----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Sent to several lists, apologize in advance for the duplication. |===========================================================================| |Alberta Auringer Wood, Map Librarian, Memorial University of Newfoundland, | |St. John's, Newfoundland, CANADA A1B 3Y1. phone: 709-737-8892; | | fax: 709-737-2153; Internet: [log in to unmask] | |===========================================================================| BARCELONA: ICA WEEK (ONE WOMAN'S IMPRESSIONS) By Alberta Auringer Wood Map Librarian, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada The International Cartographic Association held its 17th International Cartographic Conference and 10th General Assembly from September 3rd to 9th, 1995 in Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain. The conference venue was the enormous Palau de Congressos and Palau Fira of the Fira Barcelona (conference center of the Barcelona Fair and Exhibition). The local supporting organization was the Institut Cartografic de Catalunya which is part of the Departament de Politica Territorial i Obres Publiques (Department of Territorial Policy and Public Works), along with help from the Sociedad Espanola de Cartografia, Fotogrametria y Teledeteccion (Spanish Society of Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) and various government agencies. Cartographers began arriving as early as Thursday night for Executive and Committee meetings that began on Friday. On Sunday, Sept. 3, there was the first meeting of the General Assembly which is held every four years. At this session, Canada presented a bid to host the 1999 conference and next general assembly in Ottawa. The competition for this event was South Africa. The Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives is one of the groups involved in supporting the Canadian proposal, and I serve as a member of the Advisory Committee. The opening ceremony for the conference on Monday, Sept. 4, was presided over with elegance by Sr. Artur Mas i Gavarro, Regional Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Works who spoke fluently and sequentially in four languages (English, French, Spanish, and Catalan). There was a welcome from the President of the Organizing Committee, Sr. Jaume Miranda i Canals, followed by opening addresses by Presidents of the ICA and the Spanish Society, Dr. D. R. Fraser Taylor of Canada and Dr. Rodolfo Nunez de las Cuevas, respectively, and greetings from other professional organizations. Next was a keynote address by Joel Morrison, Chief of the Geography Division of the U.S. Bureau of the Census on "Changing Borders and Shifting Frontiers: Cartography of the New Millennium". He noted that everything is being subjected to change with industry and government undergoing downsizing, reorganizing, and reinventing. The University of Texas at Austin was mentioned as an example of a forward looking institution. The Orquestra Nacional de Cambra d'Andorra provided the musical beginning, interlude and farewell for this ceremony. Following this, the exhibits were opened. There was a technical exhibition with about 45 vendors of cartographic equipment and producers of maps showing their wares. The international map exhibition contained nearly 2,000 maps and atlases. There was a special exhibit of Spanish cartography including government and privately produced maps. The Canadian exhibit has also been made available in image form via a World Wide Web site accessible at: http://www.geocan.nrcan.gc.ca/. A catalogue was published that had descriptions of displayed materials and was given to each registrant. A special memorial exhibit for Eduard Imhof on the anniversary of the centenary of his birth was organized by his wife, Viola, which contained wonderful examples of relief shading and rock drawing. Another memorial exhibit was for Barbara Bartz Petchenik and featured the 120 finalists from twenty countries in the second Children's Map Competition. A separate report on this event has already been done. "Cities, From the Balloon to the Satellite" showed how cities have changed over time since about the mid-nineteenth century by exhibiting views from the air. In conjunction with the exhibit "Philately and Cartography" registrants received postcards and a philatelic document. It was also possible to buy special commemorative stamps and have postcards or envelopes hand cancelled with a special post mark. There was a catalogue for this exhibit, too. Perhaps the most striking of the exhibits was one that opened on Tuesday evening at the Salo del Tinell with the title of "Portolans procedents de col-leccions espanyoles, Segles XV-XVII". This contained 52 portolan charts dating from the 15th to the 17th century, including the Juan de la Cosa map of about 1500 that shows some of the "New World". It was most impressive in size and appearance. The Catalan Atlas that belongs to the Bibliotheque Nationale de France was exhibited in the form of nearly full size colour slides. Oral presentations of 148 papers were given from Monday afternoon through Friday afternoon. In addition, there were about 350 poster papers displayed over the course of the week. All, or almost all, of these papers were published in the two volume, nearly 3,000 page, proceedings. The papers covered a wide variety of topics in the over 25 sessions ranging from the technical, such as Clifford H. Wood's paper on "Do Map Readers Really Notice and Use Generalization?: The Perceptual Consequences of Line Simplification in a Task-Oriented Thematic Map Analysis Experiment" to the personal, such as mine on "Barbara Bartz Petchenik: Her Works, Citations to Her Works, Works About Her". It was impossible to get to hear them all as there were three parallel streams of sessions each day! The session topics were National and Regional Databases; Remote Sensing: New Systems and Capabilities; Theoretical Cartography; Users, Standards, Distribution; Spatial Data Handling and Cartography - I and II; Social Importance of Cartography; Remote Sensing Applications, Education and Training; Maps for the Environment - I and II; Cartographic Generalization - I and II; Maps for the Handicapped; Multimedia and Hypermapping; Cartographic Design with Digital Techniques; Hydrographic Mapping; Interacting and Visualizing Spatial Data; Strategic Programmes; Atlas - I and II; Towards Automatic Data Capture; History of