Karta Mira Projektteam bei der International Conference on the History of Cartography

Das Team des Forschungsprojekts "Die Weltkarte 1:2.500.000 (Karta Mira) als Vehikel sozialistischer Globalisierung" präsentiert im Panel "Cold War Cartographies" auf der 31. International Conference on the History of Cartography: Bridging the Past and Present in Cartography, 7-11 July 2026 in Prague & Brno

Panel: Cold War Cartographies

Tuesday, 07/July/2026:, 3:20pm - 5:00pm

Chair: Zsolt Győző Török

Presentations

Impacts of Technological Changes on Cold War Cartographies

Christian Lotz (Herder Institute)

Since the 1960s, technological developments, such as early computing machines and satellite imagery, opened up new opportunities and challenges for cartographic production. At major international congresses of the IGU and ICA, experts discussed the impact of these new technologies on topographic and thematic mapping.

This paper investigates cartographic projects that were presented at international congresses and analyses two questions: How did experts discuss the impact of these technologies on cartography? What kinds of entanglements between technological and political aspects characterised the transformation of cartography during the Cold War?

The paper highlights two main issues:

a) Simultaneity of digital acceleration and analogue continuities: Computing technologies accelerated the acquisition and management of geographical information necessary for mapping from the late 1960s onwards. By contrast, until the 1990s, map creation remained an analogue business requiring a great deal of time, craftsmanship, as well as years of experience in drawing and cartographic generalisation. The tension between these different speeds proved to be a severe challenge to the overall aim of providing up-to-date maps.

b) Exacerbating the political economy of mapping: Computing and satellite technologies re-organised management and financial flows in the business of surveying and mapping. Satellite imagery, in particular, appeared as a tempting opportunity to replace human surveyors and to acquire geographical information about areas unmapped so far. However, high costs for satellite infrastructure and images limited these opportunities to being used by industrialised countries. In the long run, satellite technologies opened up a new question in cartography: whether map production and the progress of worldwide cartographic standardisation should be based on remote sensing or on the expertise of surveyors on the ground.

The World Map 1:2,500,000 (Karta Mira) as a Vehicle of Socialist Globalization. Potentials and Limits of Scientific Standardisation and International Cooperation, 1958-1989

Marius Heidl (Herder Institute)

In the late 19th century, German geographer Albrecht Penck proposed the creation of a map series depicting the entire world in a standardised manner. This proposal resulted in the creation of the International Map of the World 1:1,000,000, which therefore is widely regarded as a direct result of international scientific cooperation on the verge of a globalised world. However, after World War II the future of the project was unclear and while the IMW dwindled into obscurity in the decades that followed, another world map series arose east of the Iron Curtain:

Since the mid-1950s the Geodetic Surveys of European socialist states pushed for the realization of a new map series, later to be known as the World Map 1:2,500,000, or simply Karta Mira. Consisting of 234 main sheets, the map series was finished in 1976 and covered the whole surface area of the world – oceans and polar regions included. During my presentation, I will therefore focus on the cartographic visualisation of maritime features on the Karta Mira. The following key notes provide a broad overview of the questions that will be addressed:

    Visualising maritime space as a pioneering feat: Why did the Geodetic Surveys of European socialist states deemed it necessary to include maritime sheets? Following this question, the Karta Mira can be viewed as a testament to a globalising world, acknowledging the importance of maritime space. Cartographic source material, however, was sparse – I will therefore focus on the problems and solutions concerning the visualisation of maritime features on the Karta Mira.

    Cartographic standardisation and maritime space: During the second half of the 20th century maritime space was a focal point of international scientific cooperation across the “Blocs”, as well as being the subject of several international treaty systems. By comparing sheets of the first edition with the (unfinished) second edition, I will emphasise how technological innovations and international law left their marks on the map.

Using the example of maritime features, I will therefore emphasize a major area of tension concerning international map series of the 20th century: The (standardised) visualisation and juridification of space on a global scale.

