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

President’s Blog: Africa

Visit to Botswana Department of Survey and Mapping

Visit to Botswana Department of Survey and Mapping

National Delegate of Botswana to ICA Lucy Phalaage and ICA President Georg Gartner in Goborone, June 2014

National Delegate of Botswana to ICA Lucy Phalaage and ICA President Georg Gartner in Goborone, June 2014

Given the fact, that I had the opportunity to recently visit Africa several times I am eager to share my experiences with you in terms of finding a continent with severe constraints but also significant opportunities. In this respect the importance of geospatial information management and cartography is recognized by more and more proponents within Africa and seen as a most important technology, capacity and instrument for the further development of societies and economies.

It is in this context that I was so impressed by getting in contact with many ambitious, motivated and excellent colleagues like from the Botswana Department of Survey and Mapping, which I was able to visit in July 2014 and give a half-day workshop on modern cartography, or with colleagues from South Africa and other African countries at the most successful AfricaGEO 2014 conference in July 2014, where a lot of surveyors, remote sensing experts, GI scientists and cartographers gather and shared their results, problems, methods and experiences on a high level, or with colleagues from Uganda, Ethiopia, Tunesia and other African countries, which are contacting ICA for several reasons, including their willingness to fully participate in the developments of modern cartography and GIScience.

It is without doubt, that for the International Cartographic Association Africa is and remains a major focus.

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