TRANSLATION OF ARTICLE DEALING WITH GEOGRAPHIC CARTOGRAPHY IN THE SOVIET UNION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP62-00680R000100130001-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 24, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 20, 1959
• Content Type: DISP

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ppr T or e 200uI05I ? , 80RD00100130001-3
FOREIGN SPICE DESPATCH f
Kart+o ;rephie in der Sowjet Union*' (Shy Organization of Geogreol
0
or ' c n, with Geographic
p-Mn
The attachment is a translation of "Zur Organisation der geographischen
Pete:rtes Geo; ische Jiitteiluxn no. /+, Imo. The article is a report
made by a delegation of East merman cartographers vh visited the primary
In the Soviet Union), an article by Dieter Bloch of Gotha which appeared in
c agency of the Soviet Union ? Glavnoye upravienlye geodezii I
UGK (main Administration for Geodesy and Cartography) in 142oscov.
FROM
TO
REF
Al> ibassy BON 61$
DATE
OCT 29 1959
ACTION DEPT.
N
RECD F OTHER.
Geographic Attache
5)
Dean S.
coord. : Arch tl. Jean
REPORTER
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State Dept. declassiii ati~insinh ttiuc t eQt~n rdance with security regulations.
original article to scores at confusing so a few remarks of clarification
concerning organizational structure may prove helpful. Apparently the East
German cartographers were only allowed to visit certain components of GWK#
ply those bodies under the A&iinietration for l Scale Cartograpbyo
Three main offices or institutes under this Administration are given as
(1) the Scientific Editorial Office for V Compilation, (2) the Central
Scientific Besearcb Institute for Geodesy, Aerial Photo raphy, and Cartorgr?aphy
(ZNIIGAK), and (3) the Cartoo'rephic Factorises. The Cartographic Factories
are not discussed in the article but some of the research tooks of 2 IIGAII
are mentioned* ?.ucb of the report deeals with the Scientific Editorial Office
for M Compilation and particularly Its separate Editorial Offices and sub aectio ,.
Ovine to the stroll amount of information available an Gam, the translation
should be of interest to US mapping agencies.
C7>f' - ( //t/ -/
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WCLA5SIFIED
T fienisa'tion of is qgtM!MU in the Soviet Union
In.January 1958 the Ministry for Cultural Affairs of the MR arranged
for the visit of a technical delegation to the USSR, Two of the participants
(one was the author) bad the opportunity of obtaining detailed information
on the organization of governmental mapping In the USSR. .
The supervision of all cartographic works from planning to the
delivery of maps, is delegated to G Z K (Glavnoje upravieni je geodesii
i kartogniVIi, Chief Administration for Geodesy and Cartography) which
is attached to the Ministry for Interior of the USfSR. GtXIK supervises
several administrations (of branches) for the various Individual carto-
graphic activitise.. FOr example, there Is one administration in charge of
producing small-scale maps which ban a certain independent authority, but
receives guidance from GUGKO In contrast to the situation in the WE and
the western countries, all cartographic organisations in the tom, including
those in Universities, are coordinated by this main office. GUGK assigns
a "play" to each institute and each :rectory for production of maps during
the coming year. The purpose of this plan, which deals with topics as
well as finance.,, ? le to prevent any overlapping In production.
For certain projects which are not selfsupporting, subsidies are
paid (for example, Atlas Mira)a one section of GM Is called "Control
of Geodesy and Carto raphy ; bore the whole cartographic production is
checked and licenses are Issued. All larger projects, like Atlas Mira,
Morekoy Atlas, highachool atlases, maps for encyclopedias, school maps,
and historical mope are supervised by a scientific editorial board
within GM. This board makes decisions on the methodological, political
technical, and artistic problems and is also in charge of deciding
financial questions.
The Administration for Small-Scale (geographic) Cartography
supervises the several institutes for editorial works and also the
cartographic factories. One of the institutes is the Central
Scientific Research Institute for Geodesy, Aerial Photography and
Cartography (ZNIIGAIK) with several sections, This institute is
In charge pf all scientific work on atlases and mapso In addition,
it works on the solution of basic scientific problamso One of the
sections of ZNIIGAIK Is the "Office for Transcription". The main
task of this office is the control of a standard transcriptions
There are three subdivisions, coverings
1. The territory of the USSR
20 Geographic Names of foreign countries
General transcription
UNCLASSIFIED
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This office employs approximately 30 peoplea geographers
and linguists. The work is carried out by means of a record
card system which covers all existing geographic names by countries
and languages. The standardized transcription is attempted by.
establishing rules for all languages with consideration of specialities,
characteristics,, reference books, etco
In the USSR, the problm of transcription is of a more difficult
nature than in those countries which use Latin alphabetso The work
is coordinated with similar institutions at the universities, etco
Every two years there appears a place-name reference book on the
Soviet Union.
