The workshop for Cartography and Sustainable Development at the University of Aruba is quickly approaching! January 26-28, 2026! All are welcome to attend! Especially University of Aruba students. Workshop attendance is free of charge.
Monday January 26th, 2026 Island Sustainability Tour – (email Britta Ricker b.a.ricker <at>uu.nl if you plan to participate).
Tuesday January 27th, 2026 Workshop Presentations in the University of Aruba Aula (see detailed agenda below) – Sign up here.
Weds January 28th, 2026, Follow-up discussions and high-level agenda-setting meeting with government and community members to discuss the role of cartography for sustainable development with a focus on small island contexts. In the afternoon, there will be a session for brainstorming and planning the formation and publication of a Research Agenda for Cartography and Sustainable Development based on what was learned from this workshop (email Britta Ricker b.a.ricker <at>uu.nl if you plan to participate).
In addition to all the local and international scholars who will be presenting and attending this workshop, we are pleased to announce our keynote speaker, Erik Houtepen (LinkedIn). His presentation titled Mapping our Islands: Geospatial developments and applications for nature research and management will be held at 16:30 on January 27th. Erik is the head of the Consultancy department at the Carmabi foundation, based on Curaçao. His work is aimed at understanding the natural world of the islands of Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire with a focus on landscape ecology, vegetation, and faunistic aspects. Through different activities of the foundation, scientific research is integrated with nature management and education to advance nature conservation.
Please review the agenda below and then sign up to participate. We look forward to meeting you at the University of Aruba. Full abstracts are coming online soon!
| Tuesday January 27th, 2026 Agenda |
| 8:30 arrival (coffee) |
| Session 1: Welcome Global to Local – Moderator Britta Ricker |
| 9:00-9:15 Welcome, Britta Ricker, Chair ICA Sustainability Commission |
| 9:15-9:45 Georg Gartner, President of the ICA, Professor at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) |
| 9:45-10:15 Eric Mijts, University of Aruba |
| 10:15-10:30 Program Overview, Britta Ricker |
| 10:30-11:00 Break |
| Session 2: SDG Resources – Moderator Britta Ricker |
| 11:00-11:20 Robert Roth, Mapping for a Sustainable World & Introducing the Atlas of Sustainability: A Case Study in Actionable Cartography |
| 11:20-11:40 Lily Houtman, Introducing the QGIS Technical Supplement for Mapping for a Sustainable World |
| 11:40 – 12:00 Sharona Jurgens, Mapping Urbanization in the Dutch Caribbean |
| 11:40-12:00 Yelena Ogeneva-Himmelbergee, Raising the Awareness of SDGs in a University GIS Course |
| 12:00-12:20 Carolyn Fish, Challenges with Data Scale for Mapping Environmental Justice Stories |
| 12:20-12:40 Discussion |
| 12:45-14:00 Lunch (together): UA cafeteria |
| Session 3: Sustainability Innovations – Moderator Robert Roth |
| 14:00-14:20 Britta Ricker, Small Islands on the Map: Spatial Data Acquisition Considerations for cartographers |
| 14:20-14:40 N.T. Nawshin, Locative Audio Cartography for Sustainability Education: A Case Study in Green Stormwater Infrastructure |
| 14:40-15:00 Maarten Eppinga Using maps to study exotic plant invasions in the Caribbean |
| 15:00-15:20 Anthony Sevold, Island scale observation of coastal ecosystems |
| 15:20-15:40 Jan Brus, Communicating Data Quality from Citizen Science, Lessons Learned from Environmental Moderating Studies |
| 15:40-16:00 Discussion |
| 16:00-16:30 Break |
| Session 4: Keynote introduced by Eric Mijts |
| 16:30-17:15 Keynote speaker Erik Houtepen Mapping our Islands: Geospatial developments and applications for nature research and management |
| 17:15-18:00 Discussion and Social |
Please sign up no later than January 16th if you will be joining us on Tuesday, January 27th by filling out this form online here https://forms.gle/q46J4Cb61mHthGpZA.
Again, Monday, January 26th is an Island Sustainability Tour led by Eric Mijts – there is a small fee for this excursion – please email Britta Ricker directly at b.a.ricker <at>uu.nl to confirm your participation and so that she may contact you directly about costs, times, and other information about this event. On Wednesday Jan 28th, we will be meeting with the Aruba SDG task force and other community members to discuss the role of cartography for sustainable development. In the afternoon, there will be a session for brainstorming and planning the development and publication of a Research Agenda for Cartography and Sustainable Development, based on the insights gained from this workshop.
Special thank you to our sponsors, the ICA and GIS4C
We look forward to learning together at this workshop at the University of Aruba.
