexico – phys.org
Mongolia: Finding Mongolia’s Glaciers – umt.edu
Montenegro: LabMA: Opening doors to diving Montenegro – divernet.com
Morocco: Ministry of Culture Launches Morocco’s First National Archaeological Map – moroccoworldnews.com
Mozambique: Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Mozambique – unesco.org
Netherlands: Thousands of Citizen Scientists Studying LiDAR Maps Have Found 1,000 Prehistoric Burial Mounds Across the Netherlands – news.artnet.com
New Zealand: Scientists map Lake Wānaka to better understand natural disaster risks – rnz.co.nz
Nigeria: ‘Nigeria still using 1966 map for survey’ – vanguardngr.com
North Macedonia: New Digital Elevation Models in North Macedonia – gim-international.com
Norway: Nationwide mapping of green infrastructure in Norway – nina.no
Pakistan: ADB asks Pakistan to use spatial mapping to mitigate damages – dawn.com
Poland: Polish Map of Scotland at Barony Castle marks anniversary – bordertelegraph.com
Portugal: New interactive map of PV projects in Portugal – pv-magazine.com
Romania: Romania’s geeks are mapping earthquake risk in EU’s highest-risk capital – aljazeera.com
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia Launches Project to Map Historical Sites of Renowned Arab Poets – dailynewsegypt.com
Slovenia: A new cycling trail leads 1250 miles through eight Balkan countries – lonelyplanet.com
South Africa: Mapping the Great African Seaforest – nature.com
Spain: Pretty Spanish town celebrates being wiped off Google Maps after overtourism chaos – express.co.uk
Sri Lanka: Adam’s Bridge: ISRO scientists create first undersea map of complete Ram Setu – deccanherald.com
Sweden: Mapping the mental border obstacles between Denmark and Sweden – nordiclabourjournal.org
Switzerland: Trekking Across Switzerland, Guided by Locals’ Hand-Drawn Maps – nytimes.com
Thailand: Man living in Thailand completes giant Isle of Wight map – countypress.co.uk
Trinidad and Tobago: Trinidad and Tobago’s Archaeological Heritage Mapped – miragenews.com
Türkiye: Türkiye to create digital maps of water bodies – hurriyetdailynews.com
United Kingdom: Explorer Matthew Flinders reburied at birthplace in United Kingdom after remains were lost for more than 160 years – abc.net.au
U.S.A.: Volcano Watch – usgs.gov
Uruguay: Presented the first map of offshore wind energy in Uruguay – evwind.es

Category: eCARTO News, General News

eCARTO News July 2024

Mapping the Environment

Colorado’s released wolves move away from Rocky Mountain National Park – coloradoan.com
Council launches interactive bushfire hazard zones map – newsofthearea.com.au
Mapping the great outdoors – nationalobserver.com
Ecology upgrades Washington air quality map in time for wildfire smoke season – ecology.wa.gov
How much will the ground shake? Scientists creating first detailed maps of Metro Vancouver’s earthquake hazards – vancouversun.com
Map: Northern lights could shine in some states amid minor geomagnetic storm – thehill.com

Citizen Mapping

Minnesota drivers help map out the hottest neighborhoods across the United States – kstp.com/kstp-news
Looking for input on Dolores Canyon National Conservation Area map – kkco11news.com
Advocates hope digital map makes Toronto art more accessible – cbc.ca
Who Maps the World? – bloomberg.com

Applications of Mapping

Collaboration To Push Boundaries Of Cosmos Mapping – miragenews.com
Map Shows Which States Produce the Most Olympians – newsweek.com
PhilSA releases map of possible oil spill extent in Bataan – manilastandard.net
Shocking map shows UK’s shoplifting hotspots – check where you live – express.co.uk
Tunisia to Pilot GIS Mapping for Public Health – africacdc.org
Map project compiles, geolocates Jasper wildfire footage – fitzhugh.ca
Map Shows States With the Tallest Men in the U.S. – newsweek.com
Map Shows Which States Drink the Most Beer – newsweek.com
Map shows “ice cream trail” in Massachusetts with more than 100 destinations – cbsnews.com

Industry

Google Maps vs. Apple Maps: Which is the better app in 2024? – fastcompany.com
Microsoft, Meta, and others release free global map data for developers – neowin.net
Apple Maps on the web launches in beta – apple.com
Microsoft-backed foundation releases open map data sets to rival Google – newsbytesapp.com
Progress in high-resolution vegetation mapping: China’s leap toward advanced environmental monitoring – phys.org