Sébastien Caquard, PhD

I am a professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University (Montréal Tiohtià:ke). My research lies at the intersection of Cartography and Oral History. I am a mapmaker interested in mapping stories to better understand the complex relationships that exist between places, narratives, memories and maps. As the founder and director of the Geomedia Lab, I have led the development of Atlascine, an open source mapping application dedicated to map stories in depth and to reflect on cartographic processes and practices. Atlascine has been used to produce several online atlases, including The Atlas of Rwandan Life Stories. Over the years I had the opportunity to serve as: lead co-director of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS) (2020-23); Founding member of the MappingBack collective (2017); Chair of the Commission on “Art and Cartography” of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) (2012-19); Graduate Program Director of the Master of Environmental Assessment (2018-22); and instigator of the flying less policy in the department of Geography, Planning and Environment.

Recently Funded Projects

1. (Re)tracer la mémoire cartographique (SSHRC Knowledge) (Principal Investigator) (2023-28)
2. Exposition "Cartographier la mémoire : Rwanda, génocide et exil" (SSHRC connection) (Principal Investigator) (2023-24)
   
3. Enhancing Atlascine Mapping Platform, CANARIE Research Software Program (Principal Investigator) (2018-23)
4. Indigenous Stewardship of Environment and Alternative Development (INSTEAD) (FRQSC Regroupement Stratégique) (co-applicant / Principal Investigator: Colin Scott, McGill University) (2020-26)
   

Current/Recent Graduate Students

Courses taught

GEOG 466 - Geomedia and the Geoweb
HENV 615 / 805 - Research Proposal Seminar
ENVS 664 - Field course in EA
ENVS 653 - GIS for Environmental Impact Assessment
ENVS 601 - Environmental Impact Assessment
GEOG 363 / URBS 335 - Geographic Information Systems

Software

Videos

Selected Papers

1. Caquard,S., and Shaw, E. (2025). Story Mapping Praxis to Principles: Learning from the Atlascine Project. Annals of the American Association of Geographers,1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2025.2470748
2. Alavez J and Caquard S (2023) Mapping-Ofrenda: Mapping as Mourning in the Context of Migration, Journal of Cultural Geography 40:1, 21-46 https://doi.org/10.1080/08873631.2023.2187490
3. Olmedo É, and Caquard S (2022) Mapping the Skin and the Guts of Stories: A Dialog Between Geolocated and Dislocated Cartographies, Cartographica 57:2, pp. 127-146, https://doi.org/10.3138/cart-2021-0006
4. Shahamati S., Denieul L., Baumann Y., Shaw E, and Caquard S (2022) uMap: A Free Open-Source Alaternative to Google My Maps, Cartographic Perspectives 99, https://doi.org/10.14714/CP99.1729
5. Caquard S., Shaw E., and Alavez J (2021) How Distant is Close Enough? Assessing the Geographic Distortions of a Distant Hearing Methodology for Mapping Life Stories, GeoHumanities, https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566X.2021.1965898
6. McGurk T. and Caquard S. (2020) To what extent online mapping can be decolonial? A journey throughout Indigenous cartography in Canada, The Canadian Geographer: 1-16, https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12602
   
7. Caquard S. (2020) Ces liens que tissent les cartes textiles / Textile maps' ties that bind, in K. Vaughan, You Are Here * Vous êtes ici, Montreal: Centre des arts visuels et Galerie McClure, 15-18
8. Caquard S. (2020) Atlases Online, In A. Kobayashi (Ed.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2nd edition, Elsevier, 235-241 https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10599-2
9. Caquard S. and Griffin A. (2019) Mapping Emotional Cartography, Cartographic Perspectives 91: 4-16 https://doi.org/10.14714/CP91.1551
10. Caquard S., Shaw E., Alavez J., and Dimitrovas S. (2019) Mapping Memories of Exiles: Combining Conventional and Alternative Cartographic Approaches, in S. de Nardi, H. orange, E. Koskinen-Koivisto, D. Drozdzewski & S. High (eds.), Memoryscape Handbook, Routledge, 52-66
11. Caquard S. and Dimitrovas S. (2017) StoryMaps & Co. The state of the art of online narrative cartography, M@ppemonde 121, 1-31 http://mappemonde.mgm.fr/121_as1/#englishversion

Workshops, Exhibitions & Events

1. EXHIBITION - AmakaritaMbarankuru y’Urwibutso // Mapping Memory – Atlases of Rwandan Life Story, GenocideMemorial of Kigali, Gisozi, Rwanda, June 7 – 16, 2024 (co-organized with M-JGicali, E. Kayiganwa, É. Olmedo, S. Bengle...)
2. EXHIBITION - Cartographies de la mémoire - Atlas des récits de vie Rwandais // Mapping Memory - Atlases or Rwandan Life Stories, Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, Apr 28 - May 18, 2023 (co-organized with É. Olmedo, S. Gasana, E. Kayiganwa, M-JGicali, S. Bengle...)
   
3. WORKSHOP - Mapping Stories: Alternative Methods, Tools and Practice - A series of 4 workshops, Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, Fall 2020 (co-organized with S. Shahamati, L. Denieul, E. Olmedo, J. Alavez, E. Shaw, S. Bengle, K. Pinvic and Y. Baumann)
4. SPEAKERS SERIES - Conversations around Maps & Stories, Series of 4 online public conversations with 10 invited speakers, Feb-June 2021, COHDS, Montreal (co-organized with S. Shahamati, L. Denieul, E. Olmedo, J. Alavez and E. Shaw)
5. PAPER SESSION - Mapping Difficult Stories, Paper Session, conference of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Washington DC, Apr 6, 2019 (co-organized with A. Knowles)
   
6. WORKSHOP - MappingBack: Designing Alternative Indigenous Maps, Indigenous Mapping Workshop 2018, Montreal, Aug. 20-23, 2018 (co-organized with Annita Lucchesi, Tom McGurk & Heather Elliott)
7. CONFERENCE - MappingBack: Indigenous Cartographies of Extractive Conflicts, Concordia University, Montréal, Oct 14-16, 2017 (co-organized with Leah Temper, Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, Tom McGurk)
8. CONFERENCE - Maps and Emotions, Washington DC, July 1-2, 2017 (co-organized with Amy Griffin and Alex Kent)
9. WORKSHOP - Mapping my own life story, Concordia University, May 18, 25 and June 9, 2017 (co-organized with Stefanie Dimitrovas, Emory Shaw, José Alavez as well as three artists and four storytellers