In Memoriam: Dr. Tositomo Kanakubo (1930–2026)

Portrait of Tositomo Kanakubo

The International Cartographic Association (ICA) mourns the passing of Dr. Tositomo Kanakubo, a distinguished Japanese cartographer, long-standing contributor to the international cartographic community, former ICA Vice-President and ICA Honorary Fellow. Dr Kanakubo passed away on 28 August 2026, following a brief, severe illness.

Dr. Kanakubo worked at the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan from 1953 to 1986, serving as its Director-General from 1984 to 1986. He was closely associated with the ICA over many decades and made an important contribution particularly to the development of theoretical cartography. From 1995 to 1999, he chaired the ICA Commission on Theoretical Fields and Definition in Cartography. He subsequently continued his involvement as a member of the ICA Commission on Theoretical Cartography from 1999 until 2011. At the same time, he served the Association as ICA Vice-President from 1991 to 1999 and was elected an ICA Honorary Fellow in 1999.

His engagement with ICA was characterised not only by scientific contributions but also by sustained international collaboration, bringing together scholars interested in the conceptual and theoretical foundations of cartography. He also helped strengthen the links between ICA and the Japanese cartographic community.

The history of ICA is built not only through conferences, publications and commissions, but through people who establish intellectual and personal connections across countries and generations. Tositomo Kanakubo was one of those people. His long engagement with theoretical cartography, his commitment to international scientific exchange and his service to ICA made him a respected member of our community.

The International Cartographic Association extends its sincere condolences to Tositomo Kanakubo’s family, friends, colleagues and the cartographic community in Japan. We remember with gratitude his contribution to cartography and his many years of dedicated service to ICA.

Tositomo Kanakubo will be remembered as a scholar, colleague and friend whose work helped strengthen the theoretical foundations and international character of cartography.

International Cartographic Association

Category: General News

Tag: ICA Honorary Fellowship, Japan, Obituary

President’s Blog: A success story now in Japanese

In a truly unique effort, the book “Mapping for a Sustainable World” was co-published by the International Cartographic Association and the United Nations in 2021 as an open access document according to the CC BY-NC license, authored by Menno-Jan Kraak, Robert Roth, Britta Ricker, Ayako Kagawa and Guillaume Le Sourd. Drawing from cartography, the book offers guidelines for mapping geographic datasets related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by introducing basic principles of map design and use, discussing established best practices and conventions, and explaining how different mapping techniques support understanding of the SDGs.

The English language is available here:

Web version: https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789216040468
Print version: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3898826?ln=en&v=pdf

As the book embarks on the highly relevant topic of making the Sustainable Development Goals tangible and accessible through maps, translations in other languages was an immediate demand. The French version is titled “Cartographier pour un monde durable” and can be found here:

Web version: https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210024419

The Japan Cartographers Association (JCA) has picked the idea up to make the book available also in Japanese language. In a tremendous effort under the leadership of Dr. Momoko Yoshida and strategic guidance from Dr. Hiroshi Ota, Professor Takashi Morita and many more eminent cartographers in Japan, the book is now available and will be disseminated as print and online version in the upcoming months.

To me, this is another fantastic example of the enormous relevance of cartography and maps in the context of Sustainable Development Goals, which now becomes easily accessible for all Japanese-speaking interested persons!

This translation project has allowed the ICA and UN editorial team to draft a “MSW Translation Principles and Style Guide” to facilitate the translation process for JCA, and in case there are other ICA National Members and Affiliated Members who are interested to embark such a project in other languages in future. The documentation is intended to facilitate some best practices to ensure the quality and integrity of the spirit of the original version. Please contact the Publication Committee of ICA if you are interested in the “MSW Translation Principles and Style Guide”.

