Russian Military Mapping

As a world superpower, the Soviet military initiated an unprecedented worldwide mapping effort to cover the entire globe. World-class topographic mapping has been a natural concern for Russia throughout its history, supporting the defense of its homeland as well as the expansion of its empire. The mapping became available after the break up of the Soviet Union. Large scales maps would be the best choice for the parts of the world where no better locally produced mapping is available.

Dating from the seventies through the nineties and produced at scales from 1:1,000,000 to 1:100,000 and 1:50,000 scales still represent the best accessible coverage for many countries.

A unique feature characterizing Russian mapping is its uniformity in terms of indexing system, geodetic parameters and symbolization rules. All maps are published in Gauss-Kruger conformal projection using Pulkovo 1942 datum on Krassovsky 1940 ellipsoid. The standards for symbolization were established more than fifty years ago and incorporate more features than any other mapping in the world. Some map series especially at 1:100,000 and 1:50,000 scale include information about terrain and transportation network conditions.

The maps can be provided in paper or raster form; however, in certain cases only raster-based products are available.