Dr. Anderson was born in north-eastern England, received her undergraduate education in Geography at Dundee, Scotland and took a Diploma in Cartography, at Glasgow. She worked as an Assistant Map Research Officer with the Ministry of Defense in London before coming to Canada to continue graduate studies in Cartography first at Alberta and later at Wisconsin. Dr. Anderson is a cartographer whose research interests lie in cartographic design and visualization, map user abilities and map skills education for all ages and levels of competence. She is currently Chair of the Working Group "Cartography and Children" of the International Cartographic Association.