The International Cartographic Association (ICA) (, ACI) is an organization formed of national member organizations, to provide a forum for issues and techniques in cartography and geographic information science (GIScience). ICA was founded on June 9, 1959, in Bern, Switzerland. The first General Assembly was held in Paris in 1961. The mission of the International Cartographic Association is to promote the disciplines and professions of cartography and GIScience in an international context. To achieve these aims, the ICA works with national and international governmental and commercial bodies, and with other international scientific societies.

Leadership

Presidents The first president, Eduard Imhof of Switzerland was heavily involved in founding the association.

Term President From country 2023- Georg Gartner (de) 2019-2023 Tim Trainor 2015-2019 Menno-Jan Kraak 2011-2015 Georg Gartner (de) 2007-2011 William Cartwright 2003-2007 Milan Konečný (cs) 1999-2003 Bengt Rystedt (sv) 1995-1999 Michael Wood 1987-1995 D. R. Fraser Taylor 1984-1987 Joel Morrison 1976-1984 Ferdinand Jan Ormeling Sr. 1972-1976 Arthur H. Robinson 1968-1972 Konstantin Salichtchev (ru) 1964-1968 Denys Thackwell 1961-1964 Eduard Imhof

Secretaries-General and Treasurers The Secretary-General and Treasurer is responsible for the administration and the general running of the Association.

Term Name Nationality 2019-... Thomas Schulz 2011-2019 László Zentai 2007-2011 David Fairbairn 1999-2007 Ferjan Ormeling Jr. 1991-1999 Jean-Philippe Grélot 1984-1991 Donald T. Pearce 1976-1984 Olof W. Hedbom 1968-1976 Ferdinand Jan Ormeling Sr. 1961-1964 Erwin Gigas

Executive committee On 20 July 2019 member nations elected the new Executive Committee (EC) of the ICA for the 2019–2023 term. New ICA president is Tim Trainor.

Commissions

To coordinate international cartographic work Commissions and Working Groups have been established. These are chaired by experts in a specific field of cartography and comprise members from the international Cartography and GIScience community.

Commission on Art and Cartography Commission on Atlases Commission on Cartographic Heritage into the Digital Commission on Cartography and Children Commission on Cartography and Sustainable Development Commission on Cartography in Early Warning and Crisis Management Commission on Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization Commission on Digital Transformation of National Mapping Agencies Commission on Education and Training Commission on Ethics in Cartography Commission on GeoAI Commission on Geospatial Analysis and Modeling Commission on Geospatial Data Analytics Commission on Geospatial Semantics and Ontology Commission on Geovisualization Commission on High-Definition Maps Commission on Integrated Geospatial Information for Cartography Commission on Location Based Services Commission on Map Design Commission on Map Projections Commission on Maps and the Internet Commission on Marine Cartography Commission on Mountain Cartography Commission on Multi-scale Cartography Commission on Topographic Mapping Commission on Toponymy (ICA-IGU joint commission) Commission on Ubiquitous Mapping Commission on User Experience

Working groups

Working Group on the Cartographic Body of Knowledge Working Group on Inclusive Cartography Working Group Next Generation Cartographers Working Group on Participatory Mapping Working Group on Peace and Conflict Cartography Working Group on Standardisation in Cartography

Members ICA allows two types of memberships: Affiliate members are organisations, institutions or companies wishing to support the mission and activities of ICA. National members are national organizations dealing with cartography or geoinformation, such as national mapping agencies.

Conferences International Cartographic Conferences (ICC) take place every second year in one of the member countries. At every second conference (every fourth year) it hosts the General Assembly of the ICA.

ICC Conferences

Awards

Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal

The Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal honours cartographers of outstanding merit who have made significant contributions of an original nature to the field of cartography. It is awarded only on rare occasions. The award is named after the Swedish cartographer, Carl Mannerfelt, who in 1981 won the prize named after him.

Recipients ICA

Name Nationality Year Cynthia Brewer United States 2023 D. R. Fraser Taylor Canada 2013 Ferjan Ormeling Jr. The Netherlands 2009 Jack Dangermond United States of America 2007 David Rhind United Kingdom 2005 Ernst Spiess Switzerland 2005 Chen Shupeng China 2001 Joel L. Morrison United States of America 2001 Jacques Bertin France 1999 Ferdinand Jan Ormeling Sr. The Netherlands 1987 Carl Mannerfelt Sweden 1981 Arthur H. Robinson United States of America 1980 Konstantin A. Salichtchev Soviet Union 1980 Eduard Imhof Switzerland 1979–1980

ICA Honorary Fellowship The ICA Honorary Fellowship is for cartographers of international reputation who have made special contribution to the ICA. It includes a bronze medal.

ICA Map Awards at the International Map Exhibition At the biennial International Map Exhibitions at the ICC an international jury selects the best entries.

Barbara Petchenik International Children Map Design Competition This competition is organized every two years at the ICC. In a national round in all participating ICA member countries, the national winners are selected, which are exhibited during the International Cartographic Conference, where the international winners are selected.

Publications

ICA offers a number of publications. Its official journal is the International Journal of Cartography (print ; online ), published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of ICA. It also has three affiliated journals: The Cartographic Journal Cartographica Cartography and Geographic Information Science

See also Commission on Maps and the Internet List of geography awards

References

External links ICA web site