The RIMMA conference was held for the first time in Switzerland, at the University of Bern, from 27.-31. January 2025. The conference was co-organized by Andreas Zischg (University of Bern, Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research and Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks), Christophe Lienert (LAINAT, Federal Government of Switzerland and Co-Chair of the ICA Commission Cartography in Early Warning and Crisis Management), Horst Kremers (RIMMA Community of Experts), and David Bresch (ETH Zurich, Weather and Climate Risks).
The conference focused on the integrated management of natural hazards and risks, where information and warnings play a crucial role. One focus was on the effectiveness of warnings that enhance preparedness and complement forecasts and emergency planning. Real-time data and warnings must be accessible, understandable, and tailored to different user groups. Impact-based warnings require collaboration between meteorological services, warning services, and warning recipients. Another focus was on visualization and communication, which are key to effective forecasting and warning systems. Maps play a pivotal role in this communication. They are digital, interactive, real-time, and easy to grasp. They integrate spatiotemporal big data and multimedia and are an essential element of digital twins.
The conference addressed open questions about user-centered information management, visualization of uncertainties, and the economic and humanitarian impacts of natural hazards, alongside topics such as system interoperability, process standardization, and early warning distribution channels.
RIMMA2025 brought together a diverse range of disciplines and experts, including meteorological and warning services, disaster and risk managers, emergency responders, and specialists in cartography, visualization, and communication. The conference attracted 230 participants from 30 countries with research, government, and private industry backgrounds. The conference invited for various contribution formats, such as workshops, sessions, round-tables, side-events, exercises, panels, oral speeches, and posters. Contributions ranged on the one hand from global to local topics, and on the other hand from conceptual frameworks to (hands-on, technological) applications. Vivid discussions were led in a constructive way. New technology, increased interconnectedness, humanitarian risk management, and insurance aspects supported discussions on new, more user- and impact-oriented solutions using established methods and novel, advanced technologies like AI and ML.
The ICA, as well as the Swiss Society of Cartography, were actively present at the conference. Two keynotes were held by ICA representatives (one by ICA President Georg Gartner on “The relevance of cartography in the context of natural hazards and risks” and one by ICA Commission Co-Chair Shen Jie on “Cartography for Emergency and Disaster Management: Hotspots and Development Trends”). Other keynotes were held by representatives of the Swiss Government, the World Meteorological Organization, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Four ICA commissions (Commissions Early Warning and Crisis Management, GeoAI, Geovisualization, and Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization) organized and held workshops, interactive panels, and sessions. Representatives of these commissions also delivered oral speeches.
RIMMA2025 participants took advantage of a very interdisciplinary event that linked various domains (forecasting, preparedness, warning, and response with visualization and communication) that usually still work rather sectorally and not entirely together. This thematic combination and linkage received very positive and encouraging feedback. Bridging various domains and enabling discussions on common (future) grounds was one of the main goals of RIMMA2025 and could be accomplished.
On the last conference day, two excursions were offered. One took place at the headquarters of swisstopo (i.a., geodata lab, cartographic production, environmental observation). The other excursion brought interested participants to the Jungfrau Joch high altitude research station.
The conference contributions are published in the series “Abstracts of the ICA”, vol. 9 (https://ica-abs.copernicus.org/articles/9/).
Full papers are being submitted to a Special Issue on Cartography and Early Warning in the International Journal of Cartography, edited by the ICA.
