The British Cartographic Society’s 44th Annual Symposium has been hailed a resounding success with more than 120 delegates in attendance at Chester University earlier this month. Mapping 2007: Putting the pieces together combined, for the first time, topical presentations with short, interactive workshops delivering a totally new concept, brand and structure to this well respected event. The conference agenda included a keynote presentation from Vanessa Lawrence, Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey plus an impressive line up of industry experts including Trevor Steenson, Operations and Technical Strategy Director of Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland and representatives of NAVTEQ, Scottish Natural Heritage and Defence Geographic Centre.
“Mapping 2007: Putting the pieces together combined the best elements from the last four decades within a totally new format,” said Mary Spence, who was awarded an MBE for her contribution to mapmaking, and is currently President of the British Cartographic Society. “In doing so we appealed to a wider audience. Mapping 2007: Putting the pieces together more than delivered on its promise to give attendees the opportunity to learn about future developments and trends in mapping, debate the challenges facing cartography, gain practical experience and get involved with a friendly society that is committed to better mapmaking.”
Comments from attendees at Mapping 2007: Putting the pieces together included “very informative and enjoyable, with lots of useful networking”, “Not only educational, but time getting to know other cartographers and sharing their experience is invaluable”, and “The lectures and workshops this year have been very good … the most relevant for many years”.
The Mapping 2007: Putting the pieces together conference programme was organised in partnership with Training 4 GIS, the training and consultancy division of The GeoInformation Group. “Our brief was to deliver a complete training package that was topical, relevant yet stimulating,” said Fiona Cocks, Training Director. “The feedback from delegates would indicate we achieved this.”
Mapping 2007: Putting the pieces together also included contributions from Jonathan Pepler, the Cheshire County Archivist and Ashley Bayton-Williams and was supported by Atkins Geospatial, British Geological Survey, The GeoInformation Group, HarperCollins, ESRI, Kingston University, KOREC and XYZ Digital Map Company.
Those with an interest in mapmaking are advised to visit www.cartography.org.uk for further details of the Mapping 2007: Putting the pieces together conference programme and to register an interest in next years event.
Source: British Cartographic Society