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UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
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Distr.: GENERAL E/ECA/DISD/CODI. 1/43 21 June 1999
Original: English/French ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
First Meeting of the Committee on
Development Information (CODI)28 June-2 July 1999
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
CARTHOGRAPHY AND AGENDA 21 - AN ICA VIEW
CARTOGRAPHY AND AGENDA 21 - AN ICA VIEW
Michael Wood
President of the International Cartographic Association (ICA)
Introduction
The word 'cartography is often still associated with traditional paper maps, which have, of course, playedI an important role in both history and science ■ for spatial data storage, representation, exploration.and analysis. Throughout its evolution cartography has benefited from advances in technology but recent decades in particular have brought huge changes. These have not only helped transform the field but the scientific potential of the 'new1 Cartography has greatly increased. Rather than becoming obscured or side lined, Cartography (in digital or graphic form) has become even more common-place and ts the most
distinct element within the new science of Geoinformation.For the past 40 years the International Cartographic Association (ICA) has been active in the study and development of the subject and in seeking ways to put it to work. Although scientific .n rts primary aims the ICA's attention is not narrowly focused on specific applications. It also ^cognises the sociaI and educational aspects of world-wide issues. While providing an overview of current ICA activities, the paper explains how the Association has always highlighted key themes which were to become central to the Rio
Earth Summit in 1992, and continues to do so.
ICA and Agenda 21
While other related international organisations share active concern for the problems of the planet and the future of humankind, the ICA, in particular, embodies key themes of the Rio declaration in its guiding aims.
These include
- Contribution to the solution of world-wide problems through maps - Dissemination of environmental information through mapping - Aiding transfer of new map technology between nations - Multinational research into scientific and applied problems - Enhancement of cartographic education
- Promotion of the use of standards.
While many of these have been in place from the founding years, this does not reflect complacency but
offers a firm starting point for new projects.
Relevant themes within the ICA
The ICA was founded by people who both loved maps and believed in the potential of cartography world wide From these beginnings has grown a powerful network of national and affiliate member organisations whose scientists and technologists have sought to realise and develop that cartographic potential. Pnmanly through the guidance of the ICA Executive, and with the support of national committees for cartography, ICA Commissions, Task Forces and Working Groups have focused their enthusiasm and knowledge on a
range of themes. These can be grouped roughly as follows:
General themes: Education and training, History, Theoretical fields and definitions, Map use.
Map making: Map production, Mapping from satellite data.
Data standards: Spatial data quality, Spatial data transfer standards, Map generalisation.
Innovation: Visualization, National and regional atlases
Environmental Issues: Marine cartography, Planetary cartography
People: Cartography and children, Gender and cartography, Maps and graphics for blind and visually-
impaired people, Census cartography.
Closer examination of the terms of reference and activities of these groups reveals how they are contributing both directly and indirectly to Agenda 21. By rts nature, the ICA (and its people) operates at many levels. Some projects evolve within commissions but others result from stimulus and experience
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gained from ICA wo* in progress and being applied in other areas beyond the remit of the Association. This may be summarised as follows:
1. Through specific high-profile actions promoted at the executive level and within commissions/working
groups. ,
2. Through sub-themes and specific activities within commissions/working groups.
3. Through Education and Training.
4 Through innovative development of the cartographic process in response to new technologies.
5. Through contributions towards the development of data standards for national and global spatial data
infrastructures.
6. By association - with projects in which leading ICA activists are involved.
There now follows an illustrated overview of some of these activities.
1. High-profile actions at the executive level and within commissions/working groups
1.1 Initially established as a Presidential Task Force in 1987, the ICA Commission on Gender and Cartography became a Working Group in 1991 and a full Commission in 1995. Remembering that the participants in all ICA sections already have demanding full-time jobs, this group has made impressive progress in the past decade. Their current terms of reference are to provide a relevant resource on their subject, to facilitate professional contacts internationally, to enhance the professional development opportunities of women, younger cartographers and cartographers from developing nations, and to propose mechanisms to ensure that equal opportunities exist within the ICA for all component groups. Their rich and energetic programme of action has many facets, notably the creation of a Bibliography on and Directory of, Women in Cartography, Surveying and GIS; the organisation of joint projects with other ICA groups and enhancement of contacts with sister groups within the IGU, FIG, etc., and with UNESCO, to focus on gender and related developmental issues; the organisation of scientific/technological seminars and workshops internationally featuring women and other target group members as presenters, to provide forums for the development of professional skills within these groups. This is not a pressure group for feminism but a gathering of both men and women who seek to promote equality for all within the science
and profession of cartography.1.2 The Barbara Petchenik Children's Maps Award was established in memory of an outstanding lady
who became a Vice-President in 1991 but who died, tragically, only one year later. Reflecting her life-longinterests and expertise in maps and children this competition, since it began in 1993, has had thousands of entries with an almost unbelievable variety of artistic styles and imaginative themes, but most of which revealed concerns for the environment at both local and global levels. An important initial link with the UN
was the agreement by UNICEF that the winning entries would be considered for inclusion in their famousrange of greetings cards. Through effective work, especially from Canada, many winning entries were later
included in a UN CD-ROM called 'My City' (an interactive educational game for schools and children, based on the Convention of the Rights of the Child). This was exhibited at the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995 and later that year at the Women's Summit in Beijing. More recentlyan educational wall-sheet, also including award-winning maps and also emerging from UNICEF Canada,
has been produced, which can help children express their concerns about the important issues ofenvironmental development. The importance of this world-wide ICA competition was noted by the United Nations in 1995 for "....its important goal of making young people more knowledgeable about and sensitive
to Geography" and they also recognised it "as a salute to the UN in its 50th Anniversary Year". This initiative to encourage children to create maps of their world may be one of the most significant achievement of the ICA to date. Thousands of children, whose mapping and geographical education has been sadly neglected in many nations, have been given a special opportunity to understand and analyse the most important issues of today's world - the world of Agenda 21.1.3 The founding of the Working Group on Cartography and Children was undoubtedly influenced by the success of the Barbara Petchenik Competition and a long-established interest amongst cartographers of all kinds in the development of cartographic literacy by enriching the understanding of the relationships children have with maps. Again this is an example of ICA recognition of the importance of young people in the future of the planet and the agenda of this group will certainly embrace the relevant issues of the Rio
declaration.
