The International Cartographic Association has long been aware of its responsibilities in assisting developments of the discipline of cartography in all communities. The Commission on Underrepresented Groups and Cartography, a successor to the Commission on Gender and Cartography (last reported in this column in November 2005), is committed to encouraging ‘all under-represented groups to participate in all ICA activities'. Included are those from the developing world and young cartographers.

The ICA considers the latter two categories when making its biennial Travel Awards, offering young and financially under-resourced cartographers the opportunity to participate in International Cartographic Conferences. The scheme gave seven cartographers the chance to travel to the 2009 ICC in Santiago, Chile (report in last month's GIM).

The successful candidates submitted full papers and agreed to present their work in oral sessions. Małgorzata Wieczorek, a student at the University of Wrocław in Poland, presented ‘Werenskiold Glacier (SW Spitsbergen) - Morphometric Characteristics'. Victoria Molochko, from the State Scientific and Production Enterprise ‘Kartographia' in Kiev, Ukraine gave a richly illustrated account of ‘The System of Educational Geographical Atlases in Ukraine'; and Maria Alves de Castro, a geography graduate from the Universidad Nacional de Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, described a practical project entitled ‘Nitrates Pollution at the Hurlingham District Waters: Spatial Analysis with Geographic Information Systems'.

This map-based exercise examined underground water pollution and its effect on quality of life in the Buenos Aires suburb. Also from South America, Marcio Schmidt, of the Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil examined an ‘Expert System to Classify Semantic Information', aiming to assist the casual user in building maps according to correct design principles. Rodrigo Mora, who has studied in Santiago and in London, presented ‘Retrieving Hierarchical Information from Maps: The Role of Metric and Configurational Variables', which looked at the role of maps in urban navigation.

Tao Wang, from the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, gave the ‘Semantics of Contour Lines' Spatial Relation', an account of contour-line adjacency on the map face and its use in terrain analysis. Diallo Ngagne, a GIS specialist with the Cadastre in Senegal, submitted ‘A Diachronic Study on the Urban Growth of Dakar, 1988, 1998 and 2007', describing orthophoto-based mapping of the evolution of the urban capital of Senegal.

The Travel Awards represent a significant financial outlay for ICA, but their importance is clear; the future of the discipline depends on these world travellers.