The Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation (IKG) at ETH Zurich can celebrate its centenary in 2025. Founded in 1925 by Professor Eduard Imhof, it is considered the oldest academic cartographic institute in the world. To mark the anniversary, a two-day symposium was held at ETH Hönggerberg on 4 and 5 September 2025.
The aim was to look back on the scientific development and history of the institute, while also highlighting current research projects and perspectives in the institute’s institutional and professional environment. The programme was wide-ranging and included keynotes, short presentations and a supporting programme with an excursion and a dinner. A total of around 250 people took part in the event.
Participants at the symposium ‘100 Years of the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation at ETH Zurich’. Photo: Fabienne Baumgartner
On the first day, Martin Raubal, Professor of Geoinformation Engineering at the institute, welcomed the participants and opened the first session. The first keynote speaker was Prof. Ioannis Giannopoulos from TU Wien, who explained how geospatial intelligence enables people to navigate better in real space. Dr Nina Wiedemann from ETH Zurich then emphasised the importance of foundation models for GeoAI in geoscientific applications. Her colleague Dr Yizi Chen reported on developments in the use of AI to extract data from analogue maps and generate new map content. In the second keynote speech, Prof. Liqiu Meng from the Technical University of Munich described the role of cartography as a scientific discipline, particularly in the age of artificial intelligence, with a focus on methods, design, and information transfer and visualisation. Lisa Stähli from the Esri R&D Centre in Zurich then discussed 3D GIS applications that make hidden spatial structures visible, with applications in areas such as spatial planning, environmental monitoring and story maps. Literary scholar and cultural mediator Dr Barbara Piatti reported on various projects involving the cartographic representation of literary settings. Prof. Dan Montello from UC Santa Barbara focused on cognitive aspects of cartography and geoinformation, such as perception, interpretation and mental models of cartographic representation, and drew connections to current developments. Dr Peter Kiefer from ETH Zurich spoke about the use of static and mobile eye tracking to investigate how people perceive and process maps or geoinformation in spatial decision-making situations. Dr Negar Alinaghi from TU Wien took an interdisciplinary look at urban environments: how can decision-making processes in motion (e.g. in an urban context) be decoded and mapped?
Three institute professors together: From left to right: Prof Martin Raubal, Prof em. Ernst Spiess, Prof Lorenz Hurni. Photo: Patrick Lehmann
In the evening, the group moved to Zurich’s local mountain, the Üetliberg. The panoramic view of Zurich, Lake Zurich and the foothills of the Alps was particularly dramatic in the run-up to an approaching storm front. Aperitifs and dinner were served at the Uto Kulm restaurant. Ernst Spiess, professor emeritus of cartography at ETH Zurich, gave an impromptu speech, peppered with many reminiscences about the history of the institute and, in particular, its founder, Prof. Eduard Imhof. A quiz with three questions about the institute was also held. Participants learned that the institute has employed 287 people over the last hundred years. The 1962 edition of the Swiss Secondary School Atlas, published by the institute under the direction of Eduard Imhof, contained 277 maps, and the interactive Atlas of Switzerland, also developed at the institute, currently contains 444 maps. The winners, Anna Vetter, Victoria Desponds and Paulina Janusz, each received a current edition of the Swiss World Atlas, the official Swiss school atlas.
The second day of the symposium was opened by Prof. Lorenz Hurni and began with four welcoming addresses by Prof. Günther Dissertori, Rector of ETH Zurich, Prof. Ueli Angst, a member of the management team of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zurich, Urs Isenegger, representing the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, and Mark Wigley, President of the Swiss Society for Cartography (SSC). This was followed by a keynote speech by Prof. Georg Gartner, President of the International Cartographic Association (ICA). He outlined the role of the ETH Institute in the global context of cartography and reflected on maps, their significance and perception over time. Dr Thomas Eichenberger from ETH Zurich gave a presentation on the history of the Institute and its integration into the organisational structure of ETH. Dr Andreas Neumann and his team then provided initial insights into the development work for a new web version of the Atlas of Switzerland, the national atlas published by the institute. Prof. Dirk Burghardt from TU Dresden reported on work on mapping and analysing location data through semantic evaluation of geosocial media. Prof. Robert Weibel from the University of Zurich presented a project in which manually created and specially annotated topographic maps at various scales were used to train models for automatic generalisation. The keynote speech by Isabella di Lenardo from EPF Lausanne dealt with the connection between urban history, data sources and artificial intelligence, and showed how historical urban developments can be reconstructed and visualised cartographically using modern data and AI techniques. Roman Walt then presented the various map-based services offered by the ETH Library. In future, open geodata from research projects will also be made freely available via suitable platforms. The symposium concluded with a presentation by Dr Christian Häberling, Sabine Wöhlbier and Prof. Lorenz Hurni on the current status of work on the Swiss World Atlas, with a particular focus on the planned interactive version.
Prof. Georg Gartner, TU Vienna, President of the International Cartographic Association (ICA). Photo: Fabienne Baumgartner
The symposium was followed by the SSC’s ‘Prix Carto’ award ceremony, which honours outstanding Swiss-produced maps every two years. Sachit Mahajan from ETH Zurich won the award in the ‘Education’ category with the open-source framework greenR for quantifying urban green spaces. The book ‘Schweizer Bergwelten’ (Swiss Mountain Worlds) by Fabian Lang, featuring 100 infographics, won the main prize, and Aubry Cholleton received the recognition award for her website isochrone.ch, which calculates public transport accessibility.
All presentations from the symposium and a photo gallery are available on the institute’s website.
Commemorative publication
A commemorative publication entitled ‘Engineers of Map Art – 100 Years of the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation / 170 Years of Cartography at ETH Zurich’ with 272 pages and 220 illustrations has been published in German and English on the occasion of the anniversary. The publication provides a comprehensive overview of the history of cartography at ETH Zurich and pays tribute to the individuals who have contributed to the development of the discipline. The book can be purchased via this website for CHF 50.
Cover images of the German and English editions of the commemorative publication. Photo: Lorenz Hurni
The commemorative publication is also available as an open access publication:
A detailed review of the publication can be found here.
– Lorenz Hurni
