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

President’s Blog: Warning about fake emails

The digital world we are living in has great opportunities to interact and communicate for all of us. However, is also needs our literacy. This is true for digital maps, but this is very much true also for our default communication means.

Unfortunately, fake emails are sent out in the name of ICA, and especially in the name of the President Georg Gartner. Those mails ask eventually for money transfer, claiming that there is some kind of urgent situation.

Such emails might be seemingly sent from the email address president@icaci.org, but if you check the header of the e-mail you can reveal the real sender of the fake e-mail (e.g. presidentgl2023@gmail.com; it can happen that other similar email addresses have also been used).

Beware of scam mails by Mohamed Hassan via pxhere.com

Beware of scam mails (Graphic by Mohamed Hassan via pxhere.com)

If you are suspicious about a mail you receive in the name of ICA, please

  1. Check the header of the e-mail and find out if there might be other sender addresses.
  2. Be ensured, that an ICA representative like the president or the Secretary-General will not ask for money, support, help in personal, private occasions ever.
  3. Double check by contacting the president and/or secretary-general or ICA webmaster right away.
  4. Please do not react on the email, if there are attachments don’t open them unless you can be absolutely sure (see points above).
  5. Please delete the email.

We have tried to identify several means on helping with this, but unfortunately, we cannot fully avoid fraud and criminal energy like this, and it is very unfortunate that the ICA President’s name is misused in this way.

Georg Gartner

President’s Blog: A year full of opportunities

The year 2024 is full of opportunities for Cartography and ICA.

In the advent of artificial intelligence and more and more digitalization in all parts of our lives and societies the functions of maps as instruments which bring some kind of order to complex phenomena, which help us to gain spatial awareness, to understand and attract attention, to provide illustrative information intuitively and to provide trustworthy information is eventually more important than ever.

The International Cartographic Association (ICA) is therefore seeking on pro-actively fostering research, education and exchange in the domain of Cartography and GIScience through all its channels, such as the commissions, publication instruments or conferences.

For the later, 2024 brings a number of excellent opportunities to meet, exchange ideas, pre-sent new insights and maps and learn from scholars. You can check out the ICA commissions to participate in one of the commission activities in person.

ICA has taken patronage or expressed endorsement for the following events:



CAGIS + UCGIS Symposium 2024

Jun 3–Jun 6 2024, Columbus (USA)
cartogis.org/conferences/cagis2024/

9th International Conference on
Cartography and GIS
Jun 16–Jun 21 2024, Nessebar (Bulgaria)
iccgis2024.cartography-gis.com

Regional Cartographic Conference EuroCarto 2024
Sep 9–Sep 11, Vienna (Austria)
eurocarto2024.org


Regional Cartographic Conference AsiaCarto 2024
Dec 8–Dec 10, HongKong (China)
asiacarto.org/2024/

All of those conferences have their Call for Submission currently open and allow excellent opportunities to network, learn, exchange and simply advance our discipline further.

I am looking forward to meeting you there!

Georg Gartner

Season’s Greetings

Dear Friends of the International Cartographic Association,

The year 2023 was in many ways a successful year for cartography and the ICA. Our International Cartographic Conference 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa was a fabulous event.

The commissions, working groups and committees of ICA have enhanced their agenda further, discussed, brainstormed and presented ideas, concepts and new results.

Many maps, from children maps to the most contemporary innovative map services haven been developed and used.

Publications, such as in the International Journal of Cartography, present new insights on modern cartography aspects.

Maps becoming even more ubiquitous in our modern life and societies, and it is no surprise, as more and more digitalisation, automatisation is taking place, producing more and more data, and thus the need for abstractions, narratives and accentuated knowledge presentation like through maps become more relevant then ever.

I want to thank all of you, which take efforts and interest in the role and work of ICA, for this successful year.

The Executive Committee is looking forward to working with you in the upcoming year and wishes to express their best season’s greetings.

– Georg Gartner
President of the International Cartographic Association

President’s Blog: ICA as an Organization of Organizations

The International Cartographic Association is an organization of organizations. It is built upon its members, consisting of National Members and Affiliate Members.

