Maps for Ordinary Consumers versus Maps for the Military: Double Standards of Map Accuracy in Soviet Cartography, 1917-1991

Abstract

Soviet cartography shared several important characteristics with the Russian cartography from which it emerged. Geographical expeditions were extremely important for filling out the contents of both Russian and Soviet state topographic maps. Cartography had been centralized in many ways in Russian times, but the centralization became absolute under the Soviet system. At the same time cartography came under centralized control of the government in the State Cartographic Service, and the publication and use of large-scale maps were subject to governmental restrictions. The 1:100,000 map of the USSR was compiled in 1954, and was not designed to provide ordinary consumers with topographic information. Any maps for ordinary users, their scales notwithstanding, were based on the 1:2,500,000 map of the country. In the 1970s, the map was deliberately impaired by a cartographic projection that resulted in random distortions of the map's contents.

A Cartographic Analysis of Soviet Military City Plans

“…As some city plans span multiple sheets, the quantity of sheets is greater Introduction hroughout the Cold War, the Military Topographic Directorate of the Soviet General Staff produced one of the largest series of topographic maps ever produced (Kent and Davies, 2013). While the maps available to the general public of the Soviet Union have long had a reputation for deliberate distortion and ambiguity (Postnikov, 2002), militaries east of the Iron Curtain were concurrently producing the very opposite; accurate and detailed maps, in total secrecy and in great quantities. From small-scale aeronautical charts to highly detailed plans of Soviet towns at 1:500 in addition to standardised topographic and city plan series covering virtually the entire globe; the cartographic output of the USSR was undoubtedly vast.…”

Image data paradox – on the impact of the development of image-based remote sensing on the maps’ content in the Eastern Bloc. The case of Poland

“…Maps available on the market did not have such properties, as they resembled sketches of tourist areas or tourist routes, approved by the Minister of National Defense, as well as sketch communication maps and schematic plans of cities (A.V. Postnikov 2002).…”

Satellite imagery and the spectacle of secret spaces

“…A wide range of intentional and deliberate 'silences' on civilian maps is most associated with totalitarian paranoia (e.g., Postnikov's, 2002, study of cartographic deceptions in the Soviet 9 Union). However, these 'silencing' practices are not limited to closed states.…”