science

North American Cartographic Information Society

North American Cartographic Information Society is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand North American Cartographic Information Society rather than just read about it. In short: The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) is a US-based cartographic society founded in 1980. It was founded by specialists in cartography, which included government mapmakers, map librarians, cartography professors and cartography lab directors.

Key takeaways

North American Cartographic Information Society belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect North American Cartographic Information Society to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of North American Cartographic Information Society from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) is a US-based cartographic society founded in 1980. It was founded by specialists in cartography, which included government mapmakers, map librarians, cartography professors and cartography lab directors. It now represents a broad mixture of academic, government and commercial interests, with a sizeable proportion of working cartographers. Many NACIS members come from related vocations (e.g. art, design, information visualization, GIS, historical research, and software development.) NACIS offers both volunteer opportunities and travel grants for students and members of the community.

Objectives To improve communication, coordination and cooperation among the producers, disseminators, curators, and users of cartographic information, and of the infrastructure that supports it. To collaborate with other organizations and institutions involved in cartographic knowledge to advance the field. To promote cartographic education and responsible map-making. To support the development of emerging and established researchers and practitioners. To foster the refinement and innovation of cartographic practices in the creation, dissemination, and appreciation of maps and related materials.

Membership The membership is largely from the United States and Canada, with a small but steady number from other countries. In recent years, NACIS has focused on increasing membership in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Conference NACIS hosts an annual conference in the fall at a variety of locations around North America. 1980: Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1981: Gatlinburg, Tennessee 1982: Arlington, Virginia 1983: Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1984: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1985: Chicago, Illinois 1986: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1987: Atlanta, Georgia 1988: Denver, Colorado 1989: Ann Arbor, Michigan 1990: Orlando, Florida 1991: Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1992: St. Paul, Minnesota 1993: Silver Spring, Maryland 1994: Ottawa, Ontario 1995: Wilmington, North Carolina 1996: San Antonio, Texas 1997: Lexington, Kentucky 1998: Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1999: Williamsburg, Virginia 2000: Knoxville, Tennessee 2001: Portland, Oregon 2002: Columbus, Ohio 2003: Jacksonville, Florida 2004: Portland, Maine 2005: Salt Lake City, Utah 2006: Madison, Wisconsin 2007: St Louis, Missouri 2008: Missoula, Montana 2009: Sacramento, California 2010: Madison, Wisconsin 2011: St. Petersburg, Florida 2012: Portland, Oregon 2013: Greenville, South Carolina 2014: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2015: Minneapolis, Minnesota 2016: Colorado Springs, Colorado 2017: Montréal, Quebec 2018: Norfolk, Virginia 2019: Tacoma, Washington 2020: Null Island (Virtual Conference) 2021: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and hybrid virtual 2022: Minneapolis, Minnesota 2023: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2024: Tacoma, Washington 2025: Louisville, Kentucky 2026: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Publications

NACIS publishes a triannual journal, Cartographic Perspectives (available online as open-access) and the Atlas of Design, a biennial publication showcasing innovative maps designed by cartographers from around the world.

Initiatives The organization is a sponsor of Natural Earth, a public domain cartographic dataset available at 1:10 million, 1:50 million, and 1:110 million scales.

See also Cartography and Geographic Information Society

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with North American Cartographic Information Society

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what North American Cartographic Information Society claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to North American Cartographic Information Society before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about North American Cartographic Information Society ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of North American Cartographic Information Society

In research: North American Cartographic Information Society appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses North American Cartographic Information Society in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: North American Cartographic Information Society is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1980 establishments in the United States, Cartography organizations, Geographic data and information organizations in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for North American Cartographic Information Society outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study North American Cartographic Information Society in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what North American Cartographic Information Society means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain North American Cartographic Information Society out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is North American Cartographic Information Society in simple terms?

Why does North American Cartographic Information Society matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study North American Cartographic Information Society?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on North American Cartographic Information Society.