The Soviet Military Mapping of Towns and Cities Alex Kent and John - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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the soviet military mapping of towns and cities
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The Soviet Military Mapping of Towns and Cities Alex Kent and John - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Hot Geospatial Intelligence from a Cold War The Soviet Military Mapping of Towns and Cities Alex Kent and John Davies Context Produced by the VTU (military topographic directorate of the Soviet Union) from WWII onwards, in parallel with

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Alex Kent and John Davies

Hot Geospatial Intelligence from a Cold War

The Soviet Military Mapping of Towns and Cities

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Context

  • Produced by the VTU

(military topographic directorate of the Soviet Union) from WWII onwards, in parallel with the Soviet military topographic map series at six scales (from 1:25,000 to 1:1,000,000)

  • Became available in the West, via Latvia, at ICC Köln, 1993
  • Over 2,000

cities in 130 countries mapped at scales from 1:5,000 to 1:25,000 (mostly 1:10,000 or 1:25,000)

  • Standard projection, ellipsoid, datum

and symbology, and usually printed on sheets larger than A0

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  • At least 91 towns and

cities mapped, at least

  • nce, from 1950 on
  • Three scales (1:5,000,

1:10,000 and 1:25,000)

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Blackburn, 1974 (1 sheet, 1:10,000)

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London, 1985 (4 sheets, 1:25,000)

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Belfast, 1964 (1 sheet, 1:10,000)

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Dover, 1940 (German Planheft, 1:10,000) Dover, 1974 (VTU, 1:10,000)

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Pembroke, 1950 (VTU, 1:10,000) Pembroke, 1953 (OS, 1:10,560)

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Observations

  • Comprehensive

topographic detail, with strategic buildings/objects delineated, identified and classified

  • Production quality is consistently high
  • Local maps and directories used less, with greater reliance
  • n satellite imagery (e.g. Zenit program of ‘cartographic’

satellites) from the early 1970s

  • Some data also gathered by field observation

(e.g. the clearance height under bridges over rivers)

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Cairo, 1972 (4 sheets, 1:25,000)

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Washington, D.C., 1975 (4 sheets,

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San Diego, 1980 (4 sheets, 1:25,000)

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Port‐au‐Prince, 1983 (1 sheet, 1:10,000)

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Mecca, 1980 (2 sheets, 1:10,000)

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Sydney, 1984 (4 sheets, 1:25,000)

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Chatham, 1984 (2 sheets, 1:10,000)

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San Francisco, 1980 (8 sheets, 1:25,000)

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Halifax, 1975 (1 sheet, 1:10,000)

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Halifax, 1989 (1 sheet, 1:10,000)

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Maribor, 1975 (1 sheet, 1:10,000) VTU City Plan

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Maribor, 1993 (1 sheet, 1:20,000) NIMA City Graphic

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Some Avenues for Future Research

  • How accurate

are the plans, in terms of both spatial positioning and completeness/classification?

  • How do the Soviet plans compare with contemporary

military plans produced by other countries?

  • Can the design
  • f the Soviet plans provide useful lessons

when creating new maps, particularly in presenting a high amount of geographical information?

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Kent, A.J. and Davies, J.M. (2013) “Hot geospatial intelligence from a Cold War: The Soviet military mapping of towns and cities” CaGIS 40 (3) pp.248-253.

alexander.kent@canterbury.ac.uk john@jomidav.com

Thank you!