The Republic of the Seychelles comprises over 100 small coralline and granite islands to the north of Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean. Mapping has mainly been carried out by Ordnance Survey International (OSI) and its predecessors, under Commonwealth aid programs. The Lands and Infrastructure Division (LID) is now responsible for the maintenance of the islands’ map base.

Mahé, Praslin and La Digue are the largest islands and the best mapped. A six-color topographic series at 1:10,000 scale has been published and updated several times, the latest editions were published towards the end of the 1980s. This series shows relief with 10 m contours. From this basic scale is derived a regularly revised 1:50,000 scale tourist map of Mahé, published with 50 m contours, now in its 11th edition. A similar specification is published for Praslin at 1:30,000 scale.

Soviet military topographic mapping of Seychelles exists at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (6 sheets, complete coverage, published 1958-1991) and 1:500,000 (1 sheet, partial coverage, published in 1987). These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.

A full-color photomap series, overprinted with vegetation and cultural detail, is published for all the important islands in the group. Scales vary according to island size and importance, with maps issued at 1:5,000, 1:10,000, 1:12,500 or 1:25,000 scales. Smaller islands in the group are published as large scale diazo prints and many large-scale line maps were compiled by Directorate of Overseas Surveys, OSI’s predecessor in the 1970s, to cover parts of Mahé, La Digue and Praslin at 1:2,500 or 1:1,250 scales. In addition to these topographic and image maps OSI and LID collaborate in the publication of small-scale maps of the archipelago, notably a useful overview with a 1:200,000 scale map of the central islands.

Smaller scale tourist mapping of the Seychelles are published by several commercial houses, notably Berndtson & Berndtson (B&B), Macmillan, Freytag-Berndt, Karto+ Grafik and New Holland.

Copyright © 2014 De Gruyter for e-version of World Mapping Today, 2nd Edition | Copyright © 2019 East View Geospatial, Inc.

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