Keynotes

Ken is a permanently recovering academic from the UK with a Bachelor’s in Cartography from Oxford Polytechnic and a PhD in GIS from the University of Leicester. He grew tired of admin, so he ditched his 20-year academic career and moved to the USA, landing in California.
Today, Ken gives talks, writes, and teaches about cartography, all while making maps at Esri. He is particularly fond of the ICA Commission on Map Design, where he served as Chair for eight years and currently holds the position of Vice-Chair.

Ken has won several awards for his maps, cartographic pedagogy, kitchen tile designs, and his books, including Cartography and Thematic Mapping. He co-founded mappery.org and teaches a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Cartography, which so far has enrolled over 175,000 participants. Ken also snowboards (reasonably), plays drums (badly), and is a long-suffering supporter of his home-town football team Nottingham Forest.

At the end of the day, maps are both Ken’s profession and passion.

Ivan Buchta (age 47, Czech) has been working on Bohemia Interactive’s Arma series since 2006, specializing in creative direction and delivering authentic environments for tactical mil-sim and survival games. His virtual game worlds, based on real-life geography, have been explored by millions of players over the past two decades. Before entering the video game industry, Ivan’s interest in nature and landscape led him to study environmental sciences at the University of Jan Evangelist Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem (CZ), where he researched the 1st and 2nd Austro-Hungarian Military Surveys.

He’s currently attempting to improve his archery skills without compromising his roles of being a father and the Creative Lead of Arma Reforger and Arma 4, the next generation of tactical shooters powered by Bohemia Interactive’s new proprietary technology – Enfusion.

Dana Končelíková (42, Czech) has been working as a psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry at the University Hospital Olomouc since 2009, and holds a PhD in the neurobiology of anxiety disorders. Alongside her clinical and research work, she provides care for patients with anxiety disorders as a psychiatrist with training in cognitive-behavioural therapy.

She has long been fascinated by how little we still understand about the brain–how it works, what shapes it, and how its functioning can be changed.

Outside of her medical career, Dana has long been passionate about the study of Aikido, a martial art that fosters both physical and mental development. These days, however, she devotes most of her energy to maintaining balance and harmony in her family and professional life.

Wolfgang Kainz is an Emeritus Professor of Cartography and Geo-Information Science at the University of Vienna, Austria, and a Visiting Professor at Wuhan University, China. Previously, he served as a Full Professor at ITC in the Netherlands. He holds a graduate degree in Technical Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as a PhD in Geo-Information Science from Graz University of Technology, Austria. With 45 years of experience in education, research, and consulting in the geo-information field, his primary interest lies in the theoretical foundations of GIS.

In 1984, he organized Euro-Carto III in Graz, Austria. He attended numerous Euro-Carto conferences, including Euro-Carto VI in Brno in 1987, and later organized Euro Carto 2020 in Vienna. Early in his career, he served on ICA Commissions and Working Groups and later contributed to ISPRS Working Groups and as a Commission President.

He is the immediate past president of the Austrian Cartographic Commission and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. In 2020, he received the Wang Zhizhuo Award from ISPRS.