The mapping of Georgia 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 designed along the 1942 system. These series are on the Gauss conformal transverse cylindrical projection, Krassovsky ellipsoid.
Soviet military topographic mapping of Georgia is available at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (2 sheets, complete coverage, published 1978-1990); 1:500,000 (6 sheets, complete coverage, published 1963-1988); 1:200,000 (24 sheets, complete coverage, published 1978-1988); 1:100,000 (47 sheets, complete coverage, published 1975-1991); 1:50,000 (190 sheets, complete coverage, published 1973-1990) and city (1:10,000) topographic mapping of 14 majors cities from Akhalkalaki to Zugdidi published between 1973 and 1988. These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.
After independence the map factory in Tbilisi formed the core of a new national mapping agency, now designated as the State Geodesy and Cartography Organization (SGCO). Official maps include a 1:500,000 scale single-sheet map of the country on a relief base and a town atlas of Tbilisi.
Earth science mapping of Georgia was produced by Russian agencies, notably Vserossiiskoi nauchno-issledovatel’skii geologicheskii Institut (VSEGEI) in St. Petersburg. The country was mapped in Soviet 1:200,000 and 1:1,000,000 scale programs. Constituent bodies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (now Rossiskaja Akademija Nauk (RAN)), also carried out thematic mapping of Georgia, and these responsibilities have been assumed by Institutes of the newly independent Georgian Academy of Sciences in Tbilisi, notably the Geological Institute.
The geography department of the Ivan Dzhavakhiladze University of Tbilisi has compiled a number of maps and atlases, notably the Social atlas of Georgia, issued in 1992 with social, economic and crime mapping of the country published in Georgian and Russian languages, and a population atlas. GEINFO Company Tbilisi prepared an atlas of Georgia, published in English and Georgian, with data up to 1990.
An English language town map of Tbilisi was published in 1994 by Meridiani at 1:30,000 scale.
Western publishers have recently started to issue mapping of the country. An English language tourist map of Georgia was issued by International Travel Maps (ITM) in 1997 and the Polish agency PPWK has also published a general map of the country showing roads, railways and points of interest. West Col in the United Kingdom published a useful series of topographic maps of the Caucasus Mountains which form the northern border of Georgia.
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