President’s Report – June

The recent Power of Maps Conference, held at the National Gallery of Australia (NLA), Canberra was a great success, it’s the first of many events that MSIA will be running to promote and celebrate the International Year of the Map.

Twenty six papers were present on topics ranging from military mapping, map curatorship and mapping technologies.  In acknowledgment of the 100 year anniversary of the ANZAC Corps and the 100 year anniversary of the formation of the Royal Australian Survey Corps, two sessions were dedicated to military mapping.

The event was opened by the National Library’s Director General Anne-Marie Schwirtlich , with 3 excellent  keynote presentations by Professor Georg Gartner, President of the International Cartographic Association (ICA), Dr. Chris Pigram, CEO of Geoscience Australia (GA) and Mr. Khin Maung Maung, Managing Director, Geocomp International.

Close to 80 delegates attended each of the two days of presentations and around 40 delegates went on the excursion on the final day.  Congratulations to all the presenters, they took us on a journey that was fascinating, insightful and often quite poignant. Details of the talks can be found in the program available on the website and the presentations we have received permission to publish can be view there also. Selected papers will also be published in the ANZMapS Globe journal.

We also had the entrants to the Barbara Petchenik Children World Map Competition on display. Thank you to our organiser Doug Herrick and to the judges who took the time to review and select the winners. The winning maps will be sent to Brazil to partake in the international competition on display at the ICA's conference in August.

The Power of Maps conference was jointly organised by the Mapping Sciences Institute, Australia (MSIA) and the Australian and New Zealand Map Society (ANZMapS). I would like to thank my fellow organising committee members.  It’s the first time I have served in such a committee and it was a great developmental opportunity for me, made all the easier by the dedication and professionalism of the other members,  Dr. Martin Woods (ANZMapS President), Dr. Brendan Whyte (Assistant Map Curator, NAL), Kay Dancey (Australian National University (ANU), Jenny Sheehan (ANU) and Dr. David Fraser (MSIA)

 

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