{"id":6075,"date":"2017-11-20T13:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T18:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=6075"},"modified":"2017-11-22T10:59:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T15:59:59","slug":"the-red-atlas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/11\/the-red-atlas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Red Atlas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>During the second half of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union’s military and civilian cartographers created topographical maps of the entire world of a\u00a0very high standard of quality and accuracy. How they did so, and why, remains in large part a mystery, one that John Davies and Alexander J. Kent’s new book,\u00a0The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(University of Chicago Press<\/a>, October) fails to solve completely.<\/p>\n

The Red Atlas<\/em> is not the definitive history of those Soviet mapping efforts because so much about those efforts remains a secret. The only reason we know about them is because, in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, so many physical copies of those once-highly secret maps fell into the hands of map collectors.\u00a0The Red Atlas<\/em> talks about that: for more than a decade, Davies and Kent have been studying those maps. (I’ve been following their work. See the links at the bottom of this post for my earlier posts on the subject.) What they know about the Soviet mapping efforts\u2014sources, methods, their reason for doing it\u2014is extrapolated from the final product of those effort: the maps.\u00a0The Red Atlas<\/em> is above all else an exercise in cartographic forensics.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Deciphering the Soviet maps is more than a matter of reading Cyrillic. Soviet maps were standardized, with consistent and highly specific use of symbols and labels that would not necessarily be obvious to the casual map reader. