News and Announcements

Join us for the fourth State of New Zealand Cartography seminar, a full-day event exploring the maps we make now and those we need for the future. This biennial seminar welcomes perspectives from across the cartographic and geospatial community: maps, other visual geographic representations, and processes that lead to these maps, such as cartographic design, data management or GIS-based spatial analysis. Talks can focus on the local, national and everyday, through to issues of global significance.

If interested in presenting, please submit a title and brief abstract (up to 300 words) by Friday, 30 May 2025.

We are excited to announce that GeoCart'2024 registration is now open!  Early discount packages will end 31 July.

The Call for Contributions continues, with abstracts due by 07 June. If you have something interesting to share about your work, projects, or research, we want you to submit an abstract!

It is with the heaviest of hearts we announce the passing of our dear friend, colleague, and Vice President, Igor Drecki.  Igor and his wife, Iwona, were killed in a tragic car accident on 26 August.

Igor's drive and seemingly ceaseless energy for all things cartographic was infectious. He was one of those lucky people who turned their passion into a career, and he always had a dozen projects underway.  Igor's legacy is all around us, from university walking maps to GeoCart, CartoPRESS books to the ICA News and, most importantly, his fervent dedication to the NZ Cartographic Society, which he helped revive in the 1990s and has been a driving force behind ever since.  

A big thank you to all of the students who entered the New Zealand Children’s Map Competition 2023!  Winning maps will represent New Zealand at the international Barbara Petchenik Children’s Map Competition in Cape Town.

The winning entries are visible on the Children's Map Competition Winners page.

Following the BGM held at GeoCart'2022, NZCS is pleased to announce its new Committee for 2022-2024.  Our deep thanks to outgoing President Roger Smith for all his hard work and leadership the past several years.

President: Tony Moore
Vice President: Igor Drecki
Secretary: Shannon McColley
Treasurer: Brent Brady
Representatives: Emory Beck, Maíread de Róiste, Benjamin Jones, and Andrew Tyrrell

Pictorial maps convey information using illustrations, images and text to engage the viewer. They gained popularity in first half of the 20th century and are undergoing a renaissance as contemporary mapmakers find creative ways to expand traditional notions of cartography.  ANZMapS is hosting a free Zoom webinar on pictoral mapmakers and mapmaking to be held Thursday, 19 May.

Speakers include: Melinda Clarke, Adam Mattinson, and Anton Thomas.

Visit the event site to register and for more information.

NZCS and the Alexander Turnbull Library are pleased to announce the second State of NZ Cartography seminar, Geospatial Data for New Zealand, will be held at the National Library of NZ in Wellington on Friday, 12 November 2021. 

The full-day event will consist of short presentations concerning the development, maintenance, application, curatorship, and preservation of geospatial data in NZ. The programme will feature a mix of invited speakers, representing producers of nationally significant datasets, academics, industry practitioners, and librarians.

The Society is about to reach a significant milestone. It’s our 50th Anniversary and it is a half century worth celebrating!

There will be a formal dinner at the Queens Wharf Ballroom in Wellington on 27 February, 2021.  Tickets are $50 and the registration page will be available soon.  Please spread the word and let us know if you have any questions.

For those staying over, we recommend the Ibis Hotel on Featherston St.  We have negotiated a discounted rate which may be booked through 12 February at the Accor website.

The 2020 NZCS Biennial General Meeting will be held via Zoom video conference on 3 September 2020.  Details to join the virtual meeting will be sent to members shortly before the event.

The Society warmly encourages every member to attend, or to nominate a proxy if unable.  All nominations and notices of motion must be submitted to the Secretary no later than three weeks prior to the meeting.

With so much uncertainty around COVID-19's impact in the weeks and months ahead, the NZCS and GeoCart Committees have made the difficult decision to cancel GeoCart'2020.  Rather than wait for 2022, a special GeoCart conference will now be held in April 2021.  Please watch this page and the GeoCart website for more details coming soon.

Both committees wish to thank everyone for their continued support of the GeoCart conferences. Although we must wait a bit longer before coming together again, GeoCart'2021 will be just as fantastic as 2020 would have been.

Kia kaha.  Stay safe and well.

There were 188 entries from 33 countries in this year's Barbara Petchenik International Children’s Map Competition in Tokyo. New Zealand’s own 9-year-old Barnaby Blampied from Matakana School won 2^nd place in the 9-12 years age category with his marvelous map entry entitled "A Turtle’s Tear: Our Plastic Oceans".  This is fantastic result and a hearty congratulations to Barnaby!

Barnaby's map and the other NZ winners can be viewed on the Children's Map Competition Winners page.

NZCS will be hosting a one day seminar -- "State of New Zealand Cartography" -- at the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington on 28 June, 2019. 

The full-day seminar will consist of short presentations from a variety of organisations and individuals about recent and current mapping activities.  Light refreshments will be provided.  Registration is free but space is limited. 

Registration will open the week of June 10.

NZCS is proud to once again host the New Zealand Children's Map Competition. Winners will become New Zealand’s entries for the international Barbara Petchenik Children’s Map Competition 2019 in Tokyo in July. Further information may be found in the Competition Guidelines.