What are members?

National Members are those national cartographic or geographical information organisations, national mapping and cadastral institutions, or coordinating national cartographic committees who wish to represent their nation as a member in ICA. Affiliate Members are organisations, institutions or companies wishing to support the mission and activities of the International Cartographic Association.

ICA has a long list of active members, which can be found at icaci.org/national-members and icaci.org/affiliate-members. Membership comes with a lot of benefits, the most important one as being an active and driving part of the mission, aims and scope of the world of cartography! Details about this can be found on icaci.org/membership-types.

What members do

It is important for ICA that our members flourish. Only if our members are strong, ICA can be a strong global voice for cartography. As the world is changing, the role of societies, institutions and associations is changing as well. In some of our member countries the representation of the national cartographic community might be decreasing, limited or changing. I want to therefore highlight from time to time some best practices and selected successful activities some of our members are pursuing. As I had the opportunity to participate in three recent events let me describe activities of the British Cartographic Society, the German Cartographic Society and the Hellenic (Greek) Cartographic Society as examples.

British Cartographic Society

On 20. September 2023 the British Cartographic Society (BCS) celebrated 60 years during their annual conference at Cambridge, UK. BCS has developed since its foundation 1963 a wide range of activities. To name a few highlights I want to mention publications, such as The Cartographic Journal as well as the magazine “Maplines”. To give map curators a home BCS is also providing a periodical newsletter called “Cartographitti”.  BCS has also developed a variety of awards for excellence in cartography, which are presented at the annual conferences. Those awards include entries for best map, printed maps, electronic maps, thematic maps, use of Ordnance Survey Data and 3D cartography as well as the Henry Johns Award for the most outstanding article published in the Cartographic Journal. On their website BCS provides also resources for education, including free data, software links and online support sites. Also, annual conferences are organized as well as so called “Tea Time Talks”, giving the members several opportunities to stay connected. It should be mentioned as well, that BCS has always been a key member of the International Cartographic Association, providing beneath two presidents (Deny Thackwell 1964-1968, Michael Wood 1995-1999) several Vice-Presidents, Commission Chairs and Map Enthusiasts!

During the celebrations of the 60th Anniversary I had the opportunity to address the members as well as hand over one of the BCS awards for excellence in cartography as well as hand over an ICA Map Exhibition Award Winner from ICC 2023.

Former SG David Fairbairn and former VP David Forrest enjoying the festive celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of BCS

Former SG David Fairbairn and former VP David Forrest enjoying the festive celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of BCS

Georg Gartner handing over the Stanfords Award to Luke Harvey (Harvey Maps) for the Map “Wales Coast Path”

Georg Gartner handing over the Stanfords Award to Luke Harvey (Harvey Maps) for the Map “Wales Coast Path”

Georg Gartner handing over the Certificate for the 2nd place of the International Cartographic Exhibition at ICC 2023 in the category “Map on Panel” for the entry “The World – Great Discoveries”

Georg Gartner handing over the Certificate for the 2nd place of the International Cartographic Exhibition at ICC 2023 in the category “Map on Panel” for the entry “The World – Great Discoveries”

German Cartographic Society

Cover of Kartographische Nachrichten

Cover of Kartographische Nachrichten

The German Cartographic Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kartographie, DGfK) has just recently organised it‘s 71. German Cartographic Conference (Deutscher Kartographentag). The DGfK was founded already in 1950 and has since then developed several activities to promote cartography, such as thematic commissions, regional sections, educational materials, symposia (such as the legendary “Arbeitskurse Niederdollendorf” and the follow-up events called “Symposium Practical Cartography”), or the annual german cartographic conference. DGfK is also awarding outstanding scholars with the very prestigious “Mercator-Medal”. The recently offered “CartoCafé” is a regular series of online lectures and presentations and has found its audience. DGfK is also organizing once a year a “new year event”, which has become a very popular meeting point. It has to be mentioned especially, that the society is running its own journal, the “Kartographische Nachrichten”. DGfK has been always a strong member and supporter of ICA, contributing with ideas, activities and persons to all the ICA activities over decades.