1.4 Although operating within a very restricted budget (national membership fees have not increased since
1987) the ICA Executive decided in 1996 to establish a Travel Award scheme, primarily for young
candidates (under 35 years of age) from developing countries. This was done in recognition of important
scientific research in progress in many parts of the world where support for conference attendance is
seldom if ever available to young scholars. As with children the ICA seeks to encourage other young people to contribute to the solution of world problems at an international level.2. Sub-themes and specific activities within commissions/working groups
While not wishing to down-play other important activities within the ICA, this section highlights the work of Commissions/Working Groups which are contributing more specifically to problem-solving, world-wide.
2.1 The Standing Commission on Map Production has perhaps its strongest roots in what might be called traditional cartography. Their earlier work and ICA publications provide excellent guidelines on pre- digital methods and have been eagerly sought after for many years by groups within developing countries or
countries which have retained longest the more traditional methods and approaches to production.
Demands for such advice have not entirely disappeared but current actions focus primarily on new digital themes. The primary aim of this Commission is now to disseminate information on new map production technologies, especially through international seminars in cooperation with the Commissions on Education and Training, and Atlases.
2.2 The theme-centred Commission on Marine Cartography has recently been focusing attention on one of the most sensitive areas of environmental change - the coastal zone. Apart from specific research on the subject, group members have now collaborated for some years with the IGU Commission on Coastal Systems in the running of a successful series of CoastGIS symposia (the next being in France in 1999).
This focus of research activity is contributing to awareness of the coastal zone, its sensitivity to local and global change factors, and to important management issues for the next century.
2.3 The research activities of the Commission on Mapping from Satellite Imagery are concerned primarily with the role of satellite imagery in the production and utilization of operational (or semi- operational) national and regional databases. With the arrival of sub-metre imaging systems it is important for cartographic scientists to examine their potential as input into the analyses of environmental problems.
2.4 The new Working Group on Census Cartography recognises the acceleration of global trading which has increased demand for international statistical and cartographic information for use in analysing regional social, economic and environmental issues. In developing countries it has also been acknowledged that a solid cartographic foundation, well integrated with social and economic data collected through national surveys and censuses, is essential for fostering social and economic development. Rapid technological change has influenced cartographic methods and is creating new opportunities and the adoption of these technologies by some census organizations has enabled them to contribute significantly in the building of national spatial data infrastructures. For example in some developing countries census maps often contain up-to-date information on new roads and other physical features not shown on existing local topographic maps. The work of this group should contribute significantly to core studies within Agenda 21.
3. Education and Training
Over the years the Standing Commission on Education and Training has proved to be one of the most internationally active and productive ICA groups. Quite apart from its fine record of educational publications it has been instrumental in the organisation of joint meetings between other ICA commissions and working groups. These have frequently taken the form of training workshops in as well as technical seminars in places as far apart as South America and Indonesia. The work of the Commission on Maps and Graphics for Blind and Visually-impaired people has also included educational and training themes, recently including a training workshop in Tanzania in 1998. The ICA is proud to be able to act so consistently and effectively in the educational field, a most important part of the 'Means of Implementation' of Chapter 36 of Agenda 21.
4. Innovative development of the cartographic process in response to new technologies
Functional map design has been improving over recent decades. A combination of building on the experience of earlier products, the gradual acceptance of some of the more familiar results of design research and some instinctive artistic design skill can lead to examples such as can be seen in products
such as the Atlas of Switzerland. This standard of design will always be preferred for hard copy output, and, with expert use of graphic software tools is now much more easily and rapidly achieved. However the static map is now only one example of the modern cartographic product. With the full application of developing computer-related technology. Cartography is experiencing a new surge of power and effectiveness. From work developed from within the Commission on Map Use and the on-going research of some creative geographic/cartographic scientists, Cartography has acquired new dimensions (incorporating multimedia, animation, etc.). Today Cartography can be described as a fully functioning geographic data visualization tool, embodying new ways of exploring, analysing as well as presenting data and information. This growth has been recognised by the establishment of the dynamic new Commission on Cartographic Visualization whose work has expanded rapidly since its inception in 1995: It began by examining the expanding role of maps in science, decision-making, policy formulation, and society in general due to the advent of intelligent dynamic maps that are designed as visual thinking/decision-support tools. Other issues receiving attention include (a) investigations into the implications of the change from a cartography that focused on single optimal maps towards a multiple perspective approach (some now argue that the single static map solution should be regarded as unethical); (b) development of conceptual models/tools for the visualization of spatio-temporal processes, and data quality/reliability information; (c) exploration of the impact of map-based spatial decision support tools on decision-making strategies and on the outcome of decision-making; (d) study of the potential of 3D representation tools and the corresponding implications of both 3D display and the associated general trend towards realism (versus abstraction) in scientific representation. Early investigations into the links between scientific visualization and cartographic visualization in order to identify and facilitate the exchange of ideas between cartographers and others working in this field has had exciting results. A 3-year collaboration was established with the Association of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Graphics (ACM SIGGRAPH) to explore ways in which viewpoints and techniques from the computer graphics and cartography communities can be effectively integrated in the context of cartographic and spatial data sets.
The National Atlas concept, now almost a century old, has had a very important role in highlighting the features and characteristics of regional geography. More recently it has been one of the most effective testbeds for the application of new technologies, such as multimedia. In its earliest electronic form, on floppy disk, it had limitations but it has since become established, first as a CD-ROM product (there are now hundreds of examples) and now as an Internet facility. In recognition of the increasing importance of the electronic atlas the Commission on National and Regional Atlases is preparing a do-it-yourself 'cookbook' for atlas creation. This is another means of extending and popularising the scope of the new cartography, as well as offering new sources of decision-support.
5. Contributions towards the development of data standards for the national and global spatial data infrastructures (N8DI/GSDI)
Spatial data infrastuctures were described in 1993 by the US Mapping Science Committee, Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, National Research Council, as the means to assemble geographic information that describes the arrangement and attributes of features and phenomena on the Earth. The infrastructure includes the materials, technology, and people necessary to acquire, process, store, and distribute such information to meet a wide variety of needs." Decisions about their future, both nationally and globally, will depend on changing technologies, the needs of societies and the structures of nations and institutions.
These structures, eventually accessible across netwoks, world-wide, will increase in importance into the next century and will be essential in the decision-making related to Agenda 21 issues. While not primarily involved in NSDI/GSDI activities the ICA Working Group on Generalisation, Commissions on Spatial Data Quality and Standards for the Transfer of Spatial Data have been making unique and important contributions towards these ends. The latter commission, in particular, is seeking to develop a set of universal metadata characteristics for use in the assessment of all national and international metadata standards in the World. These groups are actively involved in/recognised by the ISO Technical Committee 211 on Geographic Information/Geomatics.
6. Association with projects in which leading ICA activists are involved
Membership of the ICA is quite unlike being a full-time employee of a commercial, industrial or government organisation. The latter is dearly-defined and carries commitments. The former is fuzzy, and essentially voluntary, but nevertheless potentially very effective. However people who are active in ICA groups may also be separately involved in related cartographic projects. The ICA may express formal interest in such enterprises and be represented on relevant committees or may simply benefit by association. Two
important examples of this are ELADA 21 and the Global Mapping Project. The concept of the Global Map originated in Japan in 1992 and now has the active involvement of heads and experts from world National Mapping Organisations within the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM).
Current specifications include a spatial resolution of 1 km (similar to that of the 1:1,000,000 map) and contents of elevation, vegetation, land use, rivers and lakes, roads and railways and administrative boundaries. The activities of the ISCGM has led to recognition of the Global Map at UN level as a significant, even necessary, contribution towards the implementation of Agenda 21. With full participation from both nations and related international organisations it is hoped to complete the Global map by the year 2000. ELADA 21 (an Electronic Atlas of agenDA 21) is a different project altogether, designed to promote the implementation of Agenda 21 by offering computer access to information in the Agenda 21 document.
This pilot CD-ROM multimedia electronic atlas of the Biodiversity Volume of Agenda 21 is referred to as a key response to the commitments made by Canada on the occasion of the Earth Summit. Many partnerships, national and commercial were involved in its development and one of ICA's major links is through the very active participation of various individuals, notably from Warsaw, Poland. The original intention was to offer assistance in the monitoring, reporting and decision-making processes in Agenda 21 projects and also to serve as a forum for the exchange of experiences or case studies across electronic networks. This is another example of using the new cartographic product to raise awareness of and support important international issues.
Conclusion
Cartography is certainly not what it used to be! Its influence is still world-wide but new technologies and global communication have changed its character and increased its potential within scientific research. Its new power and versatility are essential for challenges such as those within Agenda 21 and it continues to gain recognition within the wider fields of environmental science. As World representative of the subject the ICA maintains truly 'family' characteristics and the variety of its concerns and activities has never been so great. Its strength lies in the motivation behind and the largely voluntary commitment of its international members and member groups, researching and sharing knowledge and expertise for everyone.
