TURKS and CAICOS ISLANDS

The Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Crown Colony, comprise more than 40 islands, of which eight are inhabited. They were mapped by the British Directorate of Overseas Surveys (DOS) (now Ordnance Survey International (OSI)) in the late 1960s in two parallel contoured series at 1:10,000 scale (DOS 209) and 1:25,000 (DOS 309). Mapping was based on air photography flown by the USAAF in 1943 and by Hunting Surveys Ltd in 1961. The first edition 1:25,000 series was a four-color map on the Transverse Mercator projection (Clarke 1866 ellipsoid) with UTM grid and contours at 25 ft intervals. This series has been superseded by a colorful new edition using photomap techniques (DOS 309P) and based on air photography flown in 1980-1 by Clyde Surveys. Some of the original monochrome sheets of the 1:10,000 scale series were revised in the early 1980s and were issued in full color editions. These sheets have 10 ft interval contours and the offshore coral reefs are also shown by a photomapping technique.

1:2,500 scale maps of the capital Cockburn Town on Grand Turk and Cockburn Harbour on South Caicos were published in 1970-72 (DOS 009).

The Department of Land Surveys, Grand Turk is responsible for the management of Crown Lands and for executing, managing and coordinating all surveying and mapping information in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Soviet military topographic mapping of Turks and Caicos Islands exist at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (2 sheets, complete coverage, published 1963-1991); 1:500,000 (3 sheets, complete coverage, published in 1983) and 1:200,000 (4 sheets, complete coverage, published in 1983). These products are available in print. digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.