AGI Scotland’s seminar on 6 May was a lively collaboration with GeoMob Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Earth Observatory seminar series, bringing together an engaged audience at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute for an evening of talks spanning web mapping, community data, gazetteers and the ways we describe place.
The event featured four presentations, each approaching geographic information from a different perspective. Will Field opened the session with “Why I’m Making a Chat Agent for Maputnik”, exploring how conversational tools might support map design and editing. Maputnik is already a familiar tool for those working with vector tile styles, and Will’s talk prompted discussion about how AI-assisted interfaces could make cartographic workflows more accessible, iterative and creative.
Gala Camacho followed with a GeoMob perspective, helping connect the evening’s technical themes with the wider mapping community and the kinds of experimentation currently shaping open geospatial practice. GeoMob events are known for drawing together developers, researchers, designers, data specialists and enthusiasts, and this collaboration was a strong example of that mix in action.
Luke Church then gave a thought-provoking talk on “Building Community Data Infrastructure in the West Highlands”. His presentation challenged the audience to think beyond data as something simply collected, stored and published, and instead consider the social and organisational infrastructure needed to make data genuinely useful. In rural and remote areas, community data can play an important role in supporting local decision-making, resilience, service planning and environmental understanding. Luke’s talk highlighted the importance of local capacity, trust, governance and practical tools that meet communities where they are.
The evening concluded with AGI Scotland’s own Bruce Gittings, speaking on “Gazetteers and Describing Scotland”. Bruce explored the enduring importance of place names, location descriptions and structured gazetteer data in understanding Scotland’s geography. Gazetteers may seem deceptively simple, but they underpin everything from search and discovery to cultural heritage, emergency response, historical research and public-facing mapping. His talk reminded us that how we name and describe places is never just a technical matter: it reflects history, identity, language and changing relationships with the landscape.
Together, the four talks sparked an excellent discussion about the future of geospatial practice in Scotland: how we design better tools, how we support communities to manage and use their own data, and how we preserve and interpret the geographic knowledge embedded in maps, names and archives. Many thanks to all speakers, organisers and attendees for making the seminar such a successful and wide-ranging event.
Looking ahead, AGI Scotland is pleased to highlight another event with a strong cartographic theme: The Art of Maps: A Guided Visit to the National Library of Scotland, taking place on Friday 10 July.
This free event will offer a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Library of Scotland, led by Chris Fleet, Map Curator at the Library. The National Library holds Scotland’s largest and most significant map collection, including historic maps, atlases, town plans, estate maps, coastal charts and the remarkable Bartholomew mapmaking archive. For anyone interested in cartography, GIS, history, landscape change or the preservation of geographic knowledge, this promises to be a fascinating visit.
Attendees will have the opportunity to see where thousands of historic maps are preserved in carefully controlled conditions, gaining insight into the conservation work required to protect paper, ink and other fragile materials for future generations. The visit will also include the Library’s digitisation studio, where maps and related materials are transformed into high-quality digital resources for researchers, educators and the wider public.
The National Library’s map collections are not only important as historical artefacts; they are increasingly valuable as digital datasets and research tools. Digitised and georeferenced maps allow users to compare past and present landscapes, supporting work in areas such as urban history, environmental change, coastal erosion, land use, transport, planning and local heritage. The Library’s online map resources have become an essential reference point for many people working across the geospatial sector and beyond.
Places for The Art of Maps are limited, and early booking is encouraged. Whether you are a GIS professional, researcher, student, cartographer, historian or simply someone who enjoys maps, this visit offers a rare chance to step behind the scenes and learn more about the care, interpretation and digitisation of one of Scotland’s great geographic collections.
AGI Scotland looks forward to welcoming members and friends to this special event, and to continuing the conversations started at our May seminar about how maps, data and place-based knowledge help us understand Scotland past, present and future.