Source: Takehide Hishiyama, Japan Cartographers Association

Category: President's Blog

Tag: Japan, Japan Cartographers Association, Mapping for a Sustainable World

Congratulations to the ICA scholarship awardees at ICC2019 and pre-conference workshops

The goal of ICA Scholarships is to stimulate young scientists or professionals to direct their careers toward fundamental studies in the fields of Cartography and GISciences. The following scholarships were awarded for participation in the ICC2019 and pre-conference workshops.

Scholars at ICC2019

Scholar	Title of paper / poster
Nargiz Safaraliyeva, Azerbaijan	Teaching basic map concepts in three countries: Azerbaijan, Hungary and United Arab Emirates
Malak Alasli, Morocco	Toponyms’ contribution to identity: The case study of Rabat (Morocco) \| Static Risk Mapping of Forest Fires – In the case of the Province of Chefchaouen (Morocco)
Shyamantha SUBASINGHE, Sri Lanka	Urban Growth: From pixel to reality
Dr. Alena Vondráková, Czech Republic	TouchIt3D: Technology (not only) for Tactile Maps \| The Specifics of Cartographic Semiology in Tactile Maps
Ashna Kareem Zada, Iraq	Testing Maps for Visually Impaired People in Kurdistan
Jagadish B, India	Deriving Multiple Representation Database: A Model Generalisation Approach
Lukasz Halik, Poland	Teaching of geographical space relations for cartography – Academic Outdoor Station in Poznan (Poland) \| Workflow for 3D geovisualization of the data obtained with the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in Augmented Reality \| The visualization of the use of land on the basis of the dynamics of the pedestrian movement from the interval UAV imaging \| Measuring user preferences in virtual reality (VR): 2D versus 3D urban geovisualizations of topographic data
Márton Pál, Hungary	Digital cartography for geoheritage: turning an analogue geotourist map into digital \| Possibilities of high precision GPS data in autonomous driving
Nikola Yonov, Bulgaria	School Atlas with Augmented Reality
Radek Barvir, Czech Republic	The Specifics of Cartographic Semiology in Tactile Maps \| TouchIt3D: Technology (not only) for Tactile Maps
Pongpichaya William Limpisathian, USA/Thailand	Representations of Place in the Human Brain
Ivan Evgenyevich Fokin, Russia	The automation of processes of atlas mapping \| Methods and algorithms for creation of structural schemes of rivers
Nick Lally, USA	Mapping dynamic, non-Euclidean spaces \| Interactive & Multiscale Thematic Maps: A Preliminary Study
Xiao Huang, USA/China	Linking picture with text: tagging flood relevant tweets for rapid flood inundation mapping
Carolyn S. Fish, USA	Emotional responses to climate change map framing using facial emotion recognition technology
Harrison Cole, USA	Toward Accessible Hazard Mapping: Tactile Risk Maps and Disaster Preparedness
Laure De Cock, Belgium	Linking perception to decision point complexity for adaptive indoor wayfinding support
Maja Kalinic, Germany/Bosnia-Herzegovina	Floating Car Data and Fuzzy Logic for classifying congestion indexes in the city of Shanghai
Ross Thorn, USA	How to Play with Maps

Scholars at pre-conference workshops

Scholar	Workshop	Title of paper / poster
Aytaç YÜRÜKÇÜ, Turkey	History of Cartography and the Topographic Mapping	How East and West Cartographic Studies Influenced the Most Important 16th Century Ottoman Cartographer of Piri Reis and His World Maps
Dr. Lei ZOU, USA	LocBigData 2019	Leveraging Location-Based Social Media for Smart Emergency Management
Christian RÖGER, Germany	LocBigData 2019	Visualizing the Complexity of Crossings using Star-Plot Maps
Wangshu WANG, Austria	Joint Pre-Conference Workshop of the ICA Commission on Use, Users, and Usability, the Commission on Cognitive Visualization, the Commission on Location-based Services and the Commission on Visual Analytics	Towards a Functional Ontology for Mobile Map Applications

