The Service Géographique National was formed in 1972, and in 1989 it was reorganized under the Ministère de l’Equipement, des Transports et de la Mer to become the Direction des Travaux Géographiques et Cartographiques (DTGC), Dakar. Further restructuring in 1990 created two divisions, one for land and aerial survey and the other for cartography. Its current program includes the completion of the 1:50,000 scale topographic map and large scale mapping of regional capitals and development areas.
The first topographic surveys were carried out by the French Institut Géographique National (IGN) and its predecessors, producing maps in the three Carte de l’Afrique de l’Ouest series, through its agency in Dakar. Maps were compiled at 1:50,000; 1:200,000 and 1:500,000 scales from aerial photography flown in the 1950s. The 1:200,000 scale series was completed by the French in the early 1970s, and revisions of some sheets were published through the 1970s and into the early 1980s. Although some sheets have subsequently been reprinted, there are no plans further to update this series. Early sheets are titled as part of the Carte de l’Afrique de l’Ouest series, while the more recent sheets, published jointly with DTGC, are labelled République du Sénégal. These maps are in the standard French overseas mapping style, published normally in four colors with 40 m contours, and on UTM projection, Clarke 1880 ellipsoid.
Soviet military topographic mapping of Senegel is available at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (3 sheets, complete coverage, published in 1986); 1:500,000 (8 sheets, complete coverage, published 1984-1985); 1:200,000 (41 sheets, complete coverage, published 1982-1985) and a city (1:10,000) topographic map of Dakar published in 1975. These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.
The basic scale mapping is the 1:50,000 scale series, but this was not completed by the French. In 1989-92, Japan funded the mapping and publication of 43 new 1:50,000 scale sheets in the eastern part of the country, but further progress with the series awaits new funding. This series is also in four colors and on UTM projection, but with contours at 20 m intervals. There are also plans to re-map the area of greater Dakar, but this too depends on the availability of further overseas aid.
A series of maps of individual departments (6) and regions (7) has been created from the 1:200,000 or 1:500,000 scale topographic maps, and these were all brought up to date in 1993.
Small scale mapping includes a four-sheet 1:500,000 scale map, edited into a tourist format in 1966, and a folded 1:1,000,000 road and tourist map revised in 1993 in the French IGN Pays et villes du Monde series.
Earth science mapping is the responsibility of the Direction des Mines et de la Géologie (DMGS), Dakar, established in 1960. The principal, 1:200,000 series of maps was produced in the 1960s with the aid of the French Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), and about half the country is covered by the 14 published sheets. Geological, mineral and geotectonic maps of the whole country at 1:500,000 scale were also published. A three-volume mineral plan was published with BRGM in 1985, and six 1:20,000 scale geological maps of Cap Vert were issued in 1976.
Soil mapping of Senegal has been carried out by the French Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération (ORSTOM). 1:200,000 scale soil maps were compiled for large areas of the south of the country, and a single sheet 1:1,000,000 map of the whole country was published in 1965. In 1986, ORSTOM published three 1:100,000 scale soil maps of the coastal area of Ziguinchor Region, and has also produced 1:1,000,000 scale population and agricultural maps of the Senegal Valley, bathymetric and sedimentological mapping of the Seno-Gambian continental shelf, and a small-scale tsetse-fly map of the country.
The Centre de Suivi Écologique (CSE) was established in 1986 with Danish funding. Its task is to investigate ecological problems and to undertake monitoring of crops and vegetation change using LANDSAT and other imagery. A recent poster published by CSE, ha République du Senegal: profil environnemental, has a 1:1,000,000 satellite image map of the country together with small scale inset maps and photos illustrating landscape types, vegetation cover, seasonal vegetation growth, land degradation and conservation methods.
The Direction de l’Amenagement du Territoire (DAT) prepared 1:500,000 scale maps of hydrogeology, morphopedology and land capability under a USAID program in 1985. Recently, DAT has also acquired a GIS facility and plans to develop a national thematic database.
The sumptuous Atlas national du Sénégal, with text in French, was published in 1977. It includes numerous thematic maps at the principal scale of 1:1,500,000. A smaller thematic atlas, with good cartographic illustrations, was published by Editions du Jaguar in Les atlas jeune Afrique series.
The Direction de l’Urbanisme, Dakar, is concerned with city planning and has numerous city and town planning maps in ozalid form. A GIS has been installed with French funding, and a vector digital database of large scale plans (1:1,000 or 1:2,000 resolution) of several cities is being created. Cadastral maps of Dakar and of the whole of Cap Vert were prepared by the Service du Cadastre in 1981.
Recently, the Societé Nouvelle des Études de Développement en Afrique (SONED), a private consulting engineering company based in Dakar, has created a 1:10,000 scale UTM-grid based plan of Dakar.
A 1:10,000 scale street map of Dakar was published by the IGN in 1983. Another recent tourist map of the country is published by International Travel Maps (ITM), Vancouver, Canada.
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