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by ommunist 3983 days ago
As a former Soviet geodesist and forest inventory specialist, I must tell that military 1:50 000 maps are extremely accurate. What was intentionally skewed are civil 1:250 000 maps. The highest resolution and the best accuracy have been provided for so called forestry maps (1:10000).
3 comments
themodelplumber 3983 days ago
Wow, that's fascinating. Would you happen to have a website somewhere that documents your experiences? I'm really curious.
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ommunist 3983 days ago
With all respect, I have to redirect you to public libraries in Russia or for example Latvia. There was no Internet before 1991. Easy prey is 1: 2 500 000 school political atlas of 1980. There is no city of Daugavpils on the map of Latvia (2nd largest in Latvia), but smaller towns are mapped. Why? Daugavpils was military important.
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anovikov 3983 days ago
I can hardly believe it. a map from 1983 atlas clearly shows it: http://samlib.ru/img/b/balxzinabalxzin_i_a/mappointstreangle..., and that's just 1 to 10,000,000 map
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ommunist 3982 days ago
Well, over here at 1:20 000 000 Lithuania has small Klaipeda, but Latvia has no Daugavpils. http://goo.gl/f2ABiy . It has another explanation when relates to 1:20M (ports depicted for small republics). But in my school atlas of the 9th form my home city was absent too on a larger scale map. Also example - Lithiania has Klaipeda, Latvia has Liepaja, Russia has Velikiye Luki (rather small one), Belarus has Vitebsk, but no Daugavpils in Latvia too - http://goo.gl/VoGtvl.
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ommunist 3983 days ago
Actually I keep aset of Soviet military maps for Afghanistan. If you are interested, We can make some field experiments if you are ready to get to Bagram with Trimble GPS. It is now controlled by USAF, so you can feel certainly protected.
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themodelplumber 3982 days ago
Ah, sorry, I was more interested in your biographical experiences, not so much the topographical details. :-) It's just that I don't know many who have had a job like yours, and in USSR.
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n0us 3983 days ago
What would be the motivation for providing more accurate forestry maps?
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ommunist 3983 days ago
since I made these, I can answer. You have to accurately account boundaries of forest lots in order to correctly perform operations there. Every lot had individual economic purpose and program of development. There were 10-year plans, so basically every 10 years you produce a new set of maps.
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dang 3983 days ago
> As a former Soviet geodesist and forest inventory specialist,

Well that takes the cake for the day.

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