Military Maps Research Articles

Raising awareness of the cultural, architectural, and perceptive values of historic gardens and related landscapes: panoramic cones and multi-temporal data

Historic gardens and their related landscapes are often experienced only for their social, aesthetic, and environmental resources, yet their cultural, architectural, and perceptive significance is often ignored. The paper demonstrates how historic and educational values of historic gardens and related landscapes can be revealed by combining historic maps, reading perspective cones, and also applying advanced digital and educational methods and techniques. Historical maps, especially military and cadastral maps, associated with historical iconography, can provide us with a lot of information to study historical gardens and also to define conservation and valorization plans that are related to the history of the site: geomatics tools to georeference and co-relate metric and non-metric historical maps provide growing useful outputs, that can be deployed through the use of Virtual Hubs, boosting the availability of content and the accessibility of open data for policy makers, experts, and non-expert members. Moreover, they can also support heritage education programs providing the opportunity to allow to understand the wealth of sites now simplified, in their system, with different functions and with a transformed context. The study of historic gardens involves the analysis of the landscape in its dynamism and complexity, defines tools that make users more aware of the richness of our heritage.

Common Scales in Military Maps from the Fortification Projects for Rome

Following the model of work on architectural plans for St. Peter’s church, this article takes Antonio da Sangallo the Younger’s fortification drawings for the Vatican Borgo and applies a scale analysis based both on the inscribed scales and real-world dimensions. The result is the specification of several scales beginning at 1:1000 for a very detailed survey of the medieval fortification to 1:2666 for Leonardo Bufalini’s map, based on Sangallo’s drawings.

The digital terrain model in the computational modelling of the flow over the Perdigão site: the appropriate grid size

Abstract. The digital terrain model (DTM), the representation of earth's surface at regularly spaced intervals, is the first input in the computational modelling of atmospheric flows. The ability of computational meshes based on high- (2 m; airborne laser scanning, ASL), medium- (10 m; military maps, Mil) and low-resolution (30 m; Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, SRTM) DTMs to replicate the Perdigão experiment site was appraised in two ways: by their ability to replicate the two main terrain attributes, elevation and slope, and by their effect on the wind flow computational results. The effect on the flow modelling was evaluated by comparing the wind speed, wind direction and turbulent kinetic energy using VENTOS®/2 at three locations, representative of the wind flow in the region. It was found that the SRTM was not an accurate representation of the Perdigão site. A 40 m mesh based on the highest-resolution data yielded an elevation error of less than 1.4 m and an RMSE of less than 2.5 m at five reference points compared to 5.0 m in the case of military maps and 7.6 m in the case of the SRTM. Mesh refinement beyond 40 m yielded no or insignificant changes on the flow field variables, wind speed, wind direction and turbulent kinetic energy. At least 40 m horizontal resolution – threshold resolution – based on topography available from aerial surveys is recommended in computational modelling of the flow over Perdigão.

Novel embedding secrecy within images utilizing an improved interpolation-based reversible data hiding scheme

This paper proposed an innovative approach for reversible data hiding (RDH) within images in such a way that the image can be accurately recovered after extracting the data. The work presented a challenging task due to the need to compromise between the quality of the stego-image and the capacity of the hidden data. It is used in applications that need to reconstruct the original images without any distortion, such as medical diagnosis, remote sensing images and military maps. The aim of this paper is to study improving RDH methods using interpolation-based scheme. The proposed interpolation-based RDH (IRDH) scheme improves the embedding capacity and security over state-of-the-art schemes. We investigated the interpolation techniques improving the parabolic interpolation (PI) method to scale-up the original image, then embedding within it the secret data using newly proposed embedding technique. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed quadratic Bezier interpolation (QBI) technique reduced the computational complexity of PI with same quality of the produced image. Additionally, the proposed cubic interpolation techniques improved the image quality of PI but with more computational complexity. On the other hand, the proposed circle interpolation (CIRI) achieved less PSNR value than PI showing interesting remarks. The general steps of this scheme are generation of the interpolated image, data embedding, data extraction and image recovery showing attractive promising research contribution.

