History

The International Cartographic Association has a longstanding interest in map use and user issues. The Use Commission was first established in 1984 and benefited from continual commission status up to 1999. The “Use” Commission was reestablished first as an ICA Working Group (2005-2007) and then officially as a Commission during the 2007 General Assembly.

During this history, the commission name has undergone multiple name changes, including Use & Usability (2007-2015) and Use, User, and Usability Issues (2015-2019). Today, the Commission on the User Experience (UX) maintains our historical focus on user studies and usability research in cartography while exploring exciting new developments on user experience design in information visualization, human-computer interaction, usability engineering, and web design.

Our position as one of ICA’s longest standing commissions is a result of the dedicated work of many people located across the world, including but not limited to Corné van Elzakker, David Forrest, Kristien Ooms, Alex Pucher, Artemis Skarlatidou, and Alena Vondráková. The health of the commission relies on the input of its membership, and we encourage you to get involved in commission activities. For more information about the UX Commission, please email Robert Roth (reroth@wisc.edu).