The mapping of Azerbaijan still follows systems established when the country was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union. Topographic mapping conforms to the Soviet pattern with sheets issued according to the 1942 system. These series are on the Gauss conformal transverse cylindrical projection, Krassovsky ellipsoid.
Soviet military topographic mapping of Azerbaijan is available at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (4 sheets, complete coverage, published 1982-1990); 1:500,000 (10 sheets, complete coverage, published 1977-1990); 1:200,000 (31 sheets, complete coverage, published 1976-1987); 1:100,000 (89 sheets, complete coverage, published 1962-1991); 1:50,000 (279 sheets, complete coverage, published 1973-1990) and city (1:10,000) topographic mapping of Baku, Kirovobadganca (Ganja), Lenkoran, Mingechaur (Mingecevir), Nakhichevan (Nakhchivan), Salyany (Salyan), Stepanakert and Sumgait (Sumgayit) published between 1976 and 1990. These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.
After independence Gosudarstvennyi Komitet Azerbajdzhanskoi Respubliki po Geodezii i Kartografii (GKARGK) (the State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Geodesy and Cartography) was established in Baku as the national mapping agency, building upon the former Soviet mapping factory. It is now known as The National Surveying and Mapping Service and continues to publish Russian mapping. Recently published official mapping includes a 1:500,000 scale single-sheet map of the country on a relief base, an Azeri language political base map and town maps of the capital Baku.
Earth science mapping of Azerbaijan was produced by Russian agencies, notably Vserossiiskoi nauchno-issle-dovatel’skii geologicheskii Institut (VSEGEI) in St. Petersburg. The country was mapped in Soviet 1:200,000 and 1:1,000,000 scale programs. A series of seven 1:500,000 scale earth science themes were published by VSEGEI in conjunction with the Geological Boards of the Azerbaijan SSR between 1976 and 1983. Each covered the Republic on two sheets. A Soviet oil and gas resources atlas of Azerbaijan compiled in the late 1980s also became available in 1997. After independence earth science mapping has been carried out by the State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Geology and Mineral Resources (Gosudarstvennyi Komitet Azerbajdzhanskoi Respubliki po Geologii (GKARG), Baku, including hydrogeological mapping.
Thematic coverages of the Republic were compiled by different constituent agencies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, (now Rossiskaja Akademija Nauk (RAN)). These included soil and mineral mapping of the Republic. After independence Institutes of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku have continued to compile mapping in conjunction with GKARGK, notably an agroclimatic atlas published in Russian and Azeri languages.
The first western mapping of the state was published in 1997 by International Travel Maps (ITM), Vancouver.
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