Overview
The International Cartographic Association (ICA) is an organization formed of national member organizations, to provide a forum for issues and techniques in cartography. The Association is the world authoritative body for cartography, the discipline dealing with the conception, production, dissemination and study of maps. The mission of the Association is to promote the discipline and profession of cartography and GIScience in an international context.
The Association exists:
- to contribute to the understanding and solution of worldwide problems through the use of cartography in decision-making processes;
- to foster the international dissemination of environmental, economic, social and spatial information through mapping;
- to provide a global forum for discussion of the role and status of cartography;
- to facilitate the transfer of new cartographic technology and knowledge between nations, especially to the developing nations;
- to carry out or to promote multinational cartographic research in order to solve scientific and applied problems;
- to enhance cartographic education in the broadest sense through publications, seminars and conferences; and
- to promote the use of professional and technical standards in cartography.