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meta – carto – semiotics (Vol. 3; 2010) Journal for Theoretical Cartography ISSN 1868-1387

About the Commission on Theoretical Cartography

Tositomo Kanakubo

in conversation with Alexander Wolodtschenko and Florian Hruby

While the International Cartographic Association (ICA) commemorated its 50^th birthday in 2009, the ICA Commission on Theoretical Cartography celebrated its 10^th anniversary in the same year. On this occasion, we invited the commission's initiator, Tositomo Kanakubo, to throw a glance at the past and future of this association of cartographers interested in theoretical cartography.

About the interview

This interview was conducted via email during summer 2010. The final version was authorized in September 2010.

About Tositomo Kanakubo Dr. sc. Tositomo Kanakubo

- Honorary Fellow of the ICA (1999) - ICA Vice President 1991-1995, 1995-1999

- Chair, ICA Commission „Theoretical Fields and Definitions in Cartography (1995-1999)

- Chair, ICA Working Group “Main Theoretical Issues in Cartography” (1991-1995)

kanakubo@sb3.so-net.ne.jp

Tositomo Kanakubo (born 1930) is a highly respected cartographer form Tokio, Japan. He was vice-president of the ICA (1991-1995) and initiated the ICA Commission on Theoretical Cartography in 1999. His research interest focuses on the field of theoretical problems of cartography, where he engaged also as a translator, e.g. of A. Aslanikashvili's book on

“Metacartography” from Russian to Japanese.

1. You were initiator of the ICA Commission on Theoretical Cartography in 1999. What were the reasons for this initiative?

There were several clues and motives to lead my idea.

1. I was dispatched to Europe by Japanese government as a researcher abroad on atlas and thematic maps in 1974. In those days, cartography was in an era of remarkable change, theoretically and technologically. Through meetings with many leading cartographers, I gained a lot of knowledge and felt the breath of new age.

Tositomo Kanakubo in conversation with Alexander Wolodtschenko and Florian Hruby 1

www.meta-carto-semiotics.org

This work is licensed under: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/de/deed.en_US

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2. I worked as a program planner of the Organizing Committee of the 10^th International Cartographic Conference in Tokyo in 1980 and attended at advanced theoretical lectures in the conference.

3. I was interested in theoretical cartography in those days so that became a member of the Commission on Communication in Cartography chaired by Ch. Board in 1980, then a member of the Working Group on Concepts and Methodology chaired by U. Freitag at the 12^th ICC in Perth in 1984.

4. I took over the work of U. Freitag and became the chairman of the Commission on Concepts in Cartography at the 13^th ICC in Morelia in 1987.

5. I wrote a thesis on the genealogy of theoretical cartography and received the degree of Doctor of Science in 1989. The thesis was published at first in Japanese, since then, the abstract of it was translated into English and published from the Tohoku University as a science report entitled “The Development of Contemporary Theoretical Cartography”

in 1990.

6. The Commission on Concepts in Cartography submitted a report including “The ICA Bibliographic Database on Concepts in Cartography”, using the International Yearbook of Cartography as information source, at the 15^th ICC in Bournemouth in 1991.

7. I assumed one of the vice-president of the ICA in Bournemouth in 1991 and, at the same time, was nominated the chairman of the Working Group to Define the Main Theoretical Issues on Cartography. The working group chose five theoretical issues and submitted a report to the 16^th ICC in Cologne in 1993. A questionnaire survey to the report was executed for the participants of the ICC.

8. Commission on Theoretical Fields and Definitions in Cartography was established and I was nominated the chair at the 17^th ICC in Barcelona in 1995. The Working Group on Map Semiotics which was a substructure of the commission submitted a report entitled

“Map Semiotics around the World” to the 19^th ICC in Ottawa in 1999.

9. In the process of above mentioned activities, I strongly felt the necessity to establish a new synthetic organization on theoretical cartography in the ICA.

These are the reasons why I have proposed to organize the Commission on Theoretical Cartography in Ottawa in 1999.

2. In the 1990s you were a prominent thinker in integration theory in East and West.

Today we face a globalized theoretical cartography. Can the commission be a relevant player within the field of scientific cartography in the 21^st century?

Every country has some cultures and traditions of its own but traditionalism often causes exclusionism. This situation will be increased when language barrier is added. Although such trends occurred in the field of theoretical cartography in the past, things became better now in the age of globalization.

The Commission on Theoretical Cartography is recently investigating mainly in the fields of cartographic semiotics and map language. Cartographers in those fields are not many and localized so that it is necessary to search the chance of survival for the commission and the chance will be got by effort of members themselves.

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3. In 30-40 years, all cartographers will be members of the “digital generations”.

Technology dominates more and more and seems to give less space for theoretical work. Do you share this point of view?

Science and technology are complementing each other like as wheels of a vehicle. Both coexist being developed together. Balance may get lost sometimes, but will be always restored.

Since the first stage of computer technology applied to cartography, there were many arguments for merits and demerits of digital cartography. And, accompanied with the development of digital cartography, new types of cartographic products appeared. Accordingly, the concept of map has to be changed. That is to say, the improvement of computer technology brought inevitably the development of theoretical aspects of cartographic science. I think it is an unchangeable scientific truth.

4. The Commission on Theoretical Cartography had celebrated in 2009 its 10 year anniversary. Do you have any wishes for the commission's next 10 years?

First of all, I congratulate you on the continuous activities of the Commission on Theoretical Cartography during the past decade. This success is the result of hard work of Alexander Wolodtschenko, chairman of the commission and his colleagues. I sincerely hope for prosperity in the years ahead.

Furthermore, I would like to suggest the consideration of the following items to ensure the future development of the Commission on Theoretical Cartography:

1. Increase the number of members of the commission, especially among the young generations of cartographers.

2. Augment the commission's reach by incorporating members of various countries.

3. Enrich the research area of the commission and excavate new interesting topics.

4. Organize joint meetings with other ICA commission(s), and

5. Strengthen interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and integration of results of other scientific fields.