ICC Newsletters

International Cartographic Conference (ICC) newsletters were designed to keep the delegates updated with conference events and provide a record of ICC highlights.

ICC 1999 Newsletter

ICC 1999 Newsletter

At ICC 1999 held in Ottawa, 14 to 21 August, six newsletter were produced during the event, the first appearing on Monday, 16 August 1999 – the first day of the conference. They were available at 8am each day at the sites in the Ottawa Congress Centre and near the meeting rooms in the Westin Hotel, the ICC 1999 venues. Articles were published in English and French, as provided by the reporters. An additional post-conference edition was produced containing statistics from Ottawa ICC 1999, results from the International Cartographic Exhibition and Barbara Petchenik Children’s World Map awards, a photo-gallery from the event as well as an invitation to ICC 2001 to be held in Beijing.

The conference newsletter was also issued at the ICC 2003 held in Durban, 10-16 August. There were two issues published, first appearing on 13 August. It included highlights from the first few days of the conference programme.

We would appreciate hearing back from anyone that could help us in sourcing ICC newsletters from other ICA conferences if they indeed were issued.

ICC Posters

Posters are one of the traditions of the International Cartographic Conferences (ICC). They encapsulate the design flavor of a host nation and are visually engaging. They often incorporate cartographic elements making them unique and familiar. Some posters were produced exclusively for events run in conjunction with ICCs, such as the International Cartographic Exhibition, others to convey the conference theme.

Poster from ICC 1980

The earliest poster in our collection is from the ICC 1980 held in Tokyo. It was created for the International Exhibition on Cartography and Geography run in conjunction with the main conference. Its design, incorporating a stunning three-dimensional map, is captivating and uniquely Japanese. The Working Group also has posters from ICCs held in Barcelona (1995), Ottawa (1999), Durban (2003), A Coruña (2005), Paris (2011) and Dresden (2013).

We would appreciate hearing back from anyone that could help us in sourcing posters from remaining ICA conferences, as well as exhibitions, commission meetings and other ICA events.

ICA Bulletin

The ICA’s official newsletter is 58 years old! In a report from the 1st General Assembly of ICA, published in the Internationales Jahrbuch für Kartographie (Band 1, 1961, pp 195-199), we can find the following note:

Every member-nation presented a report on its cartographic activity. These reports, certain other papers and addresses will be published in an I.C.A. Bulletin, which is to be edited by Professor Gigas.

ICA Bulletin No 1, 1962

Indeed, a year later Erwin Gigas, then Secretary General and Treasurer, edited and published the first two ICA Bulletins. A further two issues were released in 1963 and, as it turned out, these would be the last newsletters published exclusively by the ICA for another 20 years.

Thanks to Anja Hopfstock and Monika Sester (Germany) who provided us with digital copies, we can learn that the first two issues were devoted to the 1st ICA General Assembly held in Paris. Bulletin No 1 contained forewords, greetings, an opening address, and notes on the creation of the ICA. The main feature though was the full text of the Statutes of the International Cartographic Association adopted in Paris. Bulletin No 2 was entirely devoted to National Reports received from 23 national members at the General Assembly.

ICA Bulletins No 3 and 4 served as proceedings from the 1st Technical Conference of the ICA held in Frankfurt am Main, 10-15 September 1962, containing 27 papers. The conference focused on the problems of Generalization and Revision of Maps and was attended by more than 100 participants from 19 countries.

Minutes of General Assemblies

The Working Group is seeking your help with collating a full set of Minutes from the ICA General Assemblies. This task seems to be particularly challenging; we are currently missing documents from the:

  • 5th General Assembly held in Moscow in 1976 (we only have a brief report)
  • 7th General Assembly held in Perth in 1984
  • 8th General Assembly held in Morelia in 1987
  • 9th General Assembly held in Bournemouth in 1991

We would appreciate hearing back from anyone that could help us in completing the set.

Formation

In 2019, the International Cartographic Association (ICA) celebrated its 60th anniversary. This milestone called for a professional approach to documenting and preserving records of our mature organisation and its rich heritage. In response, the ICA Executive Committee approved the formation of the ICA Working Group on the History of ICA at their meeting in Ghent in November 2019.

At their most recent virtual meeting held on 12-13 June 2020, the Executive Committee approved the Working Group’s Terms of Reference and appointed Igor Drecki as Chair. In addition, the following individuals were endorsed as members: Christopher Board (UK), Imre Demhardt (USA), David Fairbairn (UK), Lorenz Hurni (Switzerland), François Lecordix (France), Ferjan Ormeling (The Netherlands) and Stefan Räber (Switzerland).