Prior to approval at the ICC meeting in Paris, the organizers of the Commission took the opportunity to hold a preliminary, inaugural meeting. The meeting was attended by 15 people from a range of backgrounds and a lively discussion on the definition, value and purpose of design in modern cartography ensued. The meeting was held to table ideas and help shape the thinking of the organizers; to begin to explore what the issues are and how best to approach them. A number of excellent ideas were discussed which we will be moving ahead with in the coming months. Some key phrases that resonated:
- there is no objective solution to map design
- we do not need a map Police…but we might need a clean up crew
- we should be re-imagining the principles of graphicacy to enable people to communicate through cartography
- bring back the aesthetic in map design
- bring the principles of design to a new audience of map-makers
- we don’t want vanilla mapping borne of a single set of principles – we need flavours!
- the key is to communicate why map design is important