Introduction

By organizing this conference in the International Map Year (IMY), the Croatian Cartographic Society wishes to contribute to the development of geoinformatics, cartography, geography and associated fields. A wide range of themes offered and renowned invited lecturers guarantee interesting lectures and a contemporary approach.

IMY is a worldwide celebration of maps and their unique role in our world. IMY provides opportunities to demonstrate, follow, and get involved in the art, science and technology of making and using maps and geoinformation. It is intended that with the assistance of the UN, the United Nations initiative on Global Geographic Information Management (UN-GGIM), IMY will be celebrated across the planet: ICA expects that all its members (about 80 member nations worldwide) will participate in order to give each citizen a broader knowledge of maps – how they are produced and used for many purposes in society.

The specific purposes of IMY are to:
•    Make maps more visible to citizens and school children in a global context
•    Give all students an opportunity to learn more about cartography and about its associated geospatial sciences – geodesy, photogrammetry, remote sensing and surveying
•    Show how maps and atlases can be used in society; Encourage all to experience how information technology can be used in acquiring and handling geographic information, and how it is possible to produce one’s own maps
•    Display and show different types of maps and map production
•    Show the technical development of mapping and atlas production
•    Demonstrate the necessity of a sustainable development of geographic information infrastructures

IMY activities will focus on children and the general public, but also involve professionals and government agencies, thus covering a significant number of non-specialists, with the intention of showing the value of maps to all sectors.