Today, the 27th International Cartographic Conference is opened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

After busy days with nine well-attended pre-conference workshops, the main conference will be opened today. The opening ceremony will also officially open the International Map Year 2015–2016. Dr. Gregory Scott from UN-GGIM will give a plenary keynote on the topic of “Positioning Geospatial Information to Address Global Challenges”.

Later today, also the Technical Exhibition, the International Cartographic Exhibition and the exhibition of the Barbara Petchenik Competition will open. More than 70 oral and poster sessions will follow in the next five days. All abstracts and papers are available on icc2015.org.

ICC2015 also hosts the 16th General Assembly of the ICA. All material and reports for the General Assembly can be found at icaci.org/general-assembly-2015. The first part took place yesterday, the second part – including the voting of the new ICA executive committee, the ICA commissions for the term 2015–2019 and the selection of the place for ICC2019 – will take place on Friday. All results will be published on the ICA website soon after the event.

To share your experiences and to stay up-to-date with everything happening at the conference, please use hashtag #icc2015rio.

Enjoy the conference!...

I am happy to announce two new members of ICA.

Trinidad & Tobago has decided to join ICA as national member. The Ministry of Land and Marine Resources Division on Survey and Mapping based in El Soccoro, Trinidad and Tobago has the mission on “contributing to the development and economic success of Trinidad and Tobago by adopting new technologies and by providing up-to-date and authoritative maps, charts, land and sea information, in conventional paper and progressively in digital form to meet the needs of the government, the general public and the private sector” and felt that a full national membership with ICA will be a benefit for being able to follow this mission up.

My specific thank goes to Mrs. Paula Drakes from the Land Settlement Agency of the Ministry of Land and Marine Resources of Trinidad and Tobago. She has participated in the successful ICA Workshop on OpenSource Technologies and WebMapping early in the year 2014 at Sint-Maarten and has since then followed the idea of full cooperation up.

A heartly welcome to Trindidad & Tobago!

HERE Europe B.V. has decided to join ICA as affiliate member! HERE belonged to Nokia and was recently sold to a consortium of Audi, BMW, and Daimler. HERE considers itself a global leader in the mapping and location intelligence business. Rooted in almost three decades of experience in cartography, their vision is to offer the world’s best maps and location experiences across multiple screens and operating systems. HERE is working on the idea, that giving people a better and deeper sense of location will be essential to live a modern urbanized life. Map products of HERE can be found in the majority of current navigation systems as well as in mobile, web and enterprise solutions of companies like BMW, Garmin, Toyota, Yahoo and many more.

It is for sure a win-win situation, if such a big and strong mapping company, aiming for producing the “world’s best maps”, and the international network of the International Cartographic Association meet and work together.

My specific thanks goes to Mrs. Astrid Dawson from HERE. She has participated at the ICC 2009 in Santiago de Chile and since then stayed in close contact with ICA, although she was promoted with Nokia and later HERE to responsible positions....

We made a deposit to Panda GM to start production on Friday. It's long over due and I'm really sorry about that but I'm very excited to tell you that Cartography is now in production!

This most recent delay is due in part because we never received adequate tile samples. From what I can tell there was a mix-up with the tile proof specifications because of the switch away from the tile nubs. In light of that and to expedite production we decided to move forward with assurances form Panda that the tiles will be produced according to specifications and match the quality of Carcassonne.

I'm really very excited to finally get back on track.
Thanks,
Jon Adams

We received the box and and tile Proofs for review. The box and insert look great. They are sturdy and feel high quality.

The tiles aren't what we hoped for. We requested the same materials as Carcassonne but that was defiantly not what we received. There are two main issues with the tiles. The materials and the puzzle nubs.

When trying to join pieces together some don't fit well, and the nubs tend to get damaged when separated.

Early on we heard from some industry experts that we should not expect the die cut to be satisfactory for our needs. We hoped we could get away with the tolerances but unfortunately the pieces don't fit well. We've decided to remove the nubs. This is disappointing but this change will make the tiles more durable.

The tiles are also much too flimsy. The cardboard delaminates with a little force. We are requesting a new set of proofs with a higher quality material and hope that will resolve the issue.