From left to right: Márton Pál, Nick Lally, Pongpichaya William Limpisathian, Radek Barvir, Malak Alasli, Dr. Alena Vondráková, Shyamantha Subasinghe, Ashna Kareem Zada, Harrison Cole, Maja Kalinic, Laure De Cock, Carolyn S. Fish, Nikola Yonov, Lukasz Halik, Ivan Evgenyevich Fokin, Jagadish B, Xiao Huang

From left to right: Christian Röger (pre-conference), Wangshu Wang (pre-conference), Nargiz Safaraliyeva (ICC), Dr. Lei ZOU (pre-conference)

Left: Aytaç YÜRÜKÇÜ, Pre-conference; Right: Ross Thorn, ICC

Congratulations to all scholars!

Category: Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization, Commission News, General News, History of Cartography, Location Based Services, Topographic Mapping, User Experience, Visual Analytics

Tag: ICC2019, ICC2019 workshop, Japan, scholarships

Recipients of the ICA Map Awards 2019

At the biennial International Cartographic Conferences, ICA organizes an International Map Exhibition, where map products originating from ICA member countries are exhibited. An international jury selects the best entries in six categories; in addition, there is also a public vote. Please find the winners of the ICA Map Awards 2019 below.

Atlases

3rd place: Atlas of Poland’s Political Geography (Poland)

2nd place: Graphical Statistical Atlas of Switzerland 1897–20 (Switzerland)

1st place: National Atlas of Hungary (Hungary)

A comprehensive, and detailed atlas. The cartography is lavish and sets Hungary’s natural environment in its human context. The maps are accompanied by numerous well presented graphs, text and infographics.

Digital products

3rd place: Water Rhyme in Gusu (China)

2nd place: Caydence (United Kingdom)

1st place: Politics of Remembrance 1945–2015 (Austria)

A rich map-based portal to explore the memorial landscape of Vienna. The maps are beautifully designed and positioned within a very well constructed application to give the user multiple ways to interact.

Educational cartographic products

3rd place: Statistical Maps: Data Elaboration and Presentation (Poland)

2nd place: TouchIt3D Tactile Maps (Czech Republic)

1st place: Cartography. (USA-Esri)

A bit big to take on a plane.

Other cartographic products

3rd place: 3D model of Domnica Cave (Czech Republic)

2nd place: Transparent globes (China)

1st place: Map Data Provision Products (Japan)

Incorporating maps into the design of various products is not new but when done well, creates interesting and attractive items. Cartographers will certainly be keen to be seen in these shoes!

Charts on panels

3rd place: Abords et port de I’île Saint-Pierre (France)

2nd place: Tokyo Wan (Japan)

1st place: The map of Northern Sea Area (China)

Highly colourful and visually stunning, this 3D depiction uses novel technology to provide a rich, immersive experience. Symbols are clear and the depth cues work well at different viewing angles.

Maps on panels

3rd place: The Melbourne Map (Australia)

2nd place: Ecological Area Map of the Estuary Wetland of Dagu River (China)

1st place: Fimbulheimen in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica (Norway)

A huge map portraying a 600km Antarctic mountain range. The size of the map juxtaposes the sparse, barren, yet stunning landscape that skilfully combines satellite imagery with exquisite typography. Beautiful cartography.

Public Vote: Water Rhyme in Gusu (China)

Congratulations to all winners!

The international jury this year at ICC2019 was co-chaired by Kenneth Field and Ian Muehlenhaus. Further jury members were:

Kenneth Field and Ian Muehlenhaus
Temenoujka Bandrova
William Cartwright
Serena Coetzee
Igor Drecki
David Fairbairn
Georg Gartner
Amy Griffin
Anja Hopfstock
Lorenz Hurni
Antoni Moore
Dušan Petrovic
Hiroshi Une
Nonoko Tsukada

For a full list of map products exhibited during ICC2019, please check the PDF catalogue.

