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Government mapping in the developing countries
Government Publications Review, Vol. 10, pp. 405-409, 1983 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
0177-9390/83 $3.00 + .OO Copyright B 1983 Pergamon Press Ltd
GOVERNMENT MAPPING IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CHRISTINE Cartographic
S. WINDHEUSER
Librarian, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433
Abstract-This paper surveys the efforts of the national mapping agencies in developing countries to fill the need for the accurate data which is a basic requisite for economic development. Of necessity a very broad picture, it examines the general characteristics of these agencies, their products, their cooperation with other mapping agencies and the impact of new technologies on their operations.
Today the developing countries of Asia, Africa, Central and South America face resource management problems of epic proportions. Maps offer a means of presenting topographic, hydrographic, and thematic data so that planning and development can be based on accurate information. This paper surveys the national mapping agencies in the developing countries that must fill this “information gap.” It is necessarily a very broad picture since over 125 countries make up the Third World. It begins with a general overview of the characteristics shared by most of these agencies and then looks at them in more detail on a continent by continent basis. GENERAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOVERNMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
MAPPING
In the United States, most government mapping is produced by civilian agencies and is freely available for sale. Throughout the developing world, maps are regarded as military objects. Whether produced by military or civilian agencies, as publications of strategic importance they are surrounded with restrictions on their purchase and export. Many developing countries are reluctant to share information even between agencies in the country because of perceived threats to internal and external security. Map production by developing countries is hindered by lack of money and lack of trained personnel. Most suffer from chronic balance of payments problems. Even basic cartographic equipment and supplies may be impossible to obtain. Print runs of maps are smaller than in developed countries due to paper shortages and high printing costs. Most serious is the shortage of technicians and skilled workers who form the core of a cartographic workforce. As a result of these financial and technical shortages, cooperation with government mapping agencies in the developed countries plays a major role in many national mapping programs in the Third World. This cooperation has brought the introduction of computer mapping and remote sensing technologies. These new techniques offer ways to cut costs and speed up the inventory of resources in the developing world.
405
406
CHRISTINE S. WINDHEUSER
Government Mapping in Central and South America In Central and South America, the national mapping program is carried out by military agencies. Central American countries typically call their national mapping agency the “Instituto Geografico National” while in South America the name, “Instituto Geografico Militar,” is frequently used. The national mapping agencies produce the country’s planametric and topographic map series and often collaborate with other government agencies in the production of thematic maps for which they provide the base maps. Many countries have also centralized government map printing in the national mapping agency or have made them responsible for authorizing the publication of commercial maps. The national mapping agencies of Central and South America have a better educated pool of manpower to draw on than most other developing areas although they are constrained by financial shortages. They have concentrated on mapping the coastal areas where most of the continent’s population is located. A 1976 UN survey of topographic mapping found that only 36 percent of the area was mapped at scales of 1: lOO,OOO-1:250,000. Vast areas of central South America remained unmapped until recently, due to inaccessibility and heavy cloud cover. Cooperation in mapping with the United States has a long history in Central and South America. Since 1946 the Inter-American Geodetic Survey has provided training and technical assistance to all except Argentina and Uruguay. In addition, the Defense Mapping Agency has cooperative agreements with many Central and South American countries to produce its “Joint Operation Graphics” or JOG charts at 1:250,000. The Pan-American Institute of History and Geography, a specialized agency of the Organization of American States, has sponsored several major cooperative cartographic projects. Their series of guides for researchers, entitled “Guias para Investigardores” include map indexes and bibliographies. Such guides have now been produced by the national mapping agencies of Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Peru and Mexico. PAIGH is currently sponsoring a 1:250,000 scale unified hemispheric mapping program to reprint all available 1:250,000 mapping in a standard format and make it freely available. Nineteen countries have expressed interest in the project and eleven have signed up. Currently, only sheets for parts of Mexico, Costa Rica and Peru have been published. At the latest UN Cartographic Conference on Geographic Names, it was proposed that PAIGH sponsor a unified hemispheric gazetteer series to complement this map series. New technology has had an impact on the mapping programs of many Central and South American countries. Radar has played the major role in the mapping of the cloud-covered Amazon basin. Brazil, in its RADAM (Radar of the Amazon), mapped its entire area of the basin in 1971-76. Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru have surveyed parts of their natural resources using similar techniques. In inaccessible mountain areas, for example in Ecuador and Bolivia, satellite imagery is being widely used as a base of resource mapping. Bolivia, through its cooperative program with NASA, called ERTS-GEOBOL, has produced base maps, land use maps and soil maps using satellite data. In summary, in Central and South America there are well established national mapping agencies able to draw on an educated pool of cartographic manpower. They have a long tradition of working cooperatively with the U.S. government and international agencies. They are well along in using technology to supplement the traditional mapping process, especially through the use of radar and satellite imagery.
