The International Conference on Cartographic Visualization of Big Data for Early Warning and Disaster/Crisis Management Nanjing Normal University. (EW&CM). Oct 28, 2016.

The International Conference on Cartographic Visualization of Big Data for Early Warning and Disaster/Crisis Management (EW&CM) was held successfully at the Nanjing Normal University at Oct 28, 2016. The conference was organized by the International Cartographic Association(ICA) – Commission Cartography for Early Warning and Crises Management (CCEW&CM) and School of Geography Science of Nanjing Normal University, co-organized by Key Laboratory of Virtual Geographic Environment (Ministry of Education), Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Jiangsu Association for the Sciences of Remote sensing, Geographic information system, Jiangsu Society for Geodesy Photogrammetry and Cartography and Laboratory on Geoinformatics and Cartography, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.

The opening ceremony of the conference was held in the Jing Wen Library East report hall which is located in Xianlin Campus of Nanjing Normal University in the morning of October 27th, chaired by Professor Tang Guoan, the Dean of School of Geography Science of Nanjing Normal University and Conference President. At the conference, professor Tian Lixin, vice president of Nanjing Normal University, and professor Milan Konecny, Chairman of ICA Commission Cartography on Early Warning and Crises Management (Former President of ICA), Professor László Zentai, Secretary-General of ICA, gave speeches. After the opening of the conference, Prof. Sálvano Briceño, Chairman of Science Committee of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk – IRDR organization (and former President of ISDRS (The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)), professor László Zentai (Vice-Dean), and Prof. Jiping Liu, Vice-Chairman of CCEW&CM and Vice-President of Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, respectively made presentations by the topics of: Contribution of Big Data and Geo-information to Reducing Disaster Risk, Challenges of modern cartography and Discovery and Integration of Disaster-related Geospatial Data from Web.

The experts and scholars of the conference came from around the world – Professor Milan Konecny, Dr. Christophe Lienert, Vice-Chair of CCEW&CM and Deputy Head of Section Water Resources Management Flood (expert member at the Cantonal Operational Headquarters), Professor Temenoujka Bandrova of University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia (President of Bulgarian Cartographic Association), Prof. Rajib Shaw, Executive Director of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), Professor Li Jing, Beijing Normal University and Director of International S&T Cooperation Base of Disaster Reduction and Sustainable Development, Professor Liu Ping, National Institute of Emergency Management/China-EU Institute of Emergency Management, Chinese Academy of Governance, Dr. Bai Tao, Asia Council President and Global Business Director of International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). They respectively made presentations by the topics of: Integrated GIS，Web-services，and Interactive Real-Time Maps in Natural Hazard Early Warning, Cartographic Visualization for Disaster Management Response, Enhancing the last mile communication: Link of science and society, Disaster Mapping based on fusion of multi-source and multi-temporal remote sensing data at decision level and Emergency Management in China and so on.

The number experts and scholars who come from around the world of this conference is around 70. They gave speeches on the topics of Geographic Modeling for Early Warning of Disaster, Earth Observation Technologies for Crisis Management, Real-time Location based Big Data Analysis, Visualization for Disaster Management and Cartographic Methods and Techniques for Early Warning and Disaster Management. Nanjing Normal University Professor Chen Min chaired the Panel Discussion, and the members of the conference expressed their views. The conference promotes the mutual learning of each other and enhance the friendship between the participants.

The closing ceremony was chaired by the co-chairman of the conference, Professor Milan Konecny and Professor Chen Min, the main conference organizer, Nanjing Normal University, at Oct 28 afternoon. At the closing ceremony, the scholars of various countries summarized the content of the general assembly, exchanged of experience, and expressed their feelings.