---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 07:25:25 -0500
From: Kent Lee <[log in to unmask]>
To: John Sutherland <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: John Sutherland <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: India mapping:  SOI vs Russian/Soviet

Just a few more points following Brian's and Peter's comments.  We are very familiar with SOI policies and practices, as well as the Russian situation.  We have sheet-level control for both publishers in all scales.

1.  SOI (Survey of India) maps at the 1:250k and 1:50k scales remain very elusive to supply reliably at all in paper format.  Formally, all maps not falling in a ca. 100 km buffer from the country's land and coastal boundaries are available and may be easily purchased (at least in small parcels) in India, although not yet legally exported.  (David, we are still working on this!!!)

2.  Within the coastal/land buffer, the situation is basically hopeless.  These SOI maps are very, very difficult to obtain, even for Indians with official permission.  I am not aware of a single successful delivery by a Western vendor of such buffer-area SOI maps.  If you have such items in your collections, consider yourselves blessed.  SOI policies are unlikely to change in the near future.

3.  The Russian mapping of India was done in several waves.  Ignoring for the moment the very fine 1:500k and 1:1m scale Russian mapping of India, the country was fully mapped at 1:200k (except for the Andaman/Nicobar and some smaller islands) back in the mid-1950s.  But in the early and mid 1980s, revised sheets were produced along the Pakistan/Chinese borders, and to a lesser extent, the Nepalese/Bhutan/Myanmar borders.  In the case of northwestern India, the revised 1980s sheets extend quite a ways inland, even to Delhi.  Most of the revised 1:200k sheets were actually based on newly-produced 1:100k sheets, which are available for the very same areas.

4.  Beyond the 1:200k/1:100k scale Russian/Soviet quadrangle mapping, there is also the 1:10k/1:25k topographic city plan mapping effort, which covers ca. 30 Indian cities, including in the buffer areas (Mumbai, Chennai, etc.).  These are very impressive maps, even the SOI people are impressed.  Most were produced in the 1970s and 1980s, a few in the 1990s.

5.  There is some NIMA (US military) mapping at 1:250,000 scale in paper and digital formats for India which is now being released, but coverage is still not uniform.

6.  In sum, the Russian/Soviet maps remain a unique technical source for medium and larger scale coverage of many important parts of India.  This is truest of all in the coastal/land buffer region.  Until SOI relaxes its policies, and/or until NIMA releases uniform coverage, this is unlikely to change.  And as the Russian/Soviet maps become available in various digital vector forms, their importance will most definitely increase, not decrease, as they become the basis for revised mapping based on various kinds of satellite imagery.


Kent D. Lee
President/CEO

East View Cartographic, Inc.
3020 Harbor Lane N.
Minneapolis, MN 55447  USA

Tel: 763-550-0961
Fax: 763-559-2931
Email: [log in to unmask]
URL:  www.eastview.com, www.cartographic.com