Research on the Colors of Military Symbols in Digital Situation Maps Based on Event-Related Potential Technology

Under the trend of increasingly informationalized military operations and the increasing maneuverability of combat units, military commanders have put forward higher requirements for the accuracy and promptness of information on battlefield situation maps. Based on the sea battlefield, this paper studies the pros and cons of the color matching of military symbols on sea situation maps. Fifteen colors, where each Hue had five colors, were chosen using the Munsell Color System according to Chroma axis and the Value axis on a span of 2 and 4. By collecting and analyzing the P300 EEG data, reaction time data, and accuracy data of 20 subjects, a better color matching selection of military symbols on pure color (L = 85, a = −10, and b = −23) sea situation maps is put forward, and the conclusions are as follows: (1) the different colors all cause the P300 component in EEG experiment. Among them, the P300 amplitude that is caused by military symbols with lower Chroma is smaller and the latency is shorter, indicating that the user experience and efficiency of low Chroma color symbols will be better than those with high Chroma color symbols. (2) High Value color map military symbols cause higher P300 amplitude and longer latency. According to the results above, this paper puts forward three optimized colors, namely, blue (L = 39, a = 20, and b = −49), green (L = 80, a = −72, and b = 72), and red (L = 20, a = 41, and b = 28). Additionally, three map interfaces were designed to confirm the validity of these colors. By means of applying the NASA-TLX (Task Load Index) scale to evaluate the task load of the confirmation interfaces, it can be concluded that these three optimized colors are preferred by users who are skilled in GIS and interface design. Therefore, the research conclusion of this paper can provide important reference values for military map design, which is helpful in shortening the identification and judgment time during the use of situation maps and it can improve users’ operation performance.

Soviet Cold War Maps: Examining the Organization and Practices of Production Through the Case of Denmark

ABSTRACT During the Cold War, the Soviet military carried out an ambitious mapping programme, which resulted in a global series of topographic maps. Although recent advances in scholarship have increased our knowledge of the production of these maps, we still know little about the organization behind them. Based on information from a set of 466 1:50 000-scale Soviet military topographic maps of Denmark, this article examines the Soviet mapping practices related to the large-scale mapping of Denmark. Results show that the Soviet military compiled large-scale topographic maps of Denmark between the 1950s and the 1980s. The maps were initially based on Danish maps, but later the Soviets began to prefer remote-sensed data from satellite imagery. This allowed the Soviets to capture information about concealed military infrastructure. The article also shows the potential for using information from the map sheets in a transnational analysis of the Soviet mapping during the Cold War.

Zmeny krajinnej pokrývky vo veľkých mierkach s využitím starých máp: prípadová štúdia mestskej časti Bratislava-Devín

The maps record a generalized state of a landscape at a particular time. Therefore, the old maps are useful for the study of land cover changes. More recent land cover state is captured by the orthophotomaps showing the reality without generalisation. However, there are limitations with this source of spatial information to identify certain objects in the forest, such as rivers or unpaved roads. The paper aims to present a detailed reconstruction of land cover changes, including the characteristics of each change that has occurred in a case study of the Bratislava-Devín city district. Five different map sources were used covering the period from 1920 to 2009 from the newest to the oldest: Slovak state database for the geographic information system (ZBGIS), digital orthophotomap of the Slovak Republic (DGO SR), Basic map of the Slovak Republic (ZM SR), Military topographic map in the Gauss-Krüger projection (TM G-K), and the Third military survey maps of the Habsburg Empire in an updated version (VTM). Mapping of land cover changes was performed at the fifth hierarchical level of the Corine Land Cover at a scale of 1:10,000. First, the maps were individually visually interpreted and individual land cover classes were identified. Further, the land cover changes were identified by retrospective comparison of the individually interpreted maps approaching from youngest to oldest. The results show a significant occurrence of orchards and vineyards in the monitored area and the occurrence of several processes: urbanization, intensification of agriculture, and afforestation.

Ferry Distribution at the Lower Reaches of the Yellow River on the Former Japanese Military Maps

Ferry Distribution at the Lower Reaches of the Yellow River on the Former Japanese Military Maps

Using artificial neural network for labelling polygon features in topographic maps

Abstract The purpose of this article was to present the methodology which enables automatic map labelling. This topic is particularly important in the context of the ongoing research into the full automation of visualization process of spatial data stored in the currently used topographic databases (e.g. OpenStreetMap, Vector Map Level 2, etc.). To carry out this task, the artificial neural network (multilayer perceptron) was used. The Vector Map Level 2 was used as a test database. The data for neural network learning (the reference label localization) was obtained from the military topographic map at scale 1 : 50 000. In the article, the method of applying artificial neural networks to the map labelling is presented. Detailed research was carried out on the basis of labels from the feature class “built-up area”. The results of the analyses revealed that it is possible to use the artificial intelligence computational methods to automate the process of placing labels on maps. The results showed that 65% of the labels were put on the topographic map in the same place as in the case of the labelling which was done manually by a cartographer. The obtained results can contribute both to the enhancement of the quality of cartographic visualization (e.g. in geoportals) and the partial elimination of the human factor in this process. Highlights for public administration, management and planning: • Map label placement is among key variables ensuring the usability of topographic maps across disciplines. • We present the neural network approach for automating the process of labelling topographic maps with locality names. • The presented case study applies to the military map in scale 1:50 000, but can be applied on other maps and geoportals.

Historical maps and landscape analysis

Abstract. Landscape is a result of natural assets and human work for a long period of time. During that time natural assets are changed by human activities. The most of our surrounding are cultural landscapes as a result of human presence. The main way to study the landscapes is spatial analysis within landscape analysis. Description and investigation of nowadays status of landscapes is not difficult. Understanding the way of landscape development is very difficult because of the lack of data, especially spatial data.Usage of historical maps is the appropriate method of understanding landscape development through past times. For that procedure historical maps should be georeferenced. In this work the examples of georeferencing historical maps from First and Second Military Mapping Survey of Austrian Empire are presented. The usage of georeferenced historical maps was used for the preparation of land use maps for different periods and land use changes analyses. Those changes were used in landscape analyses for the investigation of development of built up areas and hydrological features in the city of Zagreb as well as investigation of authenticity of the areas of the Park of Nature Lonjsko Polje.The aim of the project was to prove that the landscape in the area of Lonjsko polje has not changed significantly over the last 250 years. For the area of Lonjsko polje Nature Park, an analysis of landscape authenticity was carried out. As there were no methods for evaluating landscape authenticity, we decided to analyze the changes in land use by size and spatial distribution for the last 250 years. For this purpose, we used Austro-Hungarian military maps from 1765. The maps, covering the Nature Park were scanned and georeferenced. Digitalisation of 6 main land use classes (settlements, arable land, forests, seminatural areas, mostly grasslands, marshes and waters) was performed and the land use map in a scale 1 : 25.000 was produced.The land use map for 2005, with accuracy of the map in a scale 1 : 25.000, was made using CORINE methodology. Orthorectified satellite images (Aster) were vectorised on screen into the same 6 land use classes as the old map. To evaluate the changes between these two maps the union operation was made, and land use flow analysis was performed. The largest surface of the changes occurred in 9 types of changes, with the largest changes being made to the category of grass vegetation that is changed into forests, agricultural land or the swamp. The second largest change was experienced in forests that were changed into agricultural land, grass vegetation or water. The third category that has undergone major changes is the category of swamps that were changed into forests, grass vegetation or agricultural land. Other types of changes took part in the total area with less than 1% and are not significant any more than the difference in the changes that may have arisen due to cartographic inaccuracies created by georeferencing of the old map.The land use structure as a landscape element was analyzed on the macro level within squares of 10 km × 10 km and at a micro level within squares of 2 km × 2 km. Changes in the structure of the land use practice exists but are not significant either on macro level or at the micro level. Thus, changes on macro level are the result of human activities (changes in agricultural areas) and at the micro level changes are more a result of natural processes (succession / regression of vegetation).Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that changes in land use patterns over the last 250 years exist and are the result of human activities to a small extent or natural processes for the most part. When considering the significance of the changes, it should always have in mind that historical military maps could not be fully integrated into the valid cartographic system. Cartographic inaccuracies created by georeferencing the old map generate changes of small size that should not be considered.

Analysing the Symbology of Soviet Military City Plans

Abstract. The collapse of the Soviet Union has seen the emergence of its unprecedentedly comprehensive global military mapping programme and the commercial availability of a vast number of detailed topographic maps and city plans at several scales. This paper presents an analysis of the symbology devised by the Soviet Union for its series of secret military plans, which covered over 2,000 towns and cities outside the USSR. Analyses of symbol specification documents and the implementation of their symbology in a 1% sample (19) of these plans allow its relationship with the urban characteristics of the towns and cities they symbolise to be explored.In particular, this investigation assesses the extent to which the Soviet symbology is adopted across a variety of socio-cultural and physical environments at 1:10,000 and 1:25,000 scales. This reveals new details of the most comprehensive, globally-standardised topographic symbology ever produced, incorporating 630 graphical symbols in total, with 47.0% and 52.1% of these used in the sample of maps at both scales respectively. Elements of the physical environment account for the largest components of the symbology, with ‘Hydrography and Coasts’ the largest feature class at 1:10,000 (84 symbols) and ‘Vegetation and Soils’ at 1:25,000 (66 symbols). A comparative analysis with the OpenStreetMap symbology indicates scope for Soviet mapping to be used as a valuable supplementary topographic resource in a variety of existing and future global mapping initiatives, including humanitarian crisis mapping. This leads to a conclusion that the relevance and value of Soviet military maps endures in modern applications, both as a source of data and as a means of overcoming contemporary cartographic challenges relating to symbology, design and the handling of large datasets.

