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Cambridge Conference 2007

The Cambridge Conference for national mapping organisations was held at St John's College, Cambridge, UK on 15-20 July 2007. This was a prestigious event for senior players in the world of national mapping organisations and related parts of the GI industry.

The Conference website www.cambridgeconference.com now has podcasts of most of the plenary sessions, the presentations given and the raporteurs' notes for all the plenary sessions and workshops.

All the newsletters in connection with Cambridge Conference 2007 are also avalable on the Conference website.

Proceedings are available for the previous two conferences:

2003 programme and papers | resolutions

1999 programme and papers | resolutions

How it all started

In the summer of 1928 some leading surveyors were heading to Cambridge for the International Geographic Congress. The British Colonial Survey Committee decided to take advantage of this opportunity to organise an Empire Conference of Survey Officers – 45 people attended, representing countries from Australia to Zanzibar.

This was a tremendous opportunity for all these surveyors with similar roles in very different places to meet, exchange ideas and share experiences. Scattered around the world, they rarely met or communicated with each other.

The 1928 conference proved such a success, with many friendships forged, that it was repeated three years later. Since then, it has been organised at quadrennial intervals. As international events unfolded, the term Empire gave way to Commonwealth, and in recent years more delegates were being invited from non-Commonwealth countries, to give a wider scope to discussions.

By 1995, the decision was taken to extend the Commonwealth meeting into a new Cambridge Conference – a global event for all national mapping organisations – always in Cambridge. It is now a modern inclusive event, keeping the traditional emphasis on opportunity for discussion, both formal and informal.