It is of interest that maps and, atlas for the area of the
Baltic States are published using Latin alphabets. They are edited
in Rigso Georgian maps are edited in Tbilisi (Tiflls)o
Another section (of 7NIIGAIA) deals with projections and mathematical
cerltographyo This work is carried out in two directions, one for
tbeoreticalpscientific aspects, the other one for the applied needso
Suitable projections for cartographic representation have been
developed and calculated for all parts of the worldo Some of these
projections were compiled and published in the "Atlas of Projections"
by G.A0 Ginsburg and T.D0 Balmanova, Moscow, 1957 In addition,, a
bibliography of 300 titles sealing with mathematical geography was
published. Important preparatory work is carried out in this section
of IGAIK for the whole field of cartography with regard to projectionso
go selection of projections for all maps and the calculation and supply
of coordinates to the mapping institutes is also carried out there.
The other sections of ZN IIGA t, which regrettably could not be
visited,, are concerned with other scientific research tasks within
c iaphy0
The actual cartographic work is carried out in the scientific editorial
office for map compilation. This institute bas the following sectiones
la. Editorial Offices
P. Experimental Section
3. Design (Drawing)
4. Photography
5 copying
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'Te actual printing is acct carried out hers, but in the cartographic
factories, such as Ninek, Omsk, elto? The institute is headed by a
dipesier On Is assisted a technical and scientific editoro There
+! about a00 a ayeee, 1b; most i ortat. c omponr ien of the institute
an the edit offices which we assigned teaks in their special
fteidto Ibesv OMM have the follawiag personcels I main editor,
90 chief aditles, 80 editors, about 300 compilers (technically trained
rs), The editorial offices include the following subsections
welch are sngsgsd is designing and compiling=pot
i0 an tioa, library and map collection
to *sperimantal branch
36 Ichool mew
4o Atlases
so Bdstorioal nape
60 modal maps and extra orders
The "Mecum ation" branch =4900 31 peopled It cansi. a of the
library and sap collection plus the group which produces yoking sheets for
the editorial offioeso Among these duties, the maintenance of a record
card system as well as a working (documnatstion) map of the world must
be meaticcsdo Taenty pso0ia are a gaged in abstracting awe of interest
to cartography from various souroeso The working map for the tlndti is +ab
tyre scale of 181,000,O00o For corrtctionsp the symbols of the International
Map of the World at 181,000,000 an applied- i;urope is covered at the
ecal+e of 181,00,000 and the rest of the world at 1s2pg00,000o lbsae
base maps we kept upmtoodate and se sic records for the various
editors0 ,another task of We office is to determines when a now issue
of a sap should be pr4parredo If sop it must be reported to the "Maio
Administration" in order to establish the fiche: take necesoary<
All. chhan es, includi , those of administration, occuring within the
tierritory of the go"" OnlOn, we listed In a bioveekly buUatin0
us l,,y there appears also a compilation of these cbat so MOO
publications are issued by the Ministry for the Interior of the I1s88,
Leather aid for the editor is a record card system listing population
fib of all citi+eap arranged both by size and by commtryo
U9C RtFISD
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Other aid S% of UP? to_ to ma of rai1v, vat ta, etco
Cataloge for porte9 air rta,, mineral ra a (vith data) and
nati simplify this editorial '.oat na ratdy0
1n to map "alwtiong a as sqgo"m awe re1 for the
of a iy ,g f ign =IS or newt ast"o
ften mat* are fib by cantlumte and are arran(pd by a decimal
ifia i0n8 f r MMPU8 10%5 y I S&Mda for the
tin * and the nm*eft for UP camtry md the topical Ufa
fftatio: ( c9 g9alogicalq etc 0G0 Al ac iti=a are listed
In a boft and ve ate '. a .i 0 A special f is eat up' for
a~:~-i11it1a
..lid contalm P tar mate rie-l0 Items UM In stack
am borrowed free of the larWr libraries in Amcm. 11av acquisition
am ci rulet d to the Qmpl%flam of the InstItut0o
few G&AMI anal of the editorial off3.}9
0mg eec for s l maga hi cam, mapap & 8 and special subject
maps, b a sImIlar a and me similar g The
main edItor and min imer the to one of these offices after
it Bas teen Issued by the Main 1m,nietratioa with detalU an title, scale,
