Shape2Gether: Final conference and project wrap-up

After three years of collaboration, the Erasmus+ project Shape2Gether is coming to an end. Together with six European universities and the industry partner Seppo, the Research Unit Cartography explored new approaches to teaching and learning, focusing on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and climate change in Europe. Shape2gether brought together expertise in sustainability and climate education, innovative technologies, game-based learning, and geosciences, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. A key aspect of the project was the active involvement of students, who were not only participants but co-creators throughout the process.

Students took part in three international summer schools in Trondheim/Tautra (Norway), Malta, and Bochum (Germany). Each summer school addressed different aspects of the project: in Norway, the focus was on immersive technologies such as VR/AR and on-site exploration to better understand climate processes; in Malta, students engaged with local sustainability challenges and Education for Sustainable Development in a regional context; and in Bochum, the emphasis was on developing serious games and interactive formats related to structural change and sustainability.

Based on these co-creative experiences and the continued collaboration of the project team, Shape2gether evaluated innovative teaching approaches and is developing learning materials aimed at empowering students as “Agents of Change” in the context of climate change and sustainable development.

All project results, including developed learning formats, digital applications, and game-based approaches, will be presented at the Shape2gether Final Conference, taking place on May 21, 2026, in Olomouc. The event is free of charge. For further information and registration, please visit our project site.


Welcome to the 15th intake of the Cartography Master

Already the 15th one! We wish a very warm welcome to Vienna to the new intake. On Thursday 5th of March, the new students of the International Master’s in Cartography program started their second semester with us, after their first semester in Munich.

The 29 students, from 20 different countries, will study with us in Vienna for four months. Through the 10 courses we offer, they will learn a broad range of theoretical and practical skills, all very useful for their cartographic career. We wish them a great time in their new city, and are looking forward to exchanging diverse perspectives on cartography!

Students of the 15th intake, with our team.
On Friday, they attended a city tour offered by a professional guide, Jan Kepinski

Good bye, dear students!

What a semester. Wednesday 25.06.2025 was a day of celebration as we held the farewell ceremony for all our wonderful cartography students!

Students of the 14th intake of the International Cartography Master

It was also the occasion of the annual map exhibition, where students present their semester-long projects. As part of the Project Map Creation course, supervised by Manuela Schmidt and Camila Narbaitz Sarsur, each student had the opportunity to create a unique map using the techniques of their choice. And, wow, what great projects!

Madeleine and her map “The Places of ‘Site Fidelity’ “
Miguel and his map “What You Must (Not) See”

We wish all the best to the students for their next semester, at TU Dresden, and for their cartographic career!

Photos: Nicolás Martínez Heredia

Where Cartography meets industry

We are happy to announce the online event “Where Cartography Meets Industry – Trust in Mapping,” bringing together leading organizations, including the International Map Industry Association (IMIA), the International Cartographic Association (ICA) with Prof. Georg Gartner, the British Cartographic Society (BCS), and the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS).

Join insightful discussions on advancing geo-ethics and exploring strategies to build trust in various aspects of cartography and mapping businesses. The online event is scheduled for April 24, 2024, from 5 to 6:30 PM (CET); admission is free of charge. For further information, visit:https://imiamaps.org/events/wcmi-2024/.

EuroCarto 2024

We are very pleased to announce that the European Cartographic Conference EuroCarto 2024, will be held from September 09-11, 2024, at TU Wien in Vienna, Austria. The conference is co-organized by us, the Research Unit Cartography at TU Wien, the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the German (DGfK), Austrian (ÖKK), Swiss (SGK), British (BCS) and Czech (ČKS) Cartographic Societies.

We aim to bring together Cartographers and those working in related disciplines to offer a platform for discussion, exchange and stimulation of research and joined projects. If you are interested in participating or contributing to EuroCarto 2024, visit our conference website for general information.

We look forward to welcoming you to the beautiful Vienna and celebrating Cartography!

Cartography Master students visit the UN office in Vienna

On June 28, the students of the Cartography Master programme visited the UN office in Vienna (UNOV). The chief of the UN-SPIDER Programme at UNOOSA in Vienna, Lóránt Czárán, gave the students an excursion in the exhibition space in UNOV. Then the visit continued in a conference room, where students listened to the presentations about the geospatial and cartography-related projects in the different UN offices.

Coen Bussink from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime gave a presentation, Collection and Sharing of Geospatial Data on Drugs and Crime, where he told how the office helps the national governments monitor drug plant cultivation and wildlife abuse. Ashraf Abushady, Senior Advisor on Digitalisation and AI from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) showed the presentation on UNIDO Digital Transformation and AI Strategies. It revealed the current trends in industrial development and how UNIDO supports countries in creating sustainable and hi-tech industries. Lóránt Czárán gave a talk about the Coordination of Global Geospatial Information Management across the UN System, where he described the challenges and the outcomes of the recently created UN Geospatial Network’s work. Finally, he presented the projects within the earth observation mission of the UNOOSA.

Lóránt Czárán, the chief of the UN-SPIDER Programme at UNOOSA

The UNOV officers answered all students’ questions about the different offices’ work and the work in the UNOV. They encouraged Cartography Master students to apply for jobs at the UN and advised them on the possible career tracks there. We thank the UNOOSA and Lóránt Czárán for introducing the insides of the comprehensive UN environment!

Cartography Master students with Lóránt Czárán

DigiGeo Final Conference in Olomouc

We are pleased to invite you to the concluding conference of our Erasmus+ project, DigiGeo, which will take place on May 24th 2023, in Olomouc. We aim to bring together students and scholars who share an interest in the field of Geosciences within higher education. Specifically, we`d like to explore the impact of the virtual/online/digital transformation era we experienced due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For more details, visit DigiGeo Conference.

© Vít Pászto | Palacký University Olomouc

Thank you for a great EuroCarto2022!

280 participants from 38 countries, 128 presentations, 35 poster presentations, 31 scholarships and nine workshops: We thank all presenters, participants, our sponsors and volunteers for an exciting and inspiring conference in Vienna!

For more information and pictures of the conference, visit, https://eurocarto2022.org/. The conference proceedings are published in a special issue of the Abstracts of the International Cartographic Association Series (Volume 5).

CartoTalks 2022

We are happy to announce and invite you to our following CartoTalks for the summer semester of 2022:

• 3. Mai 2022, 16:00-17:30
The production of atlas maps for generation views on SDG (Markus Jobst, BEV)
• 10. Mai 2022, 16:00-17:30
Artificial Intelligence and Cartography (Monika Sester, Universtität Hannover)
• 17. Mai 2022, 16:00-17:30
Map Ethics (Menno-Jan Kraak, University Twente)
• 24. Mai 2022, 16:00-17:30
Research in Cartography (David Fairbairn, Newcastle University)
• 31. Mai 2022, 16:00-17:30
Mobile Map Design (Rob Roth, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

For more information visit CartoTalks.


EuroCarto 2022

We are very pleased to invite you to the European Cartographic Conference “EuroCarto 2022”, held from 19-21 September 2022 at TU Wien in Vienna, Austria. The conference is co-organized by us, the Research Unit Cartography at TU Wien, the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the German (DGfK), Austrian (ÖKK), Swiss (SGK) and British (BCS) Cartographic Societies.

We aim to bring together Cartographers and those working in related disciplines to offer a platform for discussion, exchange and stimulation of research and joined projects. If you are interested in participating or contributing to EuroCarto 2022, visit our conference website for general information, registration and guidelines on our open Call for Submissions.

We look forward to welcoming you to the beautiful Vienna and celebrating Cartography!

Logo by Manuela Schmidt