This round of revisions pushes production out but we are getting very close.

Thanks again,
Jon

Art Design Win

In our last update I showed a box design different than the one you pledged for. Our partner Playford Games has been working on getting Cartography ready to ship and has developed what they feel will do best in stores. You can only imaging the heart break I felt when the design was changed and many of you expressed disappointment by the changes. You should receive what you pledged for. I had many discussions with Playford about your responses and with encouragement from some of you I approached them in order to deliver the original art. We have come to an agreement and I'm very excited to tell you we have reached a solution. Playford is going to fulfill the original box and tile art for Kickstarter backers!!!

Press Ready

I'm thrilled that we will be able to deliver the original designs to you. There are a couple caveats. Playford's version for sales in stores, and the kickstarter version, will share the same die cuts so the box had to change size and is now square. There will also be a delay as we prepare for the presses. Here are the the press ready designs. Note that the detail just isn't visible in these lo-res images.

Fulfillment Survey Responses

Thanks to everybody who has filled out the surveys already. Of the 537 reward tier backers 509 have already filled out their survey. If you haven't already please do so as soon as you're able.

Thanks again,
Jon Adams

GAMA Las Vegas

Playford Games had an excellent visit at GAMA. They did a video interview with The Dice Tower with a quick 3-minute demo of Cartography.

http://www.dicetower.com/game-video/playford-games-gama-2015

Translations

The final rule book was sent out to the translators. A really huge thanks to all of you translators for your help!

Wood Tile Proofs

Playford Games received the proofs for the wood tiles. You can see them in the GAMA video as well as below.

-

Playford Games also let me know that the proofs from China should be arriving shortly so check back soon!

Thanks again,
Jon Adams

I meet with Playford Games recently. We talked mostly about the rule book. I thought I had the rule book pretty much nailed. After some more user testing we've been working really hard to fine tune the rules so that they flow better and are more understandable. I think this is a really important task and we've made some good improvements. Playford is also working on a small strategy section on their website. This could help those unfamiliar with Go get a jump start.

I've reached out to the translators. They are all ready to start translating just as soon as Playford is done with their last few updates. A huge thanks to all of you who have offered your help.

Playford made some changes to the dimensions of the box. They are also working on the design to make it more presentable on the shelves. I'd love to get your feedback. What do you think?

We should be receiving the birch tile proofs soon. I'm really excited to start seeing stuff come together! Look for another update soon!

Thanks again,
Jon Adams

Better Faster Stronger

Months ago, before the Kickstarter launched, a boutique game publisher approached me at the gaming convention Strategicon. We talked briefly then, and regularly during the campaign about how they could get involved. Over the holidays we worked to formalize our partnership, and I'm excited to tell you about it!

Playford Games (www.playfordgames.com) originally a German-based game company, recently moved to the US. They are deeply rooted in the European board game tradition of quality and artistic design. They have already shown their insights and expertise in helping to improve Cartography. They are moving very quickly and as of yesterday, they have proofs files nearly ready to submit to the factory. They understand manufacturing, distribution and fulfillment. It's because of these qualities I've decided to partner with them to bring Cartography to you better, faster, and stronger!

They have a great mission statement: 
"To challenge you and inspire your development in strength, mind, heart and soul."  

As an abstract strategy game, I believe Cartography fits well with their values and I'm so excited to see what they can do.

What does this mean for your pledge?

You should see a better Cartography: 
For all the reasons stated above I believe Cartography will be better.
Your copy of Cartography should arrive sooner:
We are working hard to make our deadline. I can't see the future but Playford's experience gives us a better chance at hitting our May goal.

You should see a Stronger Cartography:
Looking into the future Playford will continue to support and develop Cartography. This is just the beginning. 

Thanks again, 
Jon Adams

Hello lovely Cartographers,

I'm nearly ready to take the wraps off something that will bring cartography to you better faster and stronger. Progress slowed over the holidays, but I'm really excited to tell you that I'm in the final stages of forming a partnership with a board game company. The experience and efficiency they bring to Cartography will be tremendous and make production run a lot smoother. Over the last month we've been very busy. I'll be posting another update with the details once it's all official.

Thanks again,
Jon Adams