Hellenic Cartographic Society

The Hellenic Cartographic Society was established 1994 in Thessaloniki. Soon the organization developed as the main forum for cartographers in Greece, organizing since 1994 sixteen cartographic conferences all over the country. The society is most successful in reaching out to all main stakeholders of cartography in Greece, including National Agencies, Academia, Practicioners as well as companies. The HCS is a very active partner of ICA, contributing regularly to the Barbara Petchenik Map Competition, supporting actively the FIG/IHO/ICA International Board of Standards of Competence for Hydrographic Surveyors and Nautical Cartogaphers, being the founder and driver of the ICA Commission on Cartographic Heritage into the Digital, which also runs its own journal called “e-perimetron”.

Current President of HCS Chrysoula Boutoura, Former President and ICA Honorary Fellow Evangelos Livieratos and ICA President Georg Gartner at the Hellenic Cartographic Conference in Athens, November 2023

Current President of HCS Chrysoula Boutoura, Former President and ICA Honorary Fellow Evangelos Livieratos and ICA President Georg Gartner at the Hellenic Cartographic Conference in Athens, November 2023

Prof Evangelos Livieratos receiving a honourable professorship of University of Western Attica during the Hellenic Cartographic Conference November 2023

Prof Evangelos Livieratos receiving a honourable professorship of University of Western Attica during the Hellenic Cartographic Conference November 2023

President’s Blog: Joined activities of IMIA and ICA

ICA has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in place with the International Map Industry Assocation (IMIA). During the Frankfurt Book Fair common interests and joined activities of ICA and IMIA for the next yearshave been discussed and agreed upon between the Presidents Bridger DeVille (IMIA) and Georg Gartner (ICA). This will include sessions and presentations at symposia and conferences, panels and cooperation on major topics of concern such as trustworthiness of maps. A joined ICA-IMIA-ESRI Award for the Best Maps of the ESRI User Conference is already in place and demonstrate the mutual interests.

Bridger DeVille and Georg Gartner at the Frankfurt Book Fair

IMIA President Bridger DeVille and ICA President Georg Gartner at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Discussing joined activities of ICA and IMIA

Discussing joined activities of ICA and IMIA

– Georg Gartner
President of the International Cartographic Association

President’s Blog: A new dawn – the beginning of a new term in ICA

New ICA Executive Committee for the term 2023-2027

The International Cartographic Association sees a change of its “term” every fourth year. This change is a result of the discussions and decisions at the General Assembly of the national members of ICA. The most recent General Assembly (the 19th of ICA) took place during the (most successful) International Cartographic Conference 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa and decided on the main proponents of the new term, which will last from 2023 to 2027.

Let me introduce you to the new members of the Executive Committee:

    • President Georg Gartner (Austria)
    • Secretary General Thomas Schulz (Switzerland)
    • Past President Timothy Trainor (United States of America)
    • Vice President Serena Coetzee (South Africa)
    • Vice President Dariusz Dukaczewski (Poland)
    • Vice President Amy Griffin (Australia)
    • Vice President Haosheng Huang (Belgium)
    • Vice President Alex Kent (United Kingdom
    • Vice President Jiping Liu (China)
    • Vice President Dusan Petrovic (Slovenia)
Georg Gartner

Georg Gartner

Thomas Schulz

Thomas Schulz

Tim Trainor

Tim Trainor

Serena Coetzee

Serena Coetzee

Dariusz Dukaczewski

Dariusz Dukaczewski

Amy Griffin

Amy Griffin

Haosheng Huang

Haosheng Huang

Alex Kent

Alex Kent

Jiping Liu

Jiping Liu

Dušan Petrovič

Dušan Petrovič

This team has already met for the first Executive Committee meeting in Vienna and is keen to advance the International Cartographic Associations activities, instruments, aims and scope further. By doing so we are happy to build upon most successful former terms, such as the now ended with President Tim Trainor. We are highly grateful for all the work which has been done on behalf of ICA and we feel inspired to follow those paths!

