Prof. em. Ernst Spiess

Professor Ernst Spiess, born in 1930, is the former head of the Institute of Cartography at ETH Zurich. In 1955, he earned a degree in Surveying Engineering at ETH Zurich and he was the personal assistant to Professor Eduard Imhof until 1958. From 1958 to 1964, Ernst Spiess worked in the topography and photogrammetry section of the Swiss Federal Office of Topography in Berne. In 1964 he was appointed Assistant Professor; in 1965 he was promoted to Associate Professor as well as successor of Professor Imhof at ETH. After his promotion to full Professor in 1970, he stayed at the Institute of Cartography until his retirement in 1996.

In 1959, Spiess participated in a Swiss Expedition to the Panta Mountains in Peru, from which an outstanding topographic relief map with cliff drawing resulted. In 1974, Ernst Spiess introduced at the institute one of the first digital cartographic computer systems. The system served as a basic tool for some of the most advanced scientific works on map production, thematic cartography and map projections. The adaptation and extension of Jacques Bertin's "Graphical Semiology" to modern Thematic Cartography is one of Ernst Spiess most important contributions to cartography. Nevertheless, he always regarded the application of theoretical work as equally important. This approach led to four deliveries of the "Atlas of Switzerland", using extensively the thematic cartography software developed in the framework of the graphics system. He also initiated the development of the interactive version of the "Atlas of Switzerland". In 1993, Ernst Spiess published an entirely renewed version of the Swiss School Atlas. He successfully matched the design of Imhof's precursor atlas with the concepts of modern Thematic Cartography, map design and digital map production methods. Until today Ernst Spiess is editor-in-chief of this atlas, which was awarded the prize of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) in 1997.

From 1972 to 1976 Ernst Spiess served as the founder chairman of the Commission on Cartographic Technologies of the International Cartographic Association ICA. He was twice president of the Swiss Society of Cartography and once of the Swiss Society of Photogrammetry; Furthermore he was the representative of Switzerland at various UN Congresses on Geographic Names and he was member of the German-Speaking Commission on Geographic Names.

In 1994 Ernst Spiess received the degree of an Honorary Doctor from the University of Basle, Switzerland for his work in the fields of Thematic Cartography and Atlas Cartography. Ernst Spiess is an Honorary Member of the Swiss Society of Cartography and since 1997, he is the Honorary President. In 1995 Spiess was the recipient of an ICA Honorary Fellowship. In 2005 ICA awarded him with its highest distinction, the Carl Mannerfeldt Gold Medal.