U.S. National Committee for the International Cartographic Association

The U.S. National Committee (USNC) for the International Cartographic Association (ICA), a standing committee of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS), acts as the liaison between ICA and CaGIS, as well as the larger U.S. cartographic community.

ICC 2025 logo
  • Deadline for notification of intent to submit entries for the International Cartographic Exhibition: February 10
  • Deadline for Children’s Map Competition entries: 3 March
  • Deadline for request for letters of support for ICA Scholarships: March 3 (see note below for requests after this date)*
  • Deadline for ICA Scholarship applications: 18 March
  • Deadline for submission of entries for the International Cartographic Exhibition: 15 April

The USNC administers the following activities for U.S. participation in the 2025 ICC:

CaGIS International Conference Grants

Application Deadline: closed

CaGIS International Conference Grants are awarded to scholars at U.S. institutions , agencies, and companies to support participation in the International Cartographic Conference. Support is available for early-career scholars (ECSs) who are currently matriculating at or received their latest degree in the past five years, as well as non-ECSs.

Support is based on a competitive evaluation of submitted materials, and preference is given to applicants from underrepresented groups, first-time applicants, and single-authored presentations. The number of awards and the amount of support are contingent upon available funds. Funding is contingent upon acceptance of abstracts by the ICC organizing committee, so notification of conference grants is made after the ICC has determined its acceptance of abstracts.

ECS Applicants

Funding for ECSs is provided through a grant by the National Science Foundation. Application materials must include:

  1. A cover page with the following personal information:
    • Name
    • Pronouns
    • Birth year
    • Member of any underrepresented groups, including women, minorities (Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and American Indians or Alaska Natives), or persons with disabilities.
    • Postal address
    • E-mail address
    • Affiliated institution and its location
    • Last degree obtained and the date it was obtained or the degree you are currently working on
    • Form of participation (in person or virtual, if possible)
  2. A one- to two-page curriculum vitae indicating your current position and any recent publications, presentations, and awards.
  3. A copy of the abstract that was also submitted for the ICC.

Non-ECS Applicants

Support for non-ECSs is provided by CaGIS for its society members. Application materials must include the same as for ECSs, as well as proof of current CaGIS membership.

Submission of Applications

Include all of the application materials in order of 1. the cover page, 2. the short vitae, 3. the ICC abstract, and 4. for non-ECSs, the proof of CaGIS membership in a single PDF or Word document titled “Lastname ICC 2025.pdf” (or .doc or .docx), where “Lastname” is the last name of the presenting author. Only one abstract per author will be considered. Please send the application to the USNC Chair, Aileen Buckley (abuckley@esri.com), by 27 January 2025 – the same deadline as for ICC abstracts.

ICA Scholarships

  • Request for Letter of Support Deadline: 3 March 2025 *(requests received after this date may be honored on March 17 or 18 as the USNC Chair will traveling until March 16)
  • Application Deadline: 18 March 2025

The International Cartographic Association (ICA) offers scholarships to support early career scholars in advancing their career in cartography and GIScience to the benefit of the ICA community. ICA scholarships can be used to participate in the  International Cartographic Conferences (ICC). These scholarships also support participation in ICA commission/working group workshops which are often held immediately before the ICC. Additional details and guidelines are available at icaci.org/scholarship.

Scholarship applications must be accompanied by a letter of support from the U.S. National Delegate. Your requests for this letter of support must be accompanied by the following materials (which are also required by the ICA):

  1. A cover page with the following personal information:
    • Name
    • Pronouns
    • Birth year
    • Member of any underrepresented groups, including women, minorities (Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and American Indians or Alaska Natives), or persons with disabilities.
    • Postal address
    • E-mail address
    • Affiliated institution and its location
    • Last degree obtained and the date it was obtained or the degree you are currently working on
    • Form of participation (in person or virtual, if possible)
  2. A one- to two-page curriculum vitae indicating your current position and any recent publications, presentations, and awards.
  3. A copy of the abstract that was also submitted for the ICC.
  4. A short 150-word statement explaining how you meet the criteria, why the ICA should award you the scholarship, and what benefits you expect to gain from the scholarship.
  5. Proof of your most recent year’s education or degree.