– Georg Gartner
President of the International Cartographic Association

President’s Blog: Thanks for a great ICC2023

Dear ICA Colleagues,

Many friends just completed their participation in the 31st International Cartographic Conference (ICC) in Cape Town South Africa. It was a highly successful conference. We will offer different highlights with accompanying photographs to share with everyone in future blog posts. The opening ceremony was full of local South African culture interspersed with messages from the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, the National Research Foundation of South Africa and Sister Society representatives including the International Hydrographic Office. There were 845 delegates to the ICC, a higher number than anticipated. This was due in part to representation by 33 African countries. The high number was made possible by a concurrent meeting of Africa Region of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) and workshops offered by the SDG Data Alliance where both organizations took part in various aspects of the ICC program, including the five interesting keynote presentations. The conference was book-ended by the 19th General Assembly for the ICA. More on that in a future blog.

Tim Trainor
Immediate Past President

 

Tim Trainor, President of ICA and Morena Letsosa, President of ICC2023 at the Opening Ceremony
ICC2023 Opening Ceremony
ICC2023 Opening Ceremony
ICC2023 Opening Ceremony
Photos by Stephan Wondrak – thanks!

Passing of Igor Drecki, Editor, ICA News

Editor ICA News Igor DreckiIt is with a heavy heart that I inform our ICA community of the tragic passing of our dear friend and colleague, Igor Drecki from New Zealand, and his wife, Iwona. Igor served with distinction as the Editor of ICA News. Igor will be sadly missed by all. Our condolences go out to the family of Igor and Iwona. More details to follow as we learn them.

– Tim Trainor
President of the International Cartographic Association

For our national members: upcoming deadlines for the 31st ICC and 19th General Assembly

We kindly invite all our members to the 31st International Cartographic Conference (ICC2023) and to the 19th General Assembly of the International Cartographic Association! As you know, the conference, organised by the South African National Committee for ICA, will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 13 to 18 August 2023. All those active in cartography and geographic information sciences are warmly invited and encouraged to participate in this major event for our profession.

This is a reminder of important deadlines for our national members, which are soon coming up and cannot be extended. Please take note of these deadlines and act accordingly, if your country wants to actively participate in the conference and the future development of our Association through the next General Assembly.

Details about the different deadlines and tasks can be found in the following letters by the Secretary-General and Treasurer:

 

Summary of important upcoming dates for the ICC and General Assembly 2023

DateDeadlineReport to
NowContact for Barbara Petchenik CompetitionICA Commission
NowContact for International Cartographic ExhibitionLocal Organisers
12 March 2023ALL nominations to the General AssemblyICA Secretary-General
12 May 2023Agenda for the General Assembly availableAll delegates
15 May 2023Early-bird registration closesAll participants
15 May 2023International Cartographic ExhibitionLocal Organisers
15 May 2023Technical ExhibitionLocal Organisers
30 June 2023Name delegates for the General AssemblyICA Secretary-General
12 July 2023National ReportICA Secretary-General
31 July 2023ObituariesICA Secretary-General

Thomas Schulz
Secretary-General and Treasurer of ICA

President’s greetings: New Year’s Greetings for 2023

Despite numerous global crises including wars, which of course have affected us and some of our members greatly, this last year has also been fulfilling for the ICA. As we began to emerge from the pandemic throughout the year, more ICA activities became prominent as some of us were able to travel to meet one another once again. In future blogs, I will highlight a few of those events to bring everyone up-to-date. Currently, our colleagues in South Africa are very busy planning the next General Assembly and the 31st International Cartographic Conference in Cape Town from August 13–18, 2023. The ICA Executive Committee and the ICC2023 Local Organizing Committee are looking forward to seeing you in the beautiful city of Cape Town. And please, don’t forget to send in your abstract, if you want to present and share your scientific work in Cape Town. The deadline is 16 January 2023: https://icc2023.org

For the moment, on behalf of the ICA Executive Committee, we want to wish you and your family, colleagues, and friends peaceful holidays and all the best for 2023! We are looking forward to a very productive time with you in the coming year.

– Tim Trainor
President of the International Cartographic Association

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