and de* el se rae nt0 on@ d der edItor As in charge of establishing
a det d xa s 0 if it is a routine jfta d this a1az*g
but rwimg specialists a ted0 or examleig the editorial
p1m for the Was of the USSR (287 maps 103 of them hical)
caft" the folfog points
10 General dizecti g and tee
20 Size and type of bindUC
Content of atImy types of mews, scalegg etco
40 t.iOg density of grid
50 Geographic
ao Compliation of the map by c arc eUments
b0 Amp mats a t
co TrinwrIption
6o itica4lcaMft.nistre i .R Q or t SSR
Physi
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8o SocialpecanwIc maps (ital branebes)
90scoaomicc maps
to Legend covering geographic names
1. TWJw*JxW of map comgile-tion (editorial work)9 marginal design
32. MwbwlM of map design (final drawing)
13o Colon to be and for printing
OW editorial plan covers all details Including the width of drawing
for representing rivers, railroedsp etc. Me general nature of the
arcs shown must be (for emomllge evemp or forest distribution)o
The density of elevation points and section of contour lines are dertermined0
After this plan bas been isbed, it is evaluated by the editor, chief
editor,, and main a itor' ive -o After approval by the main
administration the actual chic work is ntarte&o
The sheet corners of a map we indicated an mounted drug medlu? Of
heavy paper (fkascbi.rtaer Zaichaatart n") and then the coordinates of the
gridi are defined by the application of cao to o Bftt .yi~nss
anti nee am then fully dr no On mn~w man is then reduced 4o
the new scale and blue copies are produced on *Whatma -s" paper. By
c~ iling,the Individual parts of the map and mounting them on the grid,
' 'h Is thereby used for ? aa accurate locations,p the cartographer
Obtains tnew map for his vorko Dow a~ l ,es are drawn on to the
base map in accordance with the lagend. After checking by the editor
and a special *correction brigade" which is attached to each editorial
section, the eRon-sor, arnt to the drafting scale in carried out. The
proportion of the enlarge ant depends vVon the nature of the job.
After an lints elamenU an drawn* a proof print is med. It serves
for the vstabl4s ant of the color samples for the engravers ("Greveure"-
Draftsmen) and as a sample pattern in original color for the proof print0
After the finishing of the proof prints, the permission for the final
print is obtained from the plain Administration.
The editorial office for school maps h ndles the whole program for
geography teaching in the schools of the tB t. School atlases are
deelvied for each course of basic and.mfddlecsebools where gem
is teupts, ial.' 4th to 10th grade. In early 1958, three such atlases
sere c ompletedo They are published in a very large issue
(up to one mid dies) and are sold cheaply 4.75 to 2030 I ibles0
0111MM SIFTED
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andt paid an We basiao if a for examples 120 are easatimeatoosed.
to be necessary for a tasks this is the amount paid fors r l+essa
of actual time eaorkedo The calculation in dose by awplqffles of each
section, on the basis of ` rcetala "s which give types and
difficulties of various tt o This is a rather complicated procedures
but it appears that an the basis of long experience, a fair "Norm" system
bas been developed, 7be basis for each payment is the basic Maary, which
vaxdes btu 1e 500 blew (edittorsa), and 500 Mbes (draftsmen), For
workers of the technical sections, such as pbatographyg copyingaa and
pxoof?printing, the wage is based on the nuiber of Items produced and the
degree of difficult, The aver salaries of photographers and praOfc
printers is 1,500 Adbles and far cqpy workers 1,300 leee the basic
sauxi of these wafkars are 833 and T50 Rabies ivelyo The
average leave Voilod is appaodmate4r one week longer than for similar
yorkers in the DDRO Pensions are paid on males at the age of 60 and
females at 550 The pznsionazones between 300 and 1g200 Nbleso
7ho training is similar to that in Germany,, Witors and cartographers
axe trained in one of the two special meboals for goodesyp cartography
and phot ramssnetry in Vioscov and ibirak the technical sus
ioeo, draftsmen, copy-people and printers undergo practical training
in individual Institutes or cartographic fsctorieso The theoretical
training Is carried a at a professional s choollo The wtudmats
who have finished their cartographic training at the nvblc
faculties also have the possibility of entering a career as a map
edittoro
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