The mapping of Ukraine still follows patterns established when the country was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, but as the second most powerful nation to emerge from the former USSR, Ukraine has continued to invest in mapping after the break-up of the Soviet Union, and some new products have been developed since independence in 1991 despite the economic crisis which continues to grip the privatizing Ukrainian economy. Topographic mapping follows the Soviet pattern with series conforming to the 1942 system, published on the Gauss conformal transverse cylindrical projection, Krassovsky ellipsoid.
Soviet military topographic mapping of Ukraine exists at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (9 sheets, complete coverage, published 1969-1988); 1:500,000 (26 sheets, complete coverage, published 1977-1994); 1:200,000 (158 sheets, complete coverage, published 1971-1992); 1:100,000 (486 sheets, complete coverage, published 1953-1991); 1:50,000 (1,856 sheets, complete coverage, published 1969-1991) and city (1:10,000 to 1:25,000) topographic mapping of 11 major cities from Dnepropetrovsk to Zaporozhye (Zaporizhia) published between 1972 and 1991. These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.
The Ukrainian national mapping agency is The National Committee for Geodesy Mapping and Cadastre (Holovne Upravlinnja Heodezii Kartografii ta Kadastruv (HUHKK)), which is responsible for all official topographic and cadastral mapping in the country and organizes surveying for the publication of official map series.
Divisions of HUHKK are responsible for different aspects of the official mapping enterprise. Most production is still based on ‘map factories’ established in the Soviet system, the most important of which is the Ukraïnkogo Aerogodezichnogo Pidpriemstvo (UkrAGP), in Kyiv, first established in 1924. UkrAGP has captured 1:200,000 and 1:500,000 scale topographic coverage which is available as raster or vector data. New Ukrainian editions of 1:200,000 scale coverage have been compiled. Other local production also continues in the State Cartographic Factory (Derzhavna Kartografichna Fabrika) in Vinitsia. Other map production plants active in the past which may still be of local significance include Ukrgeoinform in Kharkhov, and ZOREPAD in Lviv.
Following independence most mapping effort has been devoted to land reform. In 1996 the Science and Research Centre State Land Cadastre was established as a new agency responsible to HUHKK, and funded through the EU TACIS programme to set-up an ARC/INFO-based land registration system using 1:200,000 scale digital data.
Earth science mapping of the Ukraine was carried out through the Ukrainian Ministry of Geology, often in conjunction with Soviet Federal agencies such as Vserossiiskoi nauchno-issledovatel’skii geologicheskii Institut (VSEGEI), the All Union Geology Scientific Research Institute in St. Petersburg and some of their smaller scale mapping is still available. Russian geological mapping programs at 1:1,000,000 and 1:200,000 scales also covered the Ukraine. After independence geological mapping has been carried out by the National Committee for Geology and Natural Resources (Heoprohnoz), and other divisions of the Ministry of Geology (MGU), including 1:500,000 scale oblast-based structural mapping of pre-quaternary sediments and national 1:1 500,000 scale environmental geological coverage for six different themes, including distribution of radioactive isotopes in the soils of the country.
A very wide variety of smaller scale and educational mapping is published through the official map agency NVP Kartografia, which performs a similar role to the eponymous organization in Moscow. Publications include single-sheet coverage at a number of different scales, city plans, atlases and a large number of maps and atlases aimed at the school market. Wall maps are available at 1:1,000,000 scale for 11 different themes. 1:2,000,000 scale environmental and ecological maps are published and a useful series of 1:200,000 maps are released on administrative sheet lines for each of the 25 Ukrainian oblasts. 1:1,000,000 and 1:500 000 scale topographic coverage is also listed as available and some Kartografia maps are published in English language versions, notably town maps of Kyiv, and Kharkhov and an administrative map of the country. Some of the smaller scales of Ukrainian mapping also cover neighbouring Moldova.
Coping with the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster has encouraged the publication of a number of specialist themes for the areas most affected by pollution from radioactive isotopes. This includes the English, Ukrainian and Russian language Atlas of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, published in 1996 by Kartografia and contains 10 different 1:200,000 scale thematic coverages. Ukrainian agencies have actively participated in international mapping projects relating to monitoring Chernobyl impacts and described in our European section.
An emerging commercial sector in Ukrainian mapping includes Krym-Krok which concentrates upon the publication of tourist maps and atlases of the Crimea, for walkers and motorists. Mapa Ltd in Kyiv publishes town maps of the capital, as well as a range of small-scale maps of the country and maps for motorists. Several of this expanding range are issued in English language versions. Overseas commercial maps for the tourist market are published by IGN and Gizimap.
Copyright © 2014 De Gruyter for e-version of World Mapping Today, 2nd Edition | Copyright © 2019 East View Geospatial, Inc.
