Paris in July for Our Premier Event

The 25th International Cartographic Conference and 15th General Assembly of the International Cartographic Association will take place in Paris during the first week of July.  This is the premier quadrennial event of the association, and forms the major international meeting for cartographers and GI scientists in 2011.  A technically interesting, socially exciting and academically advanced week is promised for those who travel to Paris.  Full details are available on the conference website at 1.

Academic Schedule
The major component of the conference is the academic schedule, themed to cover every aspect of cartography and geographic information. Over five hundred papers will be presented orally, along with more than three hundred posters. A full review process, undertaken by local scientific committee along with experts from ICA Commissions and Working Groups, has resulted in presentation of the best sixteen papers in special issues of the ICA-recognised journals, The Cartographic Journal and Cartographica.  A further 65 top-rated papers will be presented in full in the first volume of a regular new series, Advances in Cartography and GIScience, to be published by Springer immediately prior to conference. This volume will function as something like a ‘yearbook of cartography’, presenting contemporary research sourced from premier international cartographers.

African Presence  
Papers for the ICC have been submitted from around the world, with approximately 15% in French, one of the two official languages of ICA. The concentrated promotion of the conference in Africa, much of which is francophone, will mean that there should be a significant presence from that important region. In addition to the standard parallel themes there will be special meetings and events; a regular session with national and regional mapping organisations, which form an important cohort of ICA membership; a half-day tribute to the celebrated French cartographer and designer Jacques Bertin, demonstrating the vital part he has played in establishing contemporary cartographic theory and practice;
a research students’ speed-presentation session; and a range
of interesting keynote speeches
from leading personalities.

Trade Show
The technical trade show will showcase the best and most innovative cartographic and GI data-handling equipment, software and applications.  Further exhibitions will include the extensive International Map Exhibition, which always inspires and delights cartographic visitors, and the biennial Barbara Petchenik Children’s Map Exhibition. Technical tours will allow delegates to visit the French IGN in its stunning new headquarters in Vincennes, the French National Library, the Research Institute for Development and, for the adventurous, the French Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service in distant Brest (Brittany).  

The social programme includes the usual evening ice-breaker and gala dinner activities, along with more informal orienteering in the Bois de Boulogne and a dawn walk along the original Paris Meridian line, led by an IGN geodesist.

Bienvenue à la conference cartographique international 2011!