This year’s GeoNext will feature a map gallery of notable, recent maps, brought to you by Epson Australia. Hanging on the walls around the conference venue will be provocative, clever, or just plain beautiful maps published by artists, cartographers, and interactive designers from around the world.

The GeoNext conference sessions are for anyone with an interest in the next evolution of geospatial technology and the opportunities that it brings. The map gallery also highlights new trends, but in the tradition of big, beautiful cartographic abstractions. Sometimes there’s no substitute for a large sheet of paper that tells a story about where you are or gives an impression of a faraway place. For example:

A Brazilian news magazine turned census numbers about the nation’s projected population into a map-focused page that gives insight and understanding of complex data.

A Dutch information designer used small multiples —421 maps of a single place— to reveal layers of social, physical, and symbolic geographies.

Mountain bikers in the UK combined old and new in the form of a silk map that is crowd-funded, uses open source data and will stand up to rain and mud on outdoor excursions.

A U.S. design and technology studio created a new web basemap that’s available free of charge, covers any place in the world mapped with OpenStreetMap, and is beautiful enough to print.

A French artist deconstructed the building blocks of a map to examine the cartographic language of the city.

An Australian geospatial consultant published a recreation map that is detailed enough for high-resolution printing and information-rich enough for smart-phone apps.

And U.S. Cartographers showed that typography is all you need.

Come to GeoNext to learn about the future of geospatial technologies and see some beautiful examples of the state of cartography.

For more information, visit the GeoNext website at http://www.geonext.com.au/.

The State of Cartography exhibit is proudly sponsored by Epson Australia.