ICA Workshop on Mapping for an Inclusive and Sustainable World

(story originally posted to: https://icaci.org/ica-workshop-on-mapping-for-an-inclusive-and-sustainable-world/)

The ICA Commissions on Geovisualization and the Commission on User Experience, the ICA Working Group on Inclusive Cartography, and Nanjing Normal University and Suzhou University of Science and Technology held a workshop on June 7-16 in Jiangsu Province, China, on the topic of Mapping for an Inclusive and Sustainable World.

The workshop was jointly organized by Drs. Mingguang Wu (Nanjing Normal University & Vice Chair of the UX Commission), Taisheng Chen (Suzhou University of Science and Technology), Amy Griffin (RMIT University, Vice President of the ICA), Anthony Robinson (Penn State University, Vice Chair of the Geovisualization Commission), and Robert Roth (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chair of the UX Commission).

Group shot of workshop organizers with students at Nanjing Normal University

The focus of the workshop was educational and supported student research presentation and writing skill development, building on the tradition of the ICA undertaking international exchanges to support student capacity building in cartographic scholarship. Accordingly, the multi-site workshop in both Nanjing and Suzhou enabled student participation across universities in the region, with approximately 70 undergraduate and graduate students attending across both campuses.

The workshop opened in Suzhou with research presentations from Drs. Taisheng Chen, Zhicheng Zhan, and Lu Cheng as well as a keynote from Dr. Anthony Robinson titled New Cartographic Frontiers in GeoAI. The workshop then proceeded in Nanjing with research presentations from six students with full papers accepted into the program: Wenqing Shao, Erwei Xu, Haiyue Lu, Lujia Li, Qiuxiang Pu, Ziming Cheng, and Qianqian Li. Student papers intersected the conference theme of inclusion and sustainability in interesting, tangible ways, with topics including AI-facilitated accessible design, visual neuroscience, affect and emotion, visual aesthetics, eye health, and green cartography.

Dr. Anthony Robinson delivering the workshop keynote at Suzhou Institute of Science and Technology.

Ample discussion time was planned between each presentation, both for faculty and student presenters. The open discussion was designed for ICA organizers to provide feedback as well as for non-presenting students to ask questions about the underlying research motivation and design. The pedagogical model allowed for both knowledge sharing from presenters as well as a flexible, two-way dialog about cartographic research different from a traditional lecture-based course. Each workshop day also included research and writing breakout sessions led by ICA organizers to help the attending students brainstorm prospective thesis topics as well as refine existing research framings and questions. Significant progress was also made on multiple collaborative research articles.

Student presentation by Wenqing Shao at Nanjing Normal University.

The workshop demonstrated the exceptional quality of student training and cartographic research at Nanjing Normal University and Suzhou University of Science and Technology, as well as the strong potential for international collaboration on student-facing initiatives through the International Cartographic Association. The workshop organizers encourage participation in 2026 ICA events in Asia, including AsiaCarto in 2026 and the Location Based Service conference (to be held at Nanjing Normal University). The concluding session of the workshop generated ideas for potential follow-up ICA workshops on inclusion and sustainability to be held at these future events, so please stay tuned!

ICA organizers gathering with students during a breakout session.

On behalf of the participating ICA Commissions and Working Groups, thank you to the participating students and organizers, particularly local organizers Drs. Taisheng Chen and Mingguang Wu for hosting a memorable visit.