ABSTRACT
Massive changes in the cartographic landscape took place in the first decade of the new millennium. Changes, both technological and social, that may have seemed small in themselves had far-reaching consequences. A mapping conference programme in 2005 proved to be a classic example of prescience on behalf of the programme organizers, in that it identified and highlighted many of these changes in just one session of the programme. The term neocartographers is being used to describe map makers who may not have come from traditional mapping backgrounds, and are frequently using open data and open source mapping tools. Another difference is in the blurring of boundaries between map producers and map consumers. The availability of data and tools allows neocartographers to make their own maps, show what they want, and often be the intended audience as well – that is to say they may make the maps for themselves, just because they can.
