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 Berne, Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research and MobiLab), 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 focussed 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 are supposed to 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 important 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 about 230 participant from 30 countries who had 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. Climate change, urbanization, increased interconnectedness, humanitarian, risk and insurance aspects gave the backdrop to 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.
Prof. Shen Jie delivering her keynote lecture
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.
Applied Workshop GeoAI: Disaster Management with Deep Learning
Workshop for tabletop exercise on extreme droughts, together with insurance sector
The keynotes were held in the panel in the morning and late afternoon. Parallel sessions were organized throughout the conference days. On the first day, an ice-breaker event with a rich aperitif was organizied, the second day saw a booked-out conference dinner in the “Alte Tramdepot” in Bern’s historic city.
Organizers of the RIMMA2025 conference
Impressions from the conference dinner at the Alte Tramdepot
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 “Top of Europe”, a.k.a. the Jungfrau Joch. There, at around 3500 m a.s.l., the University of Bern maintains a high altitude research station (i.e., atmosphere, climate, cosmic radiation).
Some participants at the excursion to the Jungfrau Joch, 31.1.2025
Proceedings of the conference are in the works. A collection of abstracts is published in the Abstracts of the ICA, Volume 9, 2025. Other selected contributions will be published in a dedicated special issue for RIMMA2025 in the International Journal of Cartography.
On behalf of all conference chairs and the LOC, I would like to express my sincerey gratitude to all colleagues, friends, and sponsors. Special thanks goes out to ICA-colleagues and their invaluable contributions for making RIMMA2025 a success. A thank you also goes to the conference program committee (with many ICA-members) for reviewing submissions, and the executive committee of the ICA who – like the Swiss Society of Cartography – kindly granted sponsorship for RIMMA2025.
Additional weblinks
Christophe Lienert
Co-Chair of the ICA Commission Cartography in Early Warning and Crisis Management