Government mapping
in the developingcountries
407
Government Mapping in Africa Mapping in Africa is closely linked to the continent’s colonial past. The major colonial powers, France, Great Britain, and Portugal, established the major mapping programs and have continued to play a role through cooperative mapping agreements. In comparison with Latin America, African countries received their independence recently and their government institutions are correspondingly less developed. In former French colonies, the national mapping agency is frequently called the “Institut Geographique National,” while former British colonies generally style theirs the “Survey of - .” National mapping programs in Africa are constrained by severe shortages of trained manpower and money. However, since the colonial powers had done extensive mapping, the 1976 UN survey of topographic mapping showed 74% of the continent mapped at 1:140,000-1:253,440. Aid provided in the form of training and mapping has continued to build on this base. Through its “Institut Geographique National,” the French continue to provide technical assistance and training to Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Niger, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Benin, Libya, Mauritania, Guinea, Togo, Upper Volta, and Chad. They have, in conjunction with the national mapping agencies, continued to maintain and revise the “Carte de 1’Afrique de I’Ouest” and “Carte de 1’Afrique Centrale” at 1:500,000, 1:250,000 and 1:50,000. Most of the maps produced with the IGN’s assistance are printed in France. In former British colonies, the Directorate of Overseas Surveys (DOS), part of the Overseas Development Administration, provides major surveying and mapping aid. Assistance has been provided to Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, and Botswana. DOS helps its former colonies to maintain their topographic map series. It frequently produces and prints the first edition of a map but encourages the country to produce subsequent revised editions themselves. The lack of educated manpower makes it difficult for national surveys in Africa to make use of new technology. Agencies like the ITC (International Institute for Aerial Survey and Earth Sciences) and the Regional Remote Sensing Center in Nairobi now train staff from national mapping agencies in new techniques. However, most of the application of remote sensing and computer mapping in Africa is still being carried out by aid agencies. In summary, national mapping agencies in Africa are youthful organizations still in the process of institution building. Most operate on limited budgets and are still in the process of building up skilled staff. Government Mapping in the Middle East For the purpose of making generalizations about national mapping programs, the Middle East can be divided into the oil-exporting countries of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levantine countries. Many of the oil-exporting countries do not seem to have well defined national mapping agencies. Since much of their mapping is focused on oil exploration, it is often coordinated by their ministries for petroleum and oil and the actual execution contracted out to commercial survey firms. These countries are not constrained by financial or manpower shortages and the pace of mapping has been swift. For example, Clyde (formerly Fairey) Surveys has contracted to produce a comprehensive
408
CHRISTINE
S. WINDHEUSER
series of metric maps of Bahrain including sheets at 1:lOO,OOO,1:50,000, 1:25,000, 1: 10,000 and 1:2,000. The countries of the Levant - Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey-have national mapping agencies with close military ties. Political instability in this region means that the availability of maps and mapping information is severely restricted. It can be assumed that national programs have a relatively high priority and are funded to the extent that the hard pressed economies of these countries allow. Government Mapping in Asia The development of national mapping agencies in Asia and south Asia presents a more diverse picture than in any of the other areas discussed. The region contains nations with relatively high levels of economic and technical development as well as countries whose economies have virtually broken down. At the high end of the scale in cartographic development are India, Thailand, China and Indonesia. Each of these has or will soon have a Landsat satellite receiving station that will allow them direct access to data required for resource monitoring. Each of these nations has a pool of trained manpower to draw on and is making efforts to strengthen its mapping agencies. In Indonesia, BAKOSURTANAL, the National Agency for Coordination of Surveying and Mapping, was established in f969. With the assistance of a World Bank loan, it is in the process of installing a computer based geographic information system (GIS). The Survey of India, founded in 1767, has evolved over a period of 216 years into a modern institution which makes efforts to keep abreast of technological developments in cartography. The Royal Thai Survey Department, founded in 1885, now offers training to staff of other nations’ cartographic agencies and provides support for such regional projects as the “Regional Economic Atlas of Asia and the Far Asia.” The Chinese, with their talent for quick acquisition of Western technology, are rapidly becoming more sophisticated in their cartographic productions. Athough their topographic mapping is not generally available, their thematic mapping and atlas products are outstanding. In the middle range of cartographic development are countries like Korea, the Phillippines, Burma, Nepal, Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Their less developed mapping institutions are major recipients of technical assistance from Britain, Japan, Germany and the United States. International aid agencies like the World Bank have been active here as well. In Bangladesh, the World Bank has prepared satellite based land use maps which document the shifting river deltas, while in Nepal and Bhutan, the Bank has prepared annotated satellite image maps that reveal the inadequacy of existing topographic maps. The countries of south east Asia- Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam- were extensively mapped during the Vietnam War. Their economies and, undoubtedly, their cartographic agencies are in disarray. Acquiring Maps from the Developing Countries Information on the cartographic products of developing countries can be hard to locate. Very few countries have national bibliographies that include maps and most do not have central government agencies like the U.S. Government Printing Office, which are responsible for the sale of government publications. A basic source for the names and addresses of official mapping agencies are the United Nations’ publications on cartography including “World Cartography,” an irregularly issued serial, and the reports of regional cartographic conferences. The regional cartographic con-
Government mapping in the developing countries ference
reports
also contain
summaries by the participating
409
countries on their cartographic
activities. Addresses of the official mapping agencies in former French colonies can be obtained from the French Institut Geographique National, for former British colonies, from the British Directorate of Overseas Surveys. A useful source is the 1981 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Circular 834, WorldWide Directory of National Earth-Science Agencies and Related International Organizations. The Pan-American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH) Research Guide series contains the addresses of government agencies in Colombia,. Peru, Chile, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras. Once the cartographic products of a national mapping agency have been identified, one must decide to purchase directly from the agency or through a jobber. Unfortunately, no generalization can be made about which method is cheaper or faster because procurement problems are as varied as the countries to be dealt with. Because the mapping agencies under discussion are located in countries with chronic balance of payment problems, they will generally want prepayment on orders. Many will accept U.S. currency and in fact, some South American countries will quote their map prices in U.S. dollars. To determine the exact price of the maps plus postage one should request a pro forma invoice from the agency. If procurement problems become unmanageable, a map jobber may be employed; the two largest and most reputable are Edward Stanford Ltd. in England and Geocenter in Germany. Whether maps are purchased directly or through a jobber you should realize that the time frame is much longer for receiving the products than most of us are used to in dealing with comparable U.S. agencies. For Central and South American countries a three month turnaround time is good, for African countries six months is not unusual, and for Asian countries a year can pass unless you are willing to pay the costs of airmail shipment. As this paper has suggested, the cartographic agencies of the developing countries vary greatly in their ability to fill the “information gap” that exists in their countries for topographic, hydrographic, and thematic data. This has been only a brief sketch of the problems and prospects confronting them.
0177-9390/83 $3.00 + .OO Copyright B 1983 Pergamon Press Ltd
GOVERNMENT MAPPING IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CHRISTINE Cartographic
S. WINDHEUSER
Librarian, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433
Abstract-This paper surveys the efforts of the national mapping agencies in developing countries to fill the need for the accurate data which is a basic requisite for economic development. Of necessity a very broad picture, it examines the general characteristics of these agencies, their products, their cooperation with other mapping agencies and the impact of new technologies on their operations.
Today the developing countries of Asia, Africa, Central and South America face resource management problems of epic proportions. Maps offer a means of presenting topographic, hydrographic, and thematic data so that planning and development can be based on accurate information. This paper surveys the national mapping agencies in the developing countries that must fill this “information gap.” It is necessarily a very broad picture since over 125 countries make up the Third World. It begins with a general overview of the characteristics shared by most of these agencies and then looks at them in more detail on a continent by continent basis. GENERAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOVERNMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
MAPPING
In the United States, most government mapping is produced by civilian agencies and is freely available for sale. Throughout the developing world, maps are regarded as military objects. Whether produced by military or civilian agencies, as publications of strategic importance they are surrounded with restrictions on their purchase and export. Many developing countries are reluctant to share information even between agencies in the country because of perceived threats to internal and external security. Map production by developing countries is hindered by lack of money and lack of trained personnel. Most suffer from chronic balance of payments problems. Even basic cartographic equipment and supplies may be impossible to obtain. Print runs of maps are smaller than in developed countries due to paper shortages and high printing costs. Most serious is the shortage of technicians and skilled workers who form the core of a cartographic workforce. As a result of these financial and technical shortages, cooperation with government mapping agencies in the developed countries plays a major role in many national mapping programs in the Third World. This cooperation has brought the introduction of computer mapping and remote sensing technologies. These new techniques offer ways to cut costs and speed up the inventory of resources in the developing world.
405
406
CHRISTINE S. WINDHEUSER
Government Mapping in Central and South America In Central and South America, the national mapping program is carried out by military agencies. Central American countries typically call their national mapping agency the “Instituto Geografico National” while in South America the name, “Instituto Geografico Militar,” is frequently used. The national mapping agencies produce the country’s planametric and topographic map series and often collaborate with other government agencies in the production of thematic maps for which they provide the base maps. Many countries have also centralized government map printing in the national mapping agency or have made them responsible for authorizing the publication of commercial maps. The national mapping agencies of Central and South America have a better educated pool of manpower to draw on than most other developing areas although they are constrained by financial shortages. They have concentrated on mapping the coastal areas where most of the continent’s population is located. A 1976 UN survey of topographic mapping found that only 36 percent of the area was mapped at scales of 1: lOO,OOO-1:250,000. Vast areas of central South America remained unmapped until recently, due to inaccessibility and heavy cloud cover. Cooperation in mapping with the United States has a long history in Central and South America. Since 1946 the Inter-American Geodetic Survey has provided training and technical assistance to all except Argentina and Uruguay. In addition, the Defense Mapping Agency has cooperative agreements with many Central and South American countries to produce its “Joint Operation Graphics” or JOG charts at 1:250,000. The Pan-American Institute of History and Geography, a specialized agency of the Organization of American States, has sponsored several major cooperative cartographic projects. Their series of guides for researchers, entitled “Guias para Investigardores” include map indexes and bibliographies. Such guides have now been produced by the national mapping agencies of Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Peru and Mexico. PAIGH is currently sponsoring a 1:250,000 scale unified hemispheric mapping program to reprint all available 1:250,000 mapping in a standard format and make it freely available. Nineteen countries have expressed interest in the project and eleven have signed up. Currently, only sheets for parts of Mexico, Costa Rica and Peru have been published. At the latest UN Cartographic Conference on Geographic Names, it was proposed that PAIGH sponsor a unified hemispheric gazetteer series to complement this map series. New technology has had an impact on the mapping programs of many Central and South American countries. Radar has played the major role in the mapping of the cloud-covered Amazon basin. Brazil, in its RADAM (Radar of the Amazon), mapped its entire area of the basin in 1971-76. Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru have surveyed parts of their natural resources using similar techniques. In inaccessible mountain areas, for example in Ecuador and Bolivia, satellite imagery is being widely used as a base of resource mapping. Bolivia, through its cooperative program with NASA, called ERTS-GEOBOL, has produced base maps, land use maps and soil maps using satellite data. In summary, in Central and South America there are well established national mapping agencies able to draw on an educated pool of cartographic manpower. They have a long tradition of working cooperatively with the U.S. government and international agencies. They are well along in using technology to supplement the traditional mapping process, especially through the use of radar and satellite imagery.
Government mapping
in the developingcountries
407
Government Mapping in Africa Mapping in Africa is closely linked to the continent’s colonial past. The major colonial powers, France, Great Britain, and Portugal, established the major mapping programs and have continued to play a role through cooperative mapping agreements. In comparison with Latin America, African countries received their independence recently and their government institutions are correspondingly less developed. In former French colonies, the national mapping agency is frequently called the “Institut Geographique National,” while former British colonies generally style theirs the “Survey of - .” National mapping programs in Africa are constrained by severe shortages of trained manpower and money. However, since the colonial powers had done extensive mapping, the 1976 UN survey of topographic mapping showed 74% of the continent mapped at 1:140,000-1:253,440. Aid provided in the form of training and mapping has continued to build on this base. Through its “Institut Geographique National,” the French continue to provide technical assistance and training to Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Niger, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Benin, Libya, Mauritania, Guinea, Togo, Upper Volta, and Chad. They have, in conjunction with the national mapping agencies, continued to maintain and revise the “Carte de 1’Afrique de I’Ouest” and “Carte de 1’Afrique Centrale” at 1:500,000, 1:250,000 and 1:50,000. Most of the maps produced with the IGN’s assistance are printed in France. In former British colonies, the Directorate of Overseas Surveys (DOS), part of the Overseas Development Administration, provides major surveying and mapping aid. Assistance has been provided to Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, and Botswana. DOS helps its former colonies to maintain their topographic map series. It frequently produces and prints the first edition of a map but encourages the country to produce subsequent revised editions themselves. The lack of educated manpower makes it difficult for national surveys in Africa to make use of new technology. Agencies like the ITC (International Institute for Aerial Survey and Earth Sciences) and the Regional Remote Sensing Center in Nairobi now train staff from national mapping agencies in new techniques. However, most of the application of remote sensing and computer mapping in Africa is still being carried out by aid agencies. In summary, national mapping agencies in Africa are youthful organizations still in the process of institution building. Most operate on limited budgets and are still in the process of building up skilled staff. Government Mapping in the Middle East For the purpose of making generalizations about national mapping programs, the Middle East can be divided into the oil-exporting countries of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levantine countries. Many of the oil-exporting countries do not seem to have well defined national mapping agencies. Since much of their mapping is focused on oil exploration, it is often coordinated by their ministries for petroleum and oil and the actual execution contracted out to commercial survey firms. These countries are not constrained by financial or manpower shortages and the pace of mapping has been swift. For example, Clyde (formerly Fairey) Surveys has contracted to produce a comprehensive
408
CHRISTINE
S. WINDHEUSER
series of metric maps of Bahrain including sheets at 1:lOO,OOO,1:50,000, 1:25,000, 1: 10,000 and 1:2,000. The countries of the Levant - Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey-have national mapping agencies with close military ties. Political instability in this region means that the availability of maps and mapping information is severely restricted. It can be assumed that national programs have a relatively high priority and are funded to the extent that the hard pressed economies of these countries allow. Government Mapping in Asia The development of national mapping agencies in Asia and south Asia presents a more diverse picture than in any of the other areas discussed. The region contains nations with relatively high levels of economic and technical development as well as countries whose economies have virtually broken down. At the high end of the scale in cartographic development are India, Thailand, China and Indonesia. Each of these has or will soon have a Landsat satellite receiving station that will allow them direct access to data required for resource monitoring. Each of these nations has a pool of trained manpower to draw on and is making efforts to strengthen its mapping agencies. In Indonesia, BAKOSURTANAL, the National Agency for Coordination of Surveying and Mapping, was established in f969. With the assistance of a World Bank loan, it is in the process of installing a computer based geographic information system (GIS). The Survey of India, founded in 1767, has evolved over a period of 216 years into a modern institution which makes efforts to keep abreast of technological developments in cartography. The Royal Thai Survey Department, founded in 1885, now offers training to staff of other nations’ cartographic agencies and provides support for such regional projects as the “Regional Economic Atlas of Asia and the Far Asia.” The Chinese, with their talent for quick acquisition of Western technology, are rapidly becoming more sophisticated in their cartographic productions. Athough their topographic mapping is not generally available, their thematic mapping and atlas products are outstanding. In the middle range of cartographic development are countries like Korea, the Phillippines, Burma, Nepal, Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Their less developed mapping institutions are major recipients of technical assistance from Britain, Japan, Germany and the United States. International aid agencies like the World Bank have been active here as well. In Bangladesh, the World Bank has prepared satellite based land use maps which document the shifting river deltas, while in Nepal and Bhutan, the Bank has prepared annotated satellite image maps that reveal the inadequacy of existing topographic maps. The countries of south east Asia- Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam- were extensively mapped during the Vietnam War. Their economies and, undoubtedly, their cartographic agencies are in disarray. Acquiring Maps from the Developing Countries Information on the cartographic products of developing countries can be hard to locate. Very few countries have national bibliographies that include maps and most do not have central government agencies like the U.S. Government Printing Office, which are responsible for the sale of government publications. A basic source for the names and addresses of official mapping agencies are the United Nations’ publications on cartography including “World Cartography,” an irregularly issued serial, and the reports of regional cartographic conferences. The regional cartographic con-
Government mapping in the developing countries ference
reports
also contain
summaries by the participating
409
countries on their cartographic
activities. Addresses of the official mapping agencies in former French colonies can be obtained from the French Institut Geographique National, for former British colonies, from the British Directorate of Overseas Surveys. A useful source is the 1981 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Circular 834, WorldWide Directory of National Earth-Science Agencies and Related International Organizations. The Pan-American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH) Research Guide series contains the addresses of government agencies in Colombia,. Peru, Chile, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras. Once the cartographic products of a national mapping agency have been identified, one must decide to purchase directly from the agency or through a jobber. Unfortunately, no generalization can be made about which method is cheaper or faster because procurement problems are as varied as the countries to be dealt with. Because the mapping agencies under discussion are located in countries with chronic balance of payment problems, they will generally want prepayment on orders. Many will accept U.S. currency and in fact, some South American countries will quote their map prices in U.S. dollars. To determine the exact price of the maps plus postage one should request a pro forma invoice from the agency. If procurement problems become unmanageable, a map jobber may be employed; the two largest and most reputable are Edward Stanford Ltd. in England and Geocenter in Germany. Whether maps are purchased directly or through a jobber you should realize that the time frame is much longer for receiving the products than most of us are used to in dealing with comparable U.S. agencies. For Central and South American countries a three month turnaround time is good, for African countries six months is not unusual, and for Asian countries a year can pass unless you are willing to pay the costs of airmail shipment. As this paper has suggested, the cartographic agencies of the developing countries vary greatly in their ability to fill the “information gap” that exists in their countries for topographic, hydrographic, and thematic data. This has been only a brief sketch of the problems and prospects confronting them.