Benchmarks and Projections: Call for papers

The 2011 U.S. National Report to the International Cartographic Association

A Special Content Issue of Cartography and Geographic Information Science

Call for Contributions

Rob Edsall, special issue editor

Michael Leitner, editor, Cartography and Geographic Information Science

Every four years, to coincide with the meeting of the General Assembly of the International Cartographic Association (ICA), the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) compiles and publishes the US National Report to the ICA, which comprises reflections, perspectives, and predictions regarding the state of American cartography and related disciplines in academia, industry, and government.  We publish it as a special issue of our journal, Cartography and Geographic Information Science, and distribute it at the meeting. Every four years, to coincide with the meeting of the General Assembly of the International Cartographic Association (ICA), the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) compiles and publishes the US National Report to the ICA, which comprises reflections, perspectives, and predictions regarding the state of American cartography and related disciplines in academia, industry, and government.  We publish it as a special issue of our journal, Cartography and Geographic Information Science, and distribute it at the meeting.

The next meeting of the General Assembly is in July 2011 at the 25^th International Cartographic Congress in Paris, France.  We request submissions from authors across the broad spectrum of modern cartography, in a variety of formats, from maps to notes to full peer-reviewed papers.  

In the 2007 report, we challenged authors to make predictions for the state of American cartography in the year 2010.  We now ask that contributors to upcoming report review the 2007 report, available through CaGIS’ website (www.cartogis.org), and reflect on those predictions, with appropriate benchmarks, revisions, and opinions and initiatives to either move forward or change directions.  

Additionally, we would invite individuals to use this forum as a medium to promote the United States as a host country for the next General Assembly meeting of the ICA.  We hope to showcase the achievements and potential of American cartography as part of our bid to bring the ICA to Washington, DC, in 2015.

Specifically, we invite material addressing our discipline in terms of:

1. The role of cartography in modern geographic thought and analysis
2. Innovations in mapping in the past several years
3. The increasingly interdisciplinary character of modern cartography
4. The influence of maps and geographic information technology on society, and vice versa

Papers may be sole-authored or multi-authored.  We solicit contributions on such topics as evolving structures in research, education, production, and administration.  This may involve a particular application area, such as the mapping of natural hazards, emerging diseases or terrorism, or it may address novel methods and technologies.  We especially invite perspectives on cartography from cognate fields of study (such as computer science, information science, public health and public safety, etc.). 

The report will contain four types of submissions:

• Peer-reviewed full papers (10,000 words max);
• Editor-reviewed short papers (3,000 words max, approximately 3 full pages of text);
• Short notes (500-1,000 words, approximately ½-1 full page of text);
• Printed or virtual maps.

One of our goals as editors is to showcase the wide variety of disciplinary activities in the US, and as such we are hoping for at least one contribution from each of the many subdisciplines of cartography, such as those represented in the various ICA commissions and working groups.  These include subdisciplines such as analysis and modeling, visualization, projections, atlas production, the Internet, standards, ubiquitous mapping, multimodal mapping, cartographic archiving and map libraries, and historical perspectives on cartography.

Please indicate your interest in contributing to the U.S. National Report by sending an email to editor Rob Edsall (edsal001@umn.edu) by February 28, 2010 indicating the following:

• Title
• Names and affiliations of all authors
• Type of submission (full or short paper, short note, or map)
•  A 100 word abstract (for full or short papers only)
• Contact information for the first author (if different than affiliation)

All submissions must be received by July 31, 2010. The U.S. National Report will appear in the April 2011 issue of Cartography and Geographic Information Systems. Color images and figures will be included.

Please address all correspondence to:

Dr. Rob Edsall, Department of Geography, 414 Social Sciences Building, University of Minnesota, 267 19th Ave S, Minneapolis MN 55455. Tel: 612-625-2562; Email: edsal001@umn.edu.

Timeline  
Call for papers issued:           January 29, 2009
E-mail of intent due:              February 28, 2010
All submissions due:              July 31, 2010
Authors notified:                    September 30, 2010
Revisions due:                       November 30, 2010
Editorial review:                     January 31, 2011
Publication:                            Volume 38, Number 2, April, 2011

25^th International Cartographic Congress:  Paris, July 3-8, 2011