While the preservation of paper maps is well understood and put into practice, knowledge on the historical production process, and especially the pre-digital production process in the 20th century as it was practiced by many National Mapping Agencies (NMA), is now disappearing and has hardly been documented. The last witnesses of this era, people and objects, will be gone in just a few years. Hence, EuroSDR launched a working group on the Preservation of the Geographical Production Process. This initiative is also supported by EuroGeographics, the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the International Council on Archives (ICA).

In order to get a hold on the current situation and to find common grounds and goals we have started with an exploratory workshop  on the Preservation of the Geographical Production Process, in the form of a roundtable for NMAs, academic institutions, museums and relevant societies and networks that are concerned with the preservation of the geographical production process and willing to put their experience and knowledge into a joined project.

With the exploratory workshop the EuroSDR heritage working group created a roundtable for NMA’s, academic institutions, museums, private companies or ICA-members concerned with the preservation of the geographical production process and willing to put their experience and knowledge into a joined project.