Slovenia became an independent Republic in 1991. Previously it had been part of Yugoslavia, and its official mapping had been carried out by the Military Geographic Institute and other government agencies in Belgrade. Following independence, a national Surveying and Mapping Authority, Geodetski Zavod Slovenije (GZS) was established in Ljubljana under the Ministry of the Environment and Physical Planning. Some, but not all of the reprographic materials for the topographic map were acquired from Belgrade before independence, including those needed for production of the 1:25,000 scale series.

Since 1993, GZS has been in the process of converting the analogue maps into digital databases from which updated and remodelled cartographic products will be created. The whole focus of map production has moved to a digital environment.

The principal topographic series is the 1:25,000 scale national topographic series in 201 sheets (DTK25). This map has been derived from the military series published in Belgrade in the mid-1980s, but has been remodelled and revised and was completed in this revised format in 1998. The projection is Gauss-Krϋger, Bessel ellipsoid. Place names have been revised and shown in their official form, and in dual language areas the minority names are shown. Sheets are in a 7.5′ × 5′ format.

A 1:50,000 topographic map was also produced by the Military Geographical Institute in Belgrade in 35 sheets, published between 1967 and 1979. This is still available, but in 1997 work began on a new series (DTK50) produced in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence. It is in 64 sheets, with each sheet covering 10′ longitude by 15′ latitude. Projection is UTM, WGS84 ellipsoid.

Smaller scale maps are published at 1:250,000, 1:300,000, 1:400,000, 1:750,000, 1:1,000,000 and 1:1,750,000. These were all updated in 1994 or more recently. GZS has also been active in the production of new tourist maps, educational maps, town maps and recreational coastal charts. A series of 19 tourist maps, mostly at 1:50,000 scale, now covers the entire country. Many city and tourist maps are produced by the Institut za Geodezijo in Fotogrametrijo (IGF), Ljubljana, and published by a number of tourist organizations, municipal authorities and other publishers. This institute also cooperates with GZS and other government bodies.

A series of high quality topographic maps, designed for mountain recreation, cover the region of the Julian Alps and a few other areas. They are mainly at scales of 1:50,000 or 1:25,000, and are published by the Alpine Club of Slovenia (Planinska zveza Slovenije (PZS)) Ljubljana.

Soviet military topographic mapping of Slovenia is available at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (1 sheet, complete coverage, published in 1981); 1:500,000 (4 sheets, complete coverage, published 1978-1987); 1:200,000 (9 sheets, complete coverage, published 1978-1995); 1:100,000 (27 sheets, complete coverage, published 1977-1991); 1:50,000 (88 sheets, complete coverage, published 1974-1991) and city (1:10,000) topographic mapping of Gorizia, Ljubljana, Maribor and Trieste published between 1966 and 1986. These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.

The digital mapping program initially comprised the scanning of original reprographic material at a resolution of 300 dpi. It is planned to create a digital topographical vector database (DTP5) from the scanned 1:10,000 and 1:5,000 scale mapping, while a digital elevation model has been created from elevations registered at grid intervals of 100 m and derived from these maps. Administrative and statistical area centroids are also being compiled into a Register of Spatial Units (RSU).

The digitizing of the 1:25,000 scale map is being developed as a layered Generalized topographic base (GKB25) which will be used also in GIS applications, for production of the 1:50,000 scale series and for generalization to smaller scales. As the revision process proceeds, a new Record of Geographic Names (RGN) is being compiled.

The Institut za Geologijo i Geotehniko in Geofiziko (IGGG) serves as the national geological mapping organization. Geological cover was published at the scale of 1:100 000. In 1991, plans were drawn up to create a digital National Geological Information System and a pilot project was undertaken the following year to investigate the feasibility of scanning and then vectorizing data from the manuscript 1:25,000 scale maps used to compile the 1:100,000 scale published mapping.

There is also an Geophysical Survey of Slovenia (Uprava Republike Slovenije za Geofiziko), and this institute has been undertaking a National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project.

The Geographical Institute in the Scientific Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Geografski Institut ZRC SAZU (SAZU)) was founded in 1948, but reorganized in 1993 into several divisions which include one concerned with GIS and another with thematic cartography. Current projects include the preparation of maps for an encyclopedia of the country, the creation of a school atlas and educational wall maps, and contributions to a cultural atlas of Europe to be published by the German publisher Klett-Perthes. The Institute has also produced relief maps of Slovenia at 1:250,000 and 1:400,000 scales from GZS digital elevation data.

A useful atlas of Slovenia containing a complete 1:50,000 scale cover of the country and a number of city street maps was last revised in 1996 and is available in separate English and German language editions. This is published jointly by GZS and an educational publisher Zalozbe Mladinska knjiga.

In late 1998, a substantial national atlas, Geografski atlas Slovenije, was published by DZS Publishing and Trade. This multi-author atlas includes 106 digitally produced thematic maps at scales of 1:500,000, 1:750,000 and 1:1,500,000, prepared by the Geographical Institute.

A four-volume gazetteer of place names of Slovenia was issued between 1968 and 1980 and published by DZS. A less extensive, single-volume work, Krajevni leksikon Slovenije, was published in 1995, also by DZS. It includes descriptions of 6,000 places in Slovenia, together with color photographs, map extracts and statistical data. It is in Slovene.

The standardization of place names is a current concern, and the Slovenian Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names was reconstituted in 1995 and is part of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It is responsible for standardizing the spelling of both domestic and foreign toponyms. A gazetteer was also published by the National Statistical Office in 1995.

Slovenia has been comprehensively mapped at scales of 1:5,000 and 1:10,000. Revision of these map sheets is prioritized on the basis of areas of highest demand. The production of orthophoto maps for large scale mapping began in the 1980s and since 1993, digital orthophotos have been been made and this program is continuing. The scale is mainly 1:5,000, although scales of 1:1,000 or 1:2,000 are also used for cadastral purposes. Orthophotos are used both for revision of the digital database and as an independent product.

A general map of Slovenia and Croatia is published by Cartographia, Hungary, and of Yugoslavia, Slovenia and Croatia by Freytag-Berndt (FB), Austria.

Most tourist mapping of Slovenia may be purchased from Kod and Kam, a specialist map shop in Ljubljana.

A geocoded graphical statistical database of the Republic is maintained by the National Statistical Office (Statisticni urad RS), and incorporates 1991 demographic census data.

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