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International Cartographic Association

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Abbreviation
  
ICA

Region served
  
Worldwide

President
  
Menno-Jan Kraak

Type
  
INGO

Official language
  
English, French

Formation
  
1959; 58 years ago (1959)

The International Cartographic Association (ICA) (French: Association Cartographique Internationale, ACI), is an organization formed of national member organizations, to provide a forum for issues and techniques in cartography and 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.

Contents

Presidents

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

Secretaries-General and Treasurers

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

Executive Committee

On 28 August 2015 member nations elected the new Executive Committee (EC) of the ICA for the 2015–2019 term. New ICA president is Menno-Jan Kraak.

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 in Early Warning and Crisis Management
  • Commission on Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization
  • Commission on Education and Training
  • Commission on Generalisation and Multiple Representation
  • Commission on Geospatial Analysis and Modeling
  • Commission on GI and Sustainability
  • Commission on History of Cartography
  • Commission on Location Based Services
  • Commission on Map Design
  • Commission on Map Production and Geoinformation Management
  • Commission on Map Projections
  • Commission on Maps and Graphics for Blind and Partially Sighted People
  • Commission on Maps and the Internet
  • Commission on Mountain Cartography
  • Commission on Open Source Geospatial Technologies
  • Commission on Planetary Cartography
  • Commission on SDI and Standards
  • Commission on Sensor Driven Mapping
  • Commission on Topographic Mapping
  • Commission on Toponymy
  • Commission on Ubiquitous Mapping
  • Commission on Use, User and Usaibility
  • Commission on Visual Analytics

    • 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.

    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 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.

    References

    International Cartographic Association Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA