International Cartographic Association (ICI) promotes the discipline and profession of cartography in general. As the new president what would be your thrust areas to promote ICAs mission?
During its congress in Durban, the ICA had adopted a Strategic Plan. I will follow this and coordinate activities leading to its implementation. Its basics are listed in the ICA web page and I want to involve all the members of the Executive Committee in this work. In order to do that, activity of all commissions is necessary, which requires an active approach of all their chairmen. I want to further strengthen cooperation with sister organizations, especially with ISPRS, FIG, IAG, IGU, IHO, IMTA, and several others. We also fully support global and regional spatial data projects, such as Global Mapping, GSDI, and Digital Earth, and activities of the United Nations (e.g. creation of the U.N. Geographic Data Base, Early Warning, GNSS) and its organizations, such as FAO, UNEP, and UNESCO. We took part in preparing and organizing the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. We also are taking an active part in the creation of ISO Standards, and developing activities in many directions, such as cartographic visualisation or the creation of Internet maps.

We also have to improve communication with companies and organizations that support ICA activities. I would like to continue in the best spirit that was created in the ICA during the chairmanship of presidents Ormeling and Morrison, and by the activities of vice-presidents Rhind, Kanakubo, Miranda, Olson, Papp-Váry, and many others. My two predecessors, Presidents Wood and Rystedt, have taken many steps leading to a strengthening of the position of our organization. The most important is to improve horizontal communication inside the organisation between commissions of ICA and to be close in everyday professional life to all members of ICA.

Would your being an academician help ICA initiate or intervene in education on cartography and related sciences?
One of the specifics of the ICA is its interest in education on all levels worldwide. Nowadays, cartography teaching at universities - and increasingly also at secondary schools - is interconnected with geoinformatics (or geomatics). I think this is beneficial for both disciplines - cartography is encoded in every GIS; it serves as its expression language. Cartography has not said its last word yet, both in what it can offer and in helping create standardized and interoperable maps in areas, in which this has not been done yet (such as maps for crisis management, early warning, etc.). We are considering methods of supporting teaching cartography at schools in the developed countries, and we also have strategic plans for helping cartography in the developing countries, especially in Africa. Activities such as "Internet to every school" are also a challenge for cartographers, who should create such tools, which could help the teaching process at schools. Maps, both analogue and digital, are increasingly popular worldwide, and cartographic education should profit from this popularity. In practice, we are considering establishing summer schools, which would be attended by applicants from all over the world.

How do you think the ICA can contribute in the broader information society attained? Is there a roadmap out there?
Our representatives take part in many activities leading to the creation of an Information- and nowadays maybe also Knowledge-Based Society. I have already mentioned the WSSD in Johannesburg, we also closely watch tasks resulting from the WSIS in Geneva. So far, there is no roadmap, but its formulation is just a matter of time.

The decisive fact is that geographic information is contained in all information processes, but sometimes it remains hidden. People do not just want to see data, they want to have the data nicely and effectively processed, visualized, and - the most important point - they want true and quality information. These requirements are sometimes not fulfilled.

ICA has started since last August on a programme to show the contribution of cartography and GIScience to specific areas of human activity. In December 2003, we organized a workshop in Bangkok for agricultural specialist, with the title Cartography and GIScience for agricultural decision makers, and we intend to pursue that, and show our contribution for other fields. I am also thinking of general approach how to use cartography as a superstructure of the SDI on local, regional and global levels.

How do you plan to strengthen your ties with existing members and elaborate the member base further?
Strengthening of the above ties was an important part of my presidential election programme. It is not an easy task. The ICA is a professional organization, but it has no paid officials; its work is based on enthusiasm. Despite this fact, we have been recently successful in many areas, and we want to continue in this. Further improvements have several pre-requisites. The first is good and especially systematic work of the Executive Committee members. Another is sharing best practices and knowledge from all over the world. A handicap is the variety of the objectives of national cartographic associations. In some countries they are led by people from academia, in others by people from national mapping organizations, and in many countries people from private companies prevail. In this area, we have to promote integration and cooperation. All members must see benefits of being ICA members.

Regarding sister organizations, the ICA tries to coordinate its activities with other activities leading to the creation of a "Geographic Information Community" and has proposed the establishment of the Joint Board of the Geospatial Information Societies sessions of which are attended by presidents and general secretaries of member organizations. The community working with geographic information must be visible just as other communities - biologists, mathematicians, or doctors. The goal was not to create another umbrella organization, but to provide a really practical exchange of opinions on solving a number of specific problems, both worldwide and continental, as well as national, and the role of our organizations in these solutions is substantial.

There is a realization of Geographic Information infrastructure around the globe. How do you think ICA can help consolidate these efforts?

The efforts to create Geographic Information Infrastructures (GIIs) bring about an increasing effort of cartographers to take part in their creation and especially in their use. The situation in different geographic areas is varying, for example in Europe, no European GII exists as yet. The ICA Commission for Standards has initiated a discussion on ICA's participation in the creation and use of GIIs many years ago. I would say our task lies in cartographic visualization of data and information stored in the relevant databases, and also in individualization, i.e. customization for specific types of users. Cartography has experience and knowledge in the areas of information cost on one hand and of information value on the other hand. This knowledge is important for the creation of the so-called impact analyses, which are used to evaluate the impact of implementation and use of geographic information.

What is the state of Geographic Information Science in Czech Republic and how does it link with Europe as a whole?
I think it is good. GI and GIS topics are nowadays taught at every geographic or cartographic department. At our university, we concentrate mainly on the creation of thematic maps, cartographic modelling, and general GI-related problems including legislative ones. The Czech professional community takes part in the preparation of key European projects, e.g. INSPIRE (Information for Spatial Data in Europe) and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). I also see many so far unused possibilities in closer cooperation between cartography and producers of GII with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems). We have also participated in other project, such as CORINE or LCC (FAO).

You took the leadership to organize the Digital Earth symposium. How do such initiatives help address the Global Sustainable Information society?

Simply said, by an exchange of opinions, setting out tasks, and creation of links and connections between individual players. I'm sure you have noticed, that each global initiative is somewhat different, but many activities are overlapping. Digital Earth (DE) was started as a technological initiative in the USA on basis of success of the American NSDI. Already the first symposium in China has added strong aspects of sustainable development, which I have mentioned above. In Brno, we have seen a combination of brand-new approaches, such as the Global Society Dialogue EU, with e-Government and e-Governance, locally based services, best practices of the use of cartography and GIS in solving ecological problems (e.g. in Panama), etc. DE could become a natural umbrella above other activities thanks to its broad scope.

What do you envisage as the impact of opening of the east European economies and their merger with EU, on cartography and mapping organizations?
The opening has already taken place. EuroGeographics - a European organization - works very well. It tries to coordinate GI-related activities and creates other organizations, such as EUROGI or AGILE.

The countries accessing the EU also see many possibilities in realization of the projects INSPIRE and GEMS. The markets of the EU member countries are more profiled and their NMOs and companies are definitely stronger. Many activities related to the EU programme "eEurope", such as Internet to every school, were implemented more quickly in some of the accession countries. The future definitely lies in mutual cooperation and respect, which is nowadays reality.

International Cartographic Association (ICA)

ICA is the world authoritative body for cartography, the discipline dealing with the conception, production, dissemination and study of maps. The mission of the ICA is to promote the discipline and profession of cartography in an international context. For more information: http://www.icaci.org