Geopolitics of disregard: Living a colonial life in Okinawa

This article aims to make a contribution to the field of critical geopolitics by exploring two rather underexamined facets of contemporary imperial geopolitics. First, the article suggests that the concept of disregard developed by Stoler can shed new light on everyday life at the margins of imperial geopolitics. Stoler argues that living a colonial life entails acts of disregarding certain forms of violence and injustice without fully accepting the colonial system as a whole. In conjunction with Memmi's earlier portrait of the colonised, Stoler's writing helps to understand the complexities and ambivalence that the colonised go through living in and off an empire. Second, the article demonstrates how practices of disregard play out in the (post)colonial and militarised context of Okinawa. Despite its significance in US military mapping, Okinawa remains an understudied site in the field of critical geopolitics. Situating Okinawa in the broader context of imperial geopolitics and its double colonial present, the article explores how islanders come to live their colonial life and make a living whilst disregarding certain colonial conditions.

Mercator’s Lithuanian–Russian Borderlands: Russiae pars amplificata (1595) and Its Polish Sources

abstractThis article focuses on the inset on Gerardus Mercator’s large map of Russia cum confiniis [Russia with surrounding lands] that was published in his Atlas (1595), and the map Moscovia [Muscovy] published by Jodocus Hondius in the Atlas minor (1607). Comparison of the contents of Mercator’s inset map, titled Russiae pars amplificata [Part of Russia enlarged] and Hondius’s Moscovia map with the Polish propaganda poem Raid on Muscovy by Jan Kochanowski that had appeared in 1583—just after the war between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Muscovy—led to the suggestion that both Mercator’s and Hondius’s maps were based on Polish–Lithuanian narrative sources as well as on a map drawn by the Polish royal cartographer Maciej Strubicz. To test the hypothesis, a historical-linguistic analysis of the orthography of the map’s toponyms and hydronyms was employed to distinguish their Polish, German and Latin characteristics. The result confirms that the two maps were indeed based on a Polish military map containing a hidden Polish propaganda message.

Cross-border topographic mapping, cross-border orienteering: the Hungarian overview

ABSTRACTThis paper examines cross-border topographic and orienteering maps. It is understandable that the early military surveys did not present areas over the state borders, but the situation has changed at later surveys. After WWI, when Hungary established its own military mapping institute, the surveyed areas were also influenced by political events. After WWII, the civil topographic mapping of Hungary was totally separated from the military one, and there was a consistent rule: only the military topographic maps represented beyond-the-border areas (for instance, Hungary as a member of the Warsaw Pact also mapped foreign areas). Orienteering maps are based on topographic maps; both types of maps are very fieldwork-intensive, without which none of these maps can be prepared. In the Cold War era, it was evident that nobody (including orienteers) could approach the frontier areas. It was symbolic that after the political change at the end of in 1980s, the Hungarian and Central European orienteers were very keen on mapping cross-border terrains.

MILITARY ACTIVITIES OF BULGARIAN AND SERBIAN ARMY DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN 1915

The title of the paper indicates that it is focused on the beginning of the First World War, among the bloodiest and most tragic ones, as well as the number of human casualties. Also, according to the proportions and theories where this war has been waged, it has surpassed all the former ones. The topic provides sufficient space for the military operations of the Bulgarian Army, economic, political and health life, as well as the sense of this period and their consequences. The value of the paper is enriched with data on many geographic, topographic and military maps that point to the position and movement of the Bulgarian army in the period of September and October 1915. The significance of this paper is in the reality of the presented events, which are still present in this region in the present time.

The Soviet mapping of Poland – a brief overview

Abstract The Soviet military mapping project was the most comprehensive cartographic endeavour of the twentieth century. The resulting maps have been commercially available to the West since at least 1993, when a Latvian business first offered Soviet plans of Western cities for sale at the 16th International Cartographic Conference in Cologne, Germany. Covering the globe at a range of scales, Soviet military maps provide a fascinating – if disconcerting – view of familiar territory with a striking aesthetic. But they also provide a substantial untapped geospatial resource, often with an unparalleled level of topographic detail. This paper gives an overview of the Soviet global military mapping programme and its coverage of Poland, including the 1:25,000-scale city plan of Warsaw (printed in 1981). By illustrating the extensive topographic symbology employed at various scales of mapping, it suggests how these maps may offer scope for regional studies and how their cartographic language can provide some solutions for addressing the ongoing challenges of mapping the globe.

