Mapping in Turkmenistan still follows patterns established in the Soviet era. The 1942 specification is used for topographic series, with maps published on the Gauss conformal transverse cylindrical projection, Krassovsky ellipsoid.
Soviet military topographic mapping of Turkmenistan is available at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (8 sheets, complete coverage, published 1982-1990); 1:500,000 (24 sheets, complete coverage, published 1974-1992); 1:200,000 (109 sheets, complete coverage, published 1980-1992); 1:100,000 (369 sheets, complete coverage, published 1966-1990); 1:50,000 (1,057 sheets, primarily southern, border and coastal country coverage, published 1958-1992) and city (1:10,000 to 1:25,000) topographic mapping of 12 major cities from Ashkhabad (Ashgabat) to Tedzhen (Tejen) published between 1965 and 1987. These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.
Following independence the Turkmen Map Production Enterprise (Turkmengeodezija) in Ashkhabad now acts as the national mapping agency. In 1993 Turkmengeodezija issued two-sheet general maps of the country on a topographic base and available in either English or Russian versions. A Russian town map of the capital was published in the 1980s by Glavnoe Upravlenie Geodezii Kartografii (GUGK), now Federal’naya Sluzhba Geodezii i Kartografii Rossii (Roskartografija).
Earth science mapping of Turkmenistan was produced by Russian agencies, notably Vserossiiskoi nauchno-issledovatel’skii geologicheskii Institut (VSEGEI) in St. Petersburg, in conjunction with branches of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences. The country was mapped in Russian 1:200,000 and 1:1,000,000 programs, and a single-sheet geological map was compiled at 1:1,500,000 scale for the Republic in the late 1960s and published in 1970. A 16-sheet 1:500,000 scale geological map of Turkmenistan was published in 1989.
The Soviet Academy of Sciences (now Rossiskaja Akademija Nauk (RAN)) sponsored various thematic maps of Turkmenistan, including a national atlas of the Republic published in 1983, and following independence the Turkmen Academy of Sciences in Ashkhabad has assumed these responsibilities. Notable thematic mapping of Turkmenistan was carried out by the Academy of Sciences Desert Institute, including the compilation of the Scientific information atlas of Turkmenistan. The State Committee on Land Planning has compiled land use mapping of the country.
Since independence, western agencies have not yet published any commercial mapping of Turkmenistan.
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