Category: Commission News, General News, Map Design

Tag: ICC2019, Japan, Map Awards

ICA Awards Ceremony at ICC2019

In the ICA Awards Ceremony at ICC2019, the following awards were presented in recognition of contributions to the ICA.

From left to right: Evangelos Livieratos, Miljenko Lapaine, Takashi Morita

ICA Honorary Fellowship

The ICA Honorary Fellowship is for cartographers of international reputation who have made special contribution to the ICA. It includes a bronze medal.

Evangelos Livieratos, Greece
- Active participant and discussant in several ICA activities, such as ICCs
- Chair of the WG Digital Technologies in Cartographic Heritage (2005–2007)
- Chair of the ICA Commission on Digital Technologies in Cartographic Heritage (2007–2015) and ICA Commission on Cartographic Heritage into the Digital (2015–2019)
- Founder of e-Perimetron
- Active supporter of the International Map Year
- Greek National Delegate to ICA
Miljenko Lapaine, Croatia
- Participation in all International Cartographic Conferences since 1989
- Chair of the ICA Map Projections Commission (2011–2019)
- Vice-Chair of the ICA Map Projections Commission (2019–2023)
- Led the development and editing of the 2017 book Choosing a Map Projection for the ICA
- Active supporter of the International Map Year
- Croatian National Delegate to ICA

Diplomas for outstanding services to ICA

The Diplomas for outstanding services to ICA are for colleagues who have made special contribution to the ICA as commission officers or conference organizers.

Takashi Morita, Japan
- Member of the ICA Commission on Theoretical Cartography
- Vice-President of ICA (1999–2003)
- Chair of the ICA Commission on Ubiquitous Mapping (2003–2011)
- Chair of Local Organizing Committee for ICC2019
- President of Japan Cartographers Association (JCA)
- Chair of the National Committee for Cartography, Science Council of Japan

Congratulations to all awardees!

Category: Cartographic Heritage into the Digital, Commission News, Map Projections, Ubiquitous Mapping

Tag: awards, Croatia, Diploma for outstanding services to ICA, Greece, ICA Honorary Fellowship, ICC2019, International Map Year, Japan

Winners of the Barbara Petchenik Competition 2019

The Barbara Petchenik Competition is a biennial map drawing competition for children. The competition is first organized on a national level. The national winners can then compete in the international round, which takes place during the International Cartographic Conferences. This year at ICC2019, 188 drawings from 33 countries were exhibited. An international jury selected 12 winners in 4 categories. There was also a public vote, a creativity award and a special mention. Please find the wonderful results below.

Winners <6 years

1st: The Queen of the World by Bianca Belović (5)

2nd: A Boat Symbolizing Peace by Ye Shangke (5)

Map is the Most Beautiful Flower in the World by Tara D. J. Suprapto (5)

3rd: Map is the Most Beautiful Flower in the World by Tara Dibbaratana Jayamanggala Suprapto (5)

Winners 6–8 years

1st: Between the Clouds by Liepa Jokubaitytė (7)

2nd: Treasure Map of My Dog by Micah Allen Setianto Moore (8)

3rd: My Imagination by Luca Kunos (7)

Winners 9–12 years

1st: Dreaming of the Blue Self of the World by Kim Min-Chan (12)

2nd: A Turtle’s Tear: Our Plastic Oceans by Barnaby Blampied (9)

3rd: World of Colour Lines by Hande Körbalta (9)

Winners 13–15 years

1st: Creating Worlds by Rada Skumova (15)

2nd: We Love Maps by Agata Filipiak (14)

3rd: Hemispherical Understanding by Katarína Šáleková (15)

Creativity Award

Creativity Award: It Is All in Our Hands by Ugnė Rimkutė (15)

Special Mention

Special Mention: The Map Shows Me the Way by Robert Hopjan (11)

Winner of the public vote

Public vote: Good Morning World by Noemí Sánchez (14)

Jury

Members of the Jury

The jury members were

Pilar Sánchez-Ortiz Rodríguez, Spain – Chair
Ana María Garra, Argentina
Temenoujka Bandrova, Bulgaria
Simon Catling, Great Britain
Koji Ohnishi, Japan
Dariusz Dukaczewski, Poland
Necla Ulugtekin, Turkey
Naeema Al Hosani, United Arab Emirates
Carla Sena, Brazil and Jesus Reyes, Hungary – Substitute Members
Peter van der Krogt, The Netherlands – International Coordinator

Congratulations to all winners! Also a huge thank you to all participating children, their parents, teachers and national organizers.

Category: Cartography and Children, Commission News, General News

Tag: Barbara Petchenik Competition, ICC2019, Japan

Welcome to ICC2019 in Tokyo #icc2019tokyo

The 29th International Cartographic Conference opened in Tokyo, Japan! After busy days with 13 pre-conference workshops, the main conference opened on Monday evening. Papers, proceedings and abstracts are available on the ICC2019 website:

The conference also hosts the International Cartographic Exhibition (click here to download the exhibition catalogue [22mb]), the Children’s Map Exhibition and a Technical Commercial Exhibition.

Also, the 18th General Assembly of the ICA takes place in connection with ICC2019. The first day (discussion) was on Monday; the second day including voting and elections will take place on Friday. The results will be published on the ICA website soon.

To share your experiences and to stay up-to-date with everything happening at the conference, please use hashtag #icc2019tokyo.

Enjoy the conference!

Category: General News

Tag: ICC2019, Japan

New venue for Pre-ICC Workshop on Abstraction, Scale & Perception

The ICA Commissions on Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization and on Generalisation and Multiple Representation, are pleased to invite you to a one-day workshop on 15th July 2019, with several sessions of talks, a demo session and a brainstorming session to finish the day!

Please be careful, the location has change: It will be held at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) – Room “Venus” (7th Floor) – 9:00–16:30.

For more information on the workshop visit: icc2019abstraction.wordpress.com

If you want to join us, please register here.

Category: Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization, Commission News, Multi-scale Cartography

Tag: ICC2019 workshop, Japan, pre-conference workshop

New venue for Pre-ICC workshop SDI-Open 2019

The ICA Commission on SDI and Standards is very glad that the SDI-Open 2019 pre-conference workshop (Monday, 15th July 2019) is now easily to reach from the ICC conference.

The new location is Room Mars, Miraikan – National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. More details can be found here and on OpenStreetMap.

Registration is still possible here.

The updated and extended programme is ready for download.

Category: Commission News, Map Production and Geoinformation Management, Open Source Geospatial Technologies, SDI and Standards

Tag: ICC2019 workshop, Japan, pre-conference workshop

Invitation to Pre-ICC Workshop on Role and structure of national place-name boards

The Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy cordially invites you to the ICC pre-conference workshop “Role and structure of national place-name boards” Tokyo, 15th July 2019.

Program

14.00–14.15: Opening – Peter JORDAN (ICA Chair, Joint Commission)
14.15–14.45: Poland’s national place-name commissions – Maciej ZYCH (Warsaw)
14.45–15.15: Korea Committee on Geographical Names. Achievements and challenges – Sungjae CHOO, Hyo Hyun SUNG (Seoul)
15.15–15.45: Austria and StAGN (German-speaking countries) – Peter JORDAN (Vienna)
15.45–17.00: General discussion and closing

Venue: Room “Mercury”, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), 2-3-6 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo

Organizers: Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy represented by Peter JORDAN and Kohei WATANABE

Time: Monday, 15th July 2019, 14.00-17.00

Free admittance (no registration for the International Cartographic Conference requested)

Conference language: English

Peter JORDAN, Cosimo PALAGIANO
(Co-chairs Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy)

Category: Commission News, Toponymy

Tag: ICC2019 workshop, Japan, pre-conference workshop