he EuroCarto 2026, held from 8–11 September 2026 in Brno, Czechia, brought the European and international cartographic community together for four intensive days of scientific exchange. Hosted by Masaryk University and organised by the Czech Cartographic Society under the partronage of the International Cartographic Association, the conference was sold out and welcomed more than 260 participants from academia, government and industry.
EuroCarto 2026 also continued an important tradition within ICA. Alongside the biennial International Cartographic Conferences, ICA Regional Cartographic Conferences provide opportunities to strengthen scientific exchange and cooperation within particular world regions while remaining firmly connected to the global ICA community. The Brno conference built on the heritage of the previous EuroCarto conferences, which have developed into an important meeting place for cartographic research in Europe. EuroCarto 2026 successfully carried this spirit forward while giving the series a renewed profile as an ICA Regional Cartographic Conference.
Under the motto “Let’s transform cartography together”, the programme offered keynote lectures, scientific and poster sessions, workshops, ICA Commission activities and events for Next-Generation Cartographers. Its thematic breadth was remarkable: GeoAI and machine learning, map design and generalisation, atlases, cognition and map use, navigation, education, immersive environments, crisis mapping, sustainability, and the theory and history of cartography.
AI was, unsurprisingly, highly visible. Yet one of the most interesting impressions from Brno was that AI is already moving from being a research topic itself towards becoming a tool within cartographic research. Contributions on AI-supported map production, large language models, automated generalisation and data-driven cartography were increasingly connected with fundamental questions of quality, transparency, uncertainty, ethics and trust.
At the same time, EuroCarto demonstrated a remarkable strengthening of methodological and human-centred cartographic research. Map use, cognition, interaction, spatial literacy, storytelling, visual expression and empirical evaluation featured prominently. While our technologies are becoming more powerful, questions about how maps communicate, how they are understood and how they support human decisions are becoming more important rather than less.
This also provided an excellent setting for discussing the new ICA Research Agenda and the future direction of our discipline. Brno presented a cartography that has embraced technological change while remaining strongly concerned with its own methods, concepts and societal responsibilities.
And EuroCarto once again demonstrated something that cannot easily be captured by a scientific programme: the legendary spirit of the cartographic community. Particular thanks go therefore to Zdenek Stachon, Stanislav Popelka, Jiri Cajthaml, Gabriela Godiskova, Marketa Beitlova, Anna Auermüllerova to name just a few out of a fantastic team of the entire Local Organising Committee, whose commitment, hospitality and attention to detail created a wonderful environment for scientific exchange and personal encounters.
As ICA President, I am delighted to see EuroCarto contributing so strongly not only to the advancement of cartographic research, but also to that unique community spirit that makes Cartography such a wonderful field to be part of.
Thank you, Brno. EuroCarto spirit at its best!
Find the abstracts here: https://ica-abs.copernicus.org/articles/12/
Find the Conference Web page here: https://eurocarto2026.org/
Stan Popelka, Georg Gartner, Zdenek Stachon at the EuroCarto 2026
Next Generation Cartographers and MSc Cartography Students and Alumnis in Brno