Entry deadline is 22 March 2019.

The 2018 Biennial General Meeting will be held at 16:30-17:30 on Thursday, 6 September, at the National Library of New Zealand's Tiakiwai Auditorium (Aitken Street entrance, corner Molesworth & Aitken Streets, Wellington). 

The new Executive and Committee Members will be voted in at this time; nominations for positions should be made in writing to the NZCS Secretary no later than three weeks before the meeting.  Members not able to attend in person may submit a postal/email vote or nominate a proxy to attend and vote in their stead no later than seven days before the meeting.

The Australian and New Zealand Map Society will be hosting a Historical Maps Online workshop preceding GeoCart'2018.  It will be held the morning of 4 September at Rutherford House on the VUW Pipitea Campus.

Registration is now open.  Please visit Historical Maps Online for more information.

NZCS is proud to announce two new competitions for young geospatial professionals at GeoCart'2018. These are open to anyone under 30 years of age and will encompass two categories: posters and lightning talks. Prizes for each category include a map poster from The Map Kiwi and a $100 Prezzy card.  Approved YGC poster and lightning talk authors are eligible for a 10% and 5% discount, respectively, off their conference registrations.  All authors must obtain abstract approval before registering to claim their discount.  Please see YGC Guidelines for additional details. 

The deadline for abstract submissions is 11 May.

Thanks to all of the students who entered the New Zealand Children’s Map Competition 2017. We received over 250 entries and the judges awarded First, Second, and Third Place prizes in three age categories. First and Second Place winning maps will represent New Zealand at the international Barbara Petchenik Children’s Map Competition.

The winning entries are visible on the Children's Map Competition Winners page.

NZCS is privileged to host its 2016 Map Design with ArcGIS workshop, delivered by leading cartographer Kenneth Field (ESRI Inc. - USA).  

This is a continuation of the very successful MDW workshops held over the past several years.  The workshop will precede GeoCart'2016 and will be hosted at Victoria University of Wellington on August 29 and 30.

Registration is now open.

Thanks to all of the students who entered the New Zealand Children’s Map Competition 2015. We had over 60 entries and the judges chose six maps to represent New Zealand at the International Barbara Petchenik World Map Competition.

The judges used the following criteria for their selections: a recognisable message, cartographic content, and quality of execution.

The winning entries are visible on the Children's Map Competition Winners page. Thanks also to the following sponsors for providing wonderful prizes for the winners: Airways, DoC, Eagle Technology, Geographx, LINZ, NIWA, and NZ Geographic.

As part of the Australasian Rare Book Summer School, two free public lectures will be held in Wellington in January 2015, hosted by Victoria University of Wellington and the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.

Mapping the World through Time
Julie Sweetkind-Singer, Asst. Director of Geospatial, Cartographic and Scientific Data & Services, Stanford University Libraries
27 January 2015, 5.30pm-6.30pm | Tiakiwai (lower ground floor), National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, Aitken Street entrance.

Mapping texts: Using GIS to understand the geographies in large collections of text
Ian Gregory, Prof. of Digital Humanities, Lancaster University
29 January 2015, 5.00pm-6.00pm | Stout Research Centre, Room 203, Victoria University Kelburn campus.

The Barbara Petchenik Award was created by the International Cartographic Association in 1993 as a memorial for Barbara Petchenik, a past Vice president of the ICA and cartographer who worked through her life with maps related to children. The aim of the contest is to promote the creative representation of the world in graphic form by children.

NZCS is proud to host the New Zealand competition again.  Registrations for 2015 are now open.  

The seventh National Cartographic Conference, GeoCart'2014, 42nd ANZMapS Conference, and third ICA Symposium on Cartography for Australasia and Oceania will jointly convene in Auckland on September 3-5, 2014.  The conference will once again be held at the outstanding facilities of The University of Auckland (NZ). 

July 7th is the last deadline to submit abstracts or papers for the conference.  Registration is now open for this event.

The Biennial General Meeting was successfully held on February 18, 2013.  There were reports on the previous period, amendments to rules and the Society constitution, and a new committee was elected.

Refer to the minutes for additional details.

NZCS is privileged to host the Map Design with ArcGIS workshop, delivered by leading cartographers Kenneth Field (ESRI USA), Aileen Buckley (ESRI USA), and Igor Drecki (University of Auckland).

This is a follow on to the successful 2010 Map Design workshop. The workshop will precede GeoCart'2012 and will be hosted at the University of Auckland on August 27 and 28.

Registration is now open.

Roger Smith and the Geographx team have been interviewed by OneNews about their role in the making of the world's biggest atlas, Earth Platinum.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/giant-atlas-kiwi-connection-video-4555417

You can also listen to Roger describe the work in more detail on Radio New Zealand National Afternoons:
RNZNational-a_giant_atlas.mp3

In celebration of 40 years as a society (1971-2011), NZCS hosted a gathering at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor in Wellington on Saturday, February 19, 2011. 

Mairi Clark presented Cartography in NZ Since 1931 - PDF Slideshow in 5 Parts.

Read more to view the photo highlights.