“Dis, pourquoi?” on toponyms and maps

The program “Dis, pourquoi?” on RTS¹ devoted the last two weeks to geospatial topics:

From April 21 to April 25, the show aired five episodes focused on toponyms² and toponymy³, featuring Frédéric Giraut, professor of human geography at the University of Geneva and coordinator of the UNESCO chair in inclusive toponymy “Naming the World” (all episodes are in French):

• Toponymy 1/5: What is toponymy?
• Toponymy 2/5: What are the challenges of toponymy?
• Toponymy 3/5: Do we need to rename streets?
• Toponymy 4/5: What is addressing?
• Toponymy 5/5: What are the challenges of toponymy in the Global South?

From April 28 to May 2, the program presented five episodes on maps, exploring their history, current production, and future, with Pascal Marguerat, cartographer at Swisstopo, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, and Raphaël Bovier, responsible for digital data distribution at Swisstopo (these episodes are also in French):

• Maps 1/5: What is a map?
• Maps 2/5: What is the history of cartography?
• Maps 3/5: What do maps tell?
• Maps 4/5: How do you produce a map today?
• Maps 5/5: What is the future of cartography?

“Carte générale de l’atlas Suisse”, 1802, from The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Footnotes

1. Radio Télévision Suisse

2. place names

3. the study of place names