Improving embedding efficiency for digital steganography by exploiting similarities between secret and cover images

Digital steganography is becoming a common tool for protecting sensitive communications in various applications such as crime/terrorism prevention whereby law enforcing personals need to remotely compare facial images captured at the scene of crime with faces databases of known criminals/suspects; exchanging military maps or surveillance video in hostile environment/situations; privacy preserving in the healthcare systems when storing or exchanging patient’s medical images/records; and prevent bank customers’ accounts/records from being accessed illegally by unauthorized users. Existing digital steganography schemes for embedding secret images in cover image files tend not to exploit various redundancies in the secret image bit-stream to deal with the various conflicting requirements on embedding capacity, stego-image quality, and undetectibility. This paper is concerned with the development of innovative image procedures and data hiding schemes that exploit, as well as increase, similarities between secret image bit-stream and the cover image LSB plane. This will be achieved in two novel steps involving manipulating both the secret and the cover images, prior to embedding, to achieve higher 0:1 ratio in both the secret image bit-stream and the cover image LSB plane. The above two steps strategy has been exploited to use a bit-plane(s) mapping technique, instead of bit-plane(s) replacement to make each cover pixel usable for secret embedding. This paper will demonstrate that this strategy produces stego-images that have minimal distortion, high embedding efficiency, reasonably good stego-image quality and robustness against 3 well-known targeted steganalysis tools.

Archipelagic rhetoric: remapping the Marianas and challenging militarization from “A Stirring Place”

ABSTRACTEngaging critical rhetorical fieldwork in the Mariana Islands archipelago, this article destabilizes colonial naming projects and US federal control that dispossess island places from Indigenous peoples. On Euro-American and military maps, archipelagoes are depicted as distant, tiny, empty, or merely (is)lands for US geostrategic control. I argue for a remapping of the Marianas as expansive, oceanic sites of resistance to colonial cartographic violence and US militarization. Fieldwork in the Marianas demonstrates how Indigenous epistemologies function as archipelagic rhetoric enacted through a Chamoru sense of place. I examine these fluid relational connections to place and their implications for decolonization.

A landscape of lies: Soviet maps in Estonia

Maps have long been used as ways of understanding the land as a means of defining borders, land ownership, resources, estimating tax-gathering potential and for defensive purposes. Many of the national mapping agencies originated as arms of the military. When a new regime takes over a country it may decide to prepare its own set of maps – not least for defensive purposes – and to restrict who has access to these maps. When the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic States in 1945 – and these became front-line areas during the Cold War, with large areas devoted to military installations and border zones – a whole new set of maps were created. We took a sample of maps of Estonia from the inter-war years and from the period of political and military occupation from 1945-1991. The Soviet army maps became freely available in the post-Soviet period and studying them and comparing them with the older maps reveals the way the land was perceived. Military maps were produced using different projections and scales, especially regarding the topography and other features relevant for military operations. The maps included deliberate mistakes and if publicly available they contained many blank spaces to hide sensitive areas and to pretend they did not exist. We also found that maps played a key role in planning future landscapes –kolkhozmaps showed how Estonia was foreseen as a complete planned system covering the whole country outside urban areas.

Das toponymische Erbe der Habsburgermonarchie in Galizien

Abstract The paper discusses the influence of the Habsburg topographic surveys and cartography on the toponymic landscape of the former crown land of Galicia. Publicly available maps have had a great impact on the geographical names used both by locals and non-locals. The Habsburg toponymic policy was characterized by non-Germanisation of already existing Galician toponyms. The Habsburg toponymic heritage is therefore of double nature: 1) forms of toponyms popularized by Austro-Hungarian maps (especially by Spezialkarte) influenced a wide toponymic usus as well as the toponymy of the later maps (especially interwar-Polish military maps) – these popularized forms may have differed from the names used by the local communities, which could have been caused by a surveyor’s mistake; 2) the topographic and cartographic materials produced by the Austro-Hungarian institutions are a valuable source for toponomastic research. In the paper, the Austro-Hungarian and interwar-Polish topographic manuals are analysed. These documents defined the way a surveyor had to collect and process geographical names. The examples and possible causes of some Polonized forms occurring in Spezialkarte are discussed. Next, the influence of the Austrian maps on the toponymy of Polish maps is explained. Finally, hilarious examples of cartographic name-copying are given.