Submission of Requests for a Letter of Support

Please email the U.S. National Delegate to the ICA, Aileen Buckley (abuckley@esri.com), to request your letter of support. Include with your request a .zip file containing all the materials you will be submitting to apply for the scholarship, as noted above. The deadline for requests is 11 March 2025 — one week before the ICA Scholarship application deadline.

Submission of Scholarship Applications

Once you have received the letter of support, please include all the required application materials in a .zip file and send that in an email to the ICA per the instructions on this ICA web page: https://icaci.org/scholarship/. The deadline for scholarship applications for ICC 2025 is 18 March 2025.

International Cartographic Exhibition

  • Notification of intent to submit entries for the International Cartographic Exhibition: As soon as you know
  • Deadline for submission of information about and images of entries to the US Coordinator: 15 April
  • Deadline for submission of physical entries for the Exhibition: To be determined

Participation is now open to all U.S. map makers for submission of their cartographic work in the International Cartographic Exhibition. Entries can include paper maps and charts, atlases, digital products, digital services, educational cartographic products, and other cartographic products (such as globes and tactile maps). All submitted entries must have been produced or modified after August 2023 (the date of the last ICC). All submitted entries will be judged by a cartographic jury during the Exhibition, and winners will be announced at the close of the conference.

Key information and dates

  • The International Cartographic Exhibition will run from 18 – 22 August.
  • Unlike the 2023 Exhibition in Cape Town, the 2025 Exhibition will include the physical (not digital) entries that people will be able to see in person.
  • Anyone is eligible to submit an entry regardless of whether or not they’ll be attending the conference.
  • Formal submission of all entries is by an ICA Member (either countries, like the United States, or affiliate members, like the USGS), not by individuals, all materials and associated information about entries must be sent to the US Coordinator for the exhibition, Darren Sears (darren@darrensears.com).
  • The USNC will arrange to transport the US entries to Vancouver.
  • Entries can be in any of these six categories: Maps, Charts, Atlases, Educational cartographic products, Physical cartographic products, and Digital cartographic products and services (see these Guidelines).
  • Each ICA member can submit up to 15 total entries across any of the above categories. If we receive more than that number, the US National Committee will set up a selection process.
  • The deadline for US submissions to the Exhibition is 15 May, so the deadline for the submission of information about and images of entries to the US Coordinator, Darren Sears (darren@darrensears.com), is 15 April.
  • If you’re planning to submit an entry, please send an email to the US Coordinator, Darren Sears (darren@darrensears.com), to let him know what category your map will be in (from the six listed above).
  • Final materials and associated information (see below) are due April 15.
  • The deadline and destination for mailing the physical materials is To be Determined.

Information for entries

The following information is required for each entry:

  1. Title (in English or French)
  2. Author(s)
  3. Published by
  4. Date published
  5. Language(s) used in the legend
  6. Copyright license
  7. Abstract – 100 words max in English or French, stating the purpose, content and cartographic method applied in the creation of the cartographic product. The LOC will not edit the abstract, therefore please ensure that the description is clear and concise.
  8. Thumbnail image for the PDF catalogue – A picture or screenshot of the entry (PNG, JPEG) at 150 dpi with the following dimensions: 1280 px by 720 px (landscape format). The recommended file size is minimum 400 KB, maximum 1 MB.

Depending on the category, additional details are also required. Please see the official guidelines here: https://icc2025.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ICC25_Map_Exhibition_Guidelines_EN.pdf.

Questions

If you have questions about the submission requirements, please contact Darren Sears (darren@darrensears.com) by 10 February so he can forward them to the International Cartographic Exhibition Organizing Committee. Note that he is already planning to ask if there are maximum dimensions for physical maps/products, and how to address the likely scenario that your map dimensions don’t match the required pixel dimensions for the thumbnail images requested for the catalogue.

Additional details

For additional details about individual entries, please see the official guidelines: https://icc2025.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ICC25_Map_Exhibition_Guidelines_EN.pdf. For additional information about the Exhibition, please see the Exhibition web page: https://icc2025.com/map-exhibitions/.

Children’s Map Competition

Deadline for Children’s Map Competition entries: March 10

Please see details about the 2025 Children’s Map Competition at https://cartogis.org/awards/children/. For additional information from the ICA, see https://icc2025.com/map-exhibitions/.

More ICA News and Information

Join the largest Cartography and Geographic Information Science network.

Join CaGIS Today