CERCO (Comité Européen des Responsables de la Cartographie Officielle) was founded more than 20 years ago to represent the Heads of Europe’s National Mapping Agencies (NMAs). By 2000 membership had increased to 37 countries and the organisation provided a useful forum for the wider Europe at which experiences were shared and common problems resolved to the mutual benefit of all NMAs.

In 1993 CERCO established its "daughter" organisation MEGRIN (Multi-purpose European Ground Related Information Network) to manage pan-European projects. These have included the creation of harmonised geographic databases and the development of Web-based metadata services. More than half the CERCO membership became founder members of MEGRIN.

In an effort to avoid confusion in the minds of those we seek to assist, and to achieve economies by combining the twin administrations, EuroGeographics was formed by a merger of CERCO and MEGRIN in September 2000 during a General Assembly of Members in the southern Swedish city of Malmö. At the same meeting a Management Board consisting of 7 elected Members was set-up. President for the first year is Dick Kirwan, Director of Ireland’s Ordnance Survey. Vice-Presidents are Jean Poulit (Director General of IGN France) and Joakim Ollén (Head of Sweden’s Lantmäteriet). EuroGeographics is an Association loi 1901 created under French law. The Association is under the day-to-day management of an Executive Director and a small team of staff based in the survey school of IGN (France) to the east of Paris.

The current mission of EuroGeographics encompasses all the separate aims and objectives of the previous CERCO and MEGRIN, but it is hoped will fulfil them more effectively than in the past. To achieve our aims of facilitating better and more accessible Geographic Information for Europe we need to collaborate with other producers, and with all those who need such information. We encourage you to make contact with us if you feel that we can help in any way.