----------------------------Original message----------------------------
During the war, 1939-1945, the Soviet army's military officers
experienced great difficulties with their field maps.  Russian maps were
not very accurate and even the maps they used were not very helpful.
The Soviet officers preferred to utilize German maps which they took
from German captives or the bodies of deceased military officers.  In
post-war years, the Soviet Union made an effort to become the strongest
military country.  The cartographic industry was under the NKVD, then
under KGB power.  The most skillful specialists and the best investments
were put into the development of this industry.  However, the printing
industry was not as developed as in western countries.  At the same
time, the cartographic industry, surrounded by secrecy, developed very
successfully with the assistance of generous military investments.  This
industry's strength was so great, the USSR was able to offer assistance
to developing countries.  Thus, arrived maps of Cuba and other nations.
Almost the entire territory of the world was covered by military maps,
but, still, they remained top secret.  Now, after the disintegration of
the USSR, most of these maps are available.  We can now view almost all
of the European countries covered by Soviet Military Maps.  The common
name for these is GENERAL STAFF.  There are not only buildings and trees
shown on these maps, but they also display especially flammable &
inflammable objects, communication devices, government buildings and
military settlements.  Included in the information attached to every
map, there is a note detailing the width of roads, materials used in
rooftops of houses, types of river surfaces, etc., everything which
cannot be photographed from satellite or airplane.  A set of maps were
developed of North America, showing the location of all airports,
including the landing places of farmer's private planes.  This part of
the maps was labelled "The Net Of Military Anti-Air Defense".  Only
specialists could understand these labels.  It was absolutely clear that
in Soviet cartography, information was used of all kinds of
reconnaissance and a large number of scientific institutes.  In the
opinion of one of the specialists who spend his entire life collecting
maps and working with them: "There is no country in the world which
could spend so much money for making maps of foreign countries."  There
are entire sets of maps which the USSR is producing for its allies, ie.
"The Capital Atlases of Cuba & Mongolia".  It is quite apparent that
these countries could not produce this size of work without the
assistance of the USSR.  Perhaps, due to prestige purposes, after a few
years, large atlases of the oceans were published, each of them 5-7
kilograms in weight.  These unique publications can be a beneficial
addition to any library.  They were preferably published in the Russian
Language, sometimes with a small note in English.  In 1989/1990, the
"International Geological/Geophysical Atlas of the Atlantic Ocean" was
published in Russian & English equally.  This became possible only
because of Gorbachev perestroika.  Even in the USSR, that mechanism
continues to work.  The larger part of cartographic production remains
secret, but at the same time, in the former Soviet Union, they published
a large variety of tourist maps based on the very accurate topographic
information.  There are also digital maps on diskette.  The scientific
institutes have gradually reopened their secrets in cartography.  The
Scientific Searching Institute Of Geology Of Foreign Countries (Russia),
for the first time in history, is prepared to publish a unique tectonic
globe in 1996.  With a diameter of 127,5 cm, this globe has a 40 page
English language legend attached.  The estimated cost of this globe will
be more than $3000 U.S.  Four One Company Limited will regularily inform
everyone interested in learning more about Russian maps.  If you are
interested in obtaining additional information, please let us know via
phone/fax/mail/e-mail.  For details, see below:
PHONE:    (519) 433-1351
FAX  :    (519) 433-5903
E-MAIL:   [log in to unmask]
ADDRESS:  FOUR ONE COMPANY LTD.
          523 HAMILTON ROAD
          LONDON, ONTARIO
          N5Z 1S3
          CANADA