of uncertainty". They deal with long-term projects,
prognoses and forecasts. They contain a "maximum of
uncertainty" and the cartographer has to devise forms of
cartographic expression, which are suitable for conveying
the geographical impression of future development.
3. From a perception point of view, there is a fundamental
distinction between the first two sorts of maps listed
above - which are mainly for planners and professionals -
and the last two which have more of the nature of docu
ments communicating information to the policy makers
and to the public. Moreover, the same proposals for an
area will be illustrated in one form for the official version
and in another, usually simplified form, for comment by
the general public.
5.3.2 Urban cartography
As far as their mapping is concerned, urban areas have long
been treated negligently. In the last few decades, however, the
continuous process of urbanization resulted in a growing
demand for detailed thematic data on urban centres for
management, maintenance of service, and planning purposes,
and within a few decades, the mapping of urban areas became
one of the most important sub-topics in cartography. It was
not long before cartographers discovered that the enormous
complexity of urban mapping presented them with great
problems. Factors such as (1) the immense variety of items to
be mapped, (2) the high density of information, (3) the rapidly
changing of information such as the quick growth of built-up
areas, and (4) the presentation problem of the third dimension,
form a barrier to taking a firm line with urban thematic
mapping. The problem of the third dimension had among
others, to be solved on urban land use maps or rather urban
space use maps - an important source of information for
planners and municipal decision makers, presenting various
categories of economic activity at ground-floor and upper-
floor levels by threedimensional representation.
In various contries, studies are underway into survey methods
and techniques of cartographic representation for urban
analysis. Japan produced experimental land use maps of the
cities of Osaka and Sappro, the last one representing 9
different types of economic activity and three height cate
gories of buildings. At the ITC in The Netherlands, a space
use map of the city of Enschede was experimentally compiled
on the basis of aerial photography and field survey, showing
7 categories.
6 The International Cartographic Association (ICA)
The establishment of the International Cartographic Associa
tion can be considered as the formal institutionalization of the
renaissance of cartography. The history of the Association
goes back to the year 1957, when the possibility of an inter
national cartographic society was first considered by a group
of international experts, convened upon Swedish initiative,
here in Stockholm.
A few years later, the Association came into being and in
1961, its Statutes were adopted by the First General Assembly
in Paris. Since then, in the past 16 years, the Association has
developed into'awell established,even flourishingorganization
with 54 member countries and its biennial conferences are a
recognized forum for the discussion of cartographic problems
throughout the world.
148
The realization of the main objectives of the Association, the
encouragement and co-ordination of cartographic research is
assigned to the 9 ICA Commission and Working Groups.
They form the most vital part of the Association. According
to the Statutes, Commissions and Working Groups are
established for specific tasks to be solved in a limited length of
time. In this way, the Commission on Education is working on
a Multilingual Basic Manual in Cartography, primarily
intended for use in developing countries. A different Com
mission concentrates upon the compilation of the second
edition of the Multilingual Dictionary of Technical Terms in
Cartography, the first edition of which was published in 1973
and became a bestseller to this day, being almost sold out at
present. A third Commission is compiling a Cartographic
Manual for Oceanographers, a fourth one a Bibliography on
Communication in Cartography, etc. After completion of its
allocated tasks, the Commissions or Working Groups are
discharged, a system which contributes to the liveliness and
mobility in the Association. The activities of the Com
missions result in proceedings of seminars, research reports,
etc., which successively are published in a series of ICA
publications, supervised by the ICA Publications Committee.
At present, 7* of these publications have been issued and
another 7* are in preparation.
Since 1961 the trilingual International Yearbook of Carto
graphy (IYC) has provided the Association with a valuable
medium of scientific contact. Though the IYC is published by
a private publisher in the Federal Republic of Germany and
the ICA was never financially involved in it, the contacts
between the two became closer over the years.
Since 1964, ICA Conference Proceedings have been published
in the IYC, in the beginning in their entirety and later selec
tion-wise. Since 1971, the Yearbook has been published
"under the auspices of" and from 1975 onwards, "in co
operation with" the Association. It is not easy to assess the
precise significance of the IYC for the Association. The
complete cartographic oeuvre, published in 17 volumes of the
Yearbook since its beginning in 1961, consist of some
300 articles, covering a wide range of subjects, occupying
approximately 3,600 pages of print, with hundreds of
illustrations. To no small degree, the IYC furthered the
interchange of ideas and experiences, stimulated research and
contributed to the identity of cartography.
Recognising the wide interest and deep concern of the
scientific and engineering community in the problems of the
Third World, and its desire to help in solving these problems,
the Association has decided to devote part of its efforts to the
strengthening of the cartographic communities in these
countries. Seminars to identify the cartographic needs of the
Third World Countries are planned.
Looking into the future, a continued growth of membership
and prestige of ICA, and an extension of its scientific and
professional work lies ahead. There is still much to be done in
fulfilling the aims of the Association, but the Executive
Committee believes that the ICA is well placed to increase
the contribution it makes to mapping in general, and in
particular to the assistance it can render to the Third World
countries.
Zie daarvoor IGU-Bulletin Vol. XXVIII, 1977, No. 2,
biz. 93 en 94. (IGU International Geographical Union).
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