International Thematic Mapping Projects in Socialist Countries. A Czechoslovakian Case Study: The International Geomorphological Map of Europe

Daniel Zoltan Segyevy (Herder Institute)

This presentation focuses on the International Geomorphological Map of Europe. This particular project was launched in Brno in 1965 under the leadership of Jaromír Demek (1930–2017), with the participation of experts from numerous socialist and Western countries. Within the context of the East-West rivalry, cartographers from socialist countries took part in various international thematic mapping projects. Through these endeavors, cartographers insocialist countries primarily hoped to gain scientific legitimacy as well as recognition. Such projects in the field of thematic cartography included the Polish-coordinated Hydrological Map of the World, the Czechoslovakian International Geomorphological Map of Europe, the Hungarian Land Use Map of Europe, as well as the (East-) German Map of Loess Distribution of Europe. These various projects took very different paths: while some maps were completed in their entirety, in other cases only conference materials presenting the concept survived.

The coordination of these mapping projects was tied to various institutes and its staff in socialist countries. The mapping of the areas of the various countries was often carried out in international cooperation involving experts from Western countries. The participants from each country worked on the territory of the respective country they came from. These thematic mapping projects reflected to varying degrees on the international discourse on the given sub-area, and in some cases became part of this discourse themselves. A key feature of the projects was that they planned to present a much larger area in detail than previous thematic mapping projects. This required the development of a unified system of categories suitable for presenting the entire continent or even the entire Earth. In most cases this was based on earlier concepts that had been developed in competition with one another, typically within a nation-state framework. This issue is particularly relevant within the field of geomorphological mapping, as there were significant differences between the maps of different countries not only in terms of representation and detail, but also in terms of the basic principles of their categorisation systems.

A key example highlighted in the presentation is the International Geological Map of Europe, which was published as per the initiative of Czechoslovakia by the International Geographical Union – Commission on Geomorphological Survey and Mapping, with funding provided by UNESCO. In most public collections, only a few sheets of the map series have survived.

In this presentation, I will examine, with the help of surviving publications, cartographic material and meeting minutes, what professional discourses and issues influenced the standardization processes in the field of thematic mapping, and how these were reflected in the International Geomorphological Map of Europe.

In addition, using the example of the project, this presentation seeks to elucidate on what forms and possibilities existed during this period with regards to international cooperation and knowledge transfer processes and professional cooperation, particularly in terms of the East-West dimension.

Mapped by the Enemy - Foreign Military Mapping of Denmark in the 20th century

Stig Roar Svenningsen (Royal Danish Library, Denmark)

In recent years, the geopolitical situation in Europe has deteriorated, and maps and geographic information have once again become critical assets. Precise maps and geographic information are crucial for the projection of military power, which is also the reason for censorship and concealment of critical information that were applied to topographic maps in most European countries in the 20th century to disguise critical information from foreign powers. This is also the case in Denmark, where official topographic maps for public use were censored to conceal information about military installations and critical infrastructure, such as power lines, transformer stations and rail yards.

Denmark's strategic location at the approaches to the Baltics has attracted interest from foreign powers in mapping Danish territory throughout the 20th century. Most well-known are the topographic maps and city plans of Denmark made by Germany and the United Kingdom during the Second World War and Soviet maps during the Cold War. However, topographic maps and city plans were also published by countries such as Sweden, Poland, East Germany, and the USA. Yet, little is known about these mapping efforts by foreign powers, as well as the effectiveness of the Danish measures to conceal information from foreign powers.

In a recent project, the Royal Danish Library digitized its complete collection of more than 3,000 foreign made topographic maps of Danish territory between 1900 and 1990 and made the maps available online.

This presentation offers an analysis of the Royal Danish Library's collection of maps of Denmark produced by foreign powers. Through specific examples from the collection, the presentation will investigate the methods and data sources employed by these foreign entities, while also discussing how effectively Denmark has concealed geographic information regarding critical military and societal infrastructure.

In conclusion, the presentation reflects on the degree to which history can inform current debate about the protection of sensitive geographical data.