The Instituto Cubano de Geodesia y CartografÃa (ICGC), Havana, was founded in 1967 to be responsible for all geodetic, cartographic, remote sensing and cadastral activities in Cuba. During the 1970s, first, second and third order triangulation networks were completed. Basic mapping programs were initiated at scales of 1:10,000 and 1:25,000, completed in 1980. Series at scales of 1:50,000; 1:100,000; 1:250,000 and 1:500,000 have also been completed. Topographic mapping is on a Lambert conformal conic projection, Clarke 1866 ellipsoid.
Recently, ICGC was merged with the Instituto Cubano de HidrografÃa to form the Grupo Empresarial GEOCUBA (GEOCUBA). This organization has taken responsibility for the national cartographic system, including the 1:25,000 scale topographic map, the 1:10,000 scale rural cadastre, and some 136 nautical charts of home waters and 68 regional charts of other parts of the world.
In 1989 the Council of Ministers created a National Commission for Geographical Names, and a gazetteer was in preparation for publication in 1994, but no further information has been obtained about this.
Soviet military topographic mapping of Cuba is available at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (5 sheets, complete coverage, published in 1963); 1:500,000 (12 sheets, complete coverage, published 1983-1987); 1:200,000 (40 sheets, complete coverage, published in 1980-1983) and 1:100,000 (121 sheets, complete coverage, published 1976-1977). These products are available in print, digital raster and digtal vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.
Earth science mapping is now the responsibility of the Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CIG), but most post-Revolution earth science mapping was undertaken by the Instituto de GeologÃa y PaleontologÃa (IGP) of the Cuban Academy of Sciences in collaboration with scientists from the former USSR and Eastern Europe. From 1972 to 1981, a 1:250,000 scale geological map was prepared, and this was published in 1989 in 40 sheets. A five-sheet geological map at 1:500,000 scale was published in 1985, maps of metalliferous and non-metalliferous mineral deposits in 1988 and a tectonic map in 1989.
A series of 1:250,000 scale karst maps (Mapa carsológico de Cuba) was begun in 1986 with cooperation from Czechoslovakia.
Soil mapping was carried out by the Instituto de Suelos y AgroquÃmica of the Cuban Academy of Sciences in the period 1964-68. A set of 19 colored 1:250,000 scale sheets distinguishing 14 principal soil types was published in 1971. A separate explanation by A. Hernandez et al. was published to accompany the map, and a further report, Classificación genética de los suelos de Cuba, appeared in 1975.
The original Atlas national de Cuba, published in 1970 in both Spanish and Russian editions, was prepared by the Cuban Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1985, work began on a new national atlas, Nuevo atlas national de Cuba. Numerous Cuban organizations contributed to this sumptuous volume, and cartographic work was undertaken by the Department of Cartographic Modelling and GIS in the Instituto de GeografÃa Tropical (IGT). The new atlas was published in 1989 with the help of the Instituto de GeografÃa Nacional de España (IGNE), and supersedes the earlier volume. Data from this atlas are now incorporated in a Cuban GIS, and are being updated and used for other educational products. There is also a planned series of regional atlases, one for each Cuban state, but only that of Camaguey has so far been published, in 1991.
Many single-sheet tourist maps have been published in recent years by overseas publishers, reflecting the growing tourist industry. These include maps by International Travel Maps (ITM), Cartographia, Freytag Berndt (FB), Institut Géographique National (IGN) and Karto+Grafik (K+G).
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