Cartography; Desktop Technologies; and Women and Cartography. In addition, there were a few panel sessions organized by working groups. The working groups and commissions also held business meetings scattered throughout the conference. I attended part of the meeting for the Working Group on Gender and Cartography. The release of the second edition of the directory of women in the field was announced. Social events abounded during the conference with a number of receptions during the evenings and a "gala dinner" on the Thursday night which featured performances by local entertainers and a group of human castle builders as well as a delicious meal served beginning about 10:30 pm and ending about midnight! Dancing followed that with a live band. There were tours to interesting sites and sights in and around Barcelona for accompanying persons and those others who could sneak away from the sessions. One afternoon was primarily devoted to technical tours during which I visited the spot within the Institut Cartografic Catalunya where the map library will reside in about a month. During the past two months, the Institut has been moving into a beautiful, restored building originally built for an exposition in 1928 or 1929. In addition to the spacious reader and staff area, there will be two storage floors for the collection of over 200,000 maps. The building has numerous high ceilings and marvellous stone and wood work. Attendance numbered 1,327 registrants and 129 accompanying persons with about 35% being from Spain. There were 71 or 72 countries represented. Among the oral presentations, speakers were from 28 different countries, while 12 countries contributed session chairs. The largest number of oral papers were from the U.S. with 19, followed by the U.K. with 14, France with 12, Canada and Switzerland with 11, Russia with ten, Spain with nine, Germany and Japan with eight, Australia and the Netherlands with seven, and Sweden and the China Republic with five. Those having less than five were Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Slovak Republic, South Africa, and Venezuela. The city of Barcelona has both spacious avenues and very, very narrow medieval streets. The gentle climate is indicated by the presence of Palm trees, as well as numerous Sycamores. There is much grand architecture, such as the Gaudi designed La Sagrada Familia church, the Palacio Nacional currently under repair, the Columbus statue, the Placa d'Espanya, and the Generalitat. Many streets have buildings close together and close to the sidewalk. Some of the shops have fronts that roll up and down, depending upon whether they are open or shut. I did not get to see anything of the suburbs or the subway, but visited one of the train stations. We did a lot of walking and took a couple of bus and taxi rides. We felt relatively safe, though we, and at least one other person we talked to, had experiences with pickpockets in which we were squirted with something that smelled like chocolate pudding by the thief or an accomplice without our realizing it. The thief then offered to help clean up the mess with packet of tissue and water bottles in hand, and in the process lifted one's wallet either from a pocket or briefcase, under cover of a map or vigorous cleaning! Fortunately, each was recovered without loss of contents. Having a safe in the hotel room was an indication that we should have paid more attention to immediately. The last day of the conference was the second session of the General Assembly and the Closing Ceremony. One of the highlights of the General Assembly was elections of new officers for the next four years with Michael Wood of Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K., becoming the new President. Fraser Taylor, Ottawa, Ont., Canada, will serve as the Immediate Past President. There were seven Vice Presidents elected: Judy Olson (U.S.), Regina Vasconcellos (Brazil), Tositomo Kanakubo (Japan), Milan Konecny (Czech Republic), J. Solis (Philippines), Jaume Miranda i Canals (Spain), and Bengt Rystedt (Sweden). Jean-Phillipe Grelot was re-elected as Secretary General and Treasurer. It was nice to see two women on the executive! I was also elected as an Honourary Auditor for 1995-1999 along with Vladimir Berk of Russia. Another significant highlight was the selection of Ottawa as the site of the 19th International Cartographic Conference and 11th General Assembly of ICA in 1999. It was somewhat of a close vote, as there was some sympathy for South Africa. The Canadian effort had included much organizational and on the spot work by Dave Carney of Natural Resources Canada, who will be the conference director, with support from Marguerite Trindade, Denis Beaulieu, Neil Grant, Claire Gosson, Bruce Richards, Michelle Grenier, Larry Li, Eva Siekierska, Cliff Wood, and others. We had a booth that attracted a great deal of attention because it was very impressive. Momentos, such as t- shirts, were given away or drawn as prizes. A reception, hosted by David Wright, the Canadian Ambassador to Spain, and his wife, Ilse, was held for Canadians, voting delegates, commission chairs, and a few others. We are all looking forward to participating in the rest of the preparation for this meeting! During the Closing Ceremony in the afternoon, certificates of commendation were presented to several countries in four categories based upon materials in the international exhibit. Canada received one of "Highly Commended" for the Historical Atlas of Canada. A brief background and summary of the judges work was given by me along with slides of the ten winners in the Petchenik Children's Map Competition. This information is reported separately. The Past President said a few words, minus his written speech, which had been left in his hotel room, but it was suitably eloquent, nonetheless. The new President gave a direct, warm, and friendly speech to start off his four years. Sr. Artur Mas i Gavarro again elegantly presided in four languages. We were entertained by a tenor accompanied by a piano. Representatives of Sweden, the host country for the 18th International Cartographic Conference in 1997, gave a presentation outlining their program and received the official ICA flag from Sr. Jaume Miranda i Canals of Spain. With the musical voice of the tenor, the conference came to a close. We had the evening for last words with friends before the long trip back home.