IRAQ

The national civilian mapping agency in Iraq is the State Establishment for Surveying, with military mapping sponsored by the Military Survey Service of the Iraqi Armed Forces. Until the 1970s mapping continued to be based upon geodetic frameworks established under the Survey of India before World War II. Modern mapping of the country started in the 1950s when systematic aerial surveying of the country was carried out for the first time. 1:250,000 scale coverage was completed in the 1960s, on a Lambert conical conformai projection with sheets each covering 45′ latitude × 30′ longitude. In the 1970s a new triangulation was carried out and subsequent mapping has been based upon the Transverse Mercator projection, Clarke 1880 ellipsoid, with sheet lines divided according to the International system. Polish technical aid in the 1970s resulted in the compilation of new 1:10,000 scale mapping and the production of 1:25,000 scale coverage of desert areas, with about 1,500 completed maps showing relief with 10 m contours. By the time of the Iran─Iraq war there was also complete coverage at 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 scales, as well as larger-scale coverage of Baghdad.

Soviet military topographic mapping of Iraq exists at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (7 sheets, complete coverage, published 1973-1990); 1:500,000 (17 sheets, complete coverage, published 1973-1989); 1:200,000 (90 sheets, complete coverage, published 1972-1991); 1:100,000 (303 sheets, complete coverage, published 1972-1986); 1:50,000 (129 sheets, northern country coverage, published 1979-2002) and city (1:10,000 to 1:25,000) topographic mapping of 23 major cities from Abadan to Mosul published between 1974 and 1979. These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.