The ICA Commission on Topographic Mapping joined forces with the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography to organise Mapping Empires: Colonial Cartographies of Land and Sea in Oxford from 13th to 15th September 2018. Over 60 delegates from around the world took part in this very special event, which was hosted by the city’s Bodleian Libraries. A wide range of superb presentations gave new insights on topographic mapping initiatives and colonial cartography and brought new perspectives on their legacy. The proceedings will be published next year in a special volume by Springer. Such was the success of the partnership that the Commissions are already planning a pre-conference workshop for Tokyo in 2019. Updates will be available soon.