The EuroCarto 2024 conference will take place from 9—11.9.2024 at Vienna, Austria. This conference will again see more then 180 contributions in oral presentations, posters and exhibitions demonstrating the wide range and contemporary character of cartography.

A number of pre-conference workshops are offered on Sunday, September 8, 2024 at TU Wien for the conference participants, covering a wide range of contemporary and highly relevant topics of cartography to be discussed in an interactive manner. I am sure there is something interesting for every cartographer included!

Barrier-Free Cartography

The ICA’s Working Group on Inclusive Cartography was established earlier this year to continue and extend the work of the former Commission on Maps and Graphics for Blind and Partially Sighted People. The primary objective of this working group is to advance the accessibility of cartographic products to all users and communities.

The idea is that special needs are not strictly related to physical aspects, and can also be related to social and educational aspects. These are also reflected in the UN’s SDGs that aim to “…ensuring that no one is left behind…”. Individuals with special needs remain underrepresented in the field of cartography. This underrepresentation may stem from the intricate and nuanced nature of their requirements, coupled with the need for highly tailored solutions. But what exactly are their needs? How can we define, develop, and promote barrier-free cartography, and who are the users that will benefit from accessible maps? We aim to provide a forum to address these questions and provide answers during the barrier-free cartography workshop.

Building the road to AI – how cartography links data integration, meaning and geospatial knowledge transmission

All countries need geospatial information to address their national strategic priorities. However, all countries have different levels of geospatial maturity. The United Nations Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (UN-IGIF) provides a basis and guide for developing, integrating and strengthening national arrangements in geospatial information management.

In this workshop, hosted by the ICA Commission on Integrated Geospatial Information for Cartography and Commission on Topographic Mapping, you will learn more about the development and activities of the UN-GGIM and UN-IGIF, how countries across Europe can adopt and implement the framework, how data can be provided via national Geoportals and how cartography builds the road to AI.

Collaborative mapping of commissions beyond the International Cartographic Association (ICA)

This workshop will allow participants to critically evaluate a landscape of map conceptions shaped by the ICA commissions. Drawing upon the work of the Iconoclasistas collective, the conception of a map as a collaborative practice will be explored. Through participatory methods, this workshop will reveal cartographic spaces where the ICA has yet to venture, both geographically and epistemologically.

Indoor location-based services (Indoor LBS)

The research on indoor LBS is not trivial. On the one hand, its design closely depends on both indoor themes (e.g., airports, shopping malls) and target users (e.g., passengers under time pressure, visually impaired customers). Therefore, there is a huge need to investigate the indoor LBS requirements and guarantee its usability. On the other hand, the emergence of agents, such as air drones and service robots, results in more diverse indoor LBS with various indoor map formats, including floor plans, BIM models, depth images, and point clouds. However, this is also challenging to communicate indoor spatial information among different agents and collaboratively provide indoor LBS for human users as well as other agents. The workshop is organized by the ICA Commission on Location Based Services.

Mapping Future Courses: Bridging Old and New in Cartographic Education for Europe

The ICA Commission on Education and Training, the ICA WG on Cartographic Body of Knowledge, and the ICA Commission on Digital Transformation of National Mapping Agencies are organizing a workshop, Mapping Future Courses: Bridging Old and New in Cartographic Education for Europe. The workshop brings together experts to share their latest thoughts and best practices on how to include new digital technologies and tools in cartographic education, including GIS, remote sensing and geomatics education. It will be a combination of oral presentations and live discussions.

Multiperspective Cartography in Conflict Visualisation

This workshop explores approaches, potentials and limitations of visualising multiple perspectives in peace and conflict cartography. It addresses complexities and uncertainties in how maps politicise space, and challenges in integrating critical perspectives in day-to-day cartographic research and practice. The engagement of maps with multiple perspectives is expected to enable discussions on scientific authority, transparency, and trustworthiness, as well as inclusion of bottom up and personal perspectives. The workshop takes up a reflective practice approach, starting from discussing existing examples of multiperspectivity in maps and visualisations (via short presentations). From there, participants work in groups on collecting and reviewing cartographic practices that engage with multiple perspectives in terms of both map analysis and production. The workshop aims to deliver an outline of a multiperspective approach to visualising peace and conflict, with the ambition of gathering a cartographic community around the topic.

Online User Experiments: Seeing What Map Users See without Seeing Them

This workshop is designed for researchers, practitioners, and students interested in conducting online user experiments in cartography with a special focus on webcam eye tracking to study map users’ behavior. Building up from a previous ICA workshop on “Workshop on Adaptable Research Methods For Empirical Research with Map Users”, we aim to collaboratively explore the possibilities and boundaries of the current state of conducting online experiments to inform cartographic practice and map use. This workshop represents the joint efforts of the ICA Commissions on Geovisualization and User Experience (UX).

Participatory mapping – new approaches and technologies

Participatory mapping, a widely employed geographical method across disciplines, remains relatively underexplored within the International Cartographic Association. This workshop seeks to introduce three distinct participatory mapping apps/approaches: an in-situ participatory mobile app, a web-based participatory mapping tool, and a paper-based “paper2GIS” style app. Each method has the potential to target diverse groups and serve different mapping purposes.

Storytelling with Geographical Visualization

This workshop explores how we express and communicate a current issue to a wide audience by visualizing geographical data. After an introductory talk on the implementation of cartographic design principles in data journalism (20 min), groups of participants will be given the task of devising a method for mapping a current issue using datasets, contextual maps, and drawing materials provided (70 min). After the activity, participants will be encouraged to feedback on their approach and discuss their decisions over the methods of representation chosen (30 min). The workshop provides an opportunity to discuss ways of visualizing data within the context of a current issue and by deliberately eliminating the need for technical skills in particular software. The workshop is therefore designed to maximise inclusivity (encouraging multinational and transgenerational participation) and to allow a greater focus on the process of creativity in exploring approaches to cartographic representation.

The Future of Atlases

In this workshop, hosted by the ICA Commission on Atlases, we want to rethink atlases and develop new approaches to both atlas production and atlas research – focal points of the Atlas Commission’s work. We believe it’s about recombining content structures, technical developments, geographical information and the re-organisation of knowledge. We would like to approach this by answering the following questions:

• What will be the elements (or aspects) of an atlas of the future?
• How will atlases of the future be technically realised?
• What other aspects need to be taken into account in the future?
• What research topics need to be focused to scientifically support these points?

Web Cartography Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

The main goal of the workshop is to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration among experts and stakeholders in the field of AI-enabled web cartography, to inspire participants to develop innovative solutions and projects in the field and to promote advancement in web cartography education through the responsible use of AI. During the interactive workshop, we will share experiences, challenges and examples of good practice in this dynamically developing field. The workshop will take the form of an interactive discussion to encourage active participation of all participants.

This workshop is organized by the Chair of the ICA Commission on Maps and the Internet.

One workshop will already take place on Saturday, Septemer 7 in Warsaw, Poland:

ICA Workshop on AI, Geovisualization, and Analytical Reasoning

This workshop is intended to relate to supporting geovisualization and analytical reasoning, including approaches that leverage AI methods applied at various stages: data processing, analysis, visualization generation and interpretation, as well as support in user perception interpretation.

For more details on the workshop in Warsaw, visit the CartoVis24 website.

For more details on all EuroCarto 2024 workshops, visit eurocarto2024.org/workshop-programme