ICA undertakes most of its research and investigative work through its Commissions and Working Groups (listed alongside). The Commissions are approved by the ICA General Assembly and address a range of general topics relating to the practice and application of cartography throughout the world and in collaboration with numerous disciplines. The Working Groups (WGs) are approved by the ICA Executive Committee (EC) and are considered more ad hoc in their approach to specific topics on a shorter-term basis. Many Commissions originated as Working Groups.

The EC has recently approved the establishment of a Working Group on Open Source Geospatial Technologies which aims to promote multi-national holistic research into open-source geospatial technologies so as to make accessible to the wider cartographic community the latest developments in open-source tools. The WG attempts to enhance usage of open-source geospatial tools among the international cartographic community, especially for education, and it will also promote the use of professional and technical standards (ISO TC 211, OGC) for the development of open-source geospatial software.

The Terms of Reference of the WG on Open Source Geospatial Technologies include:

• to promote the widespread use of open-source geospatial software

• to provide support for the use of open-source geospatial software in education through relevant publications

• to organise conferences, workshops and training sessions for open-source geospatial technologies

• to organise special lectures and demonstrations on open-source geospatial technologies

• to make open-source geospatial software more accessible to end users

• to serve as a network for ICA members interested in open-source geospatial technologies via mailing lists, wiki etc

• through collaboration with other ICA Commissions and Working Groups to promote coordination with different open-source geospatial organisations, such as the Open Source Geospatial Foundation, and developer communities

• to develop and keep updated the working group's website for dissemination of its activities

• to produce annual reports of working-group activities.

Activities

The WG has already embarked on a programme of activities. Chairing the group is Suchith Anand of the University of Nottingham, UK, and co-chair is Prof. Thierry Badard of Laval University, Canada. A WG website has been set up at Laval (see 1), which includes instructions on how to join the mailing list. One major activity for 2009 will be active WG participation in the First Open Source GIS UK Conference on 22^nd June 2009 at the Centre for Geospatial Science, University of Nottingham ( 2). This conference promises to highlight the rapid progress and fascinating opportunities for geospatial scientists, including cartographers, in the burgeoning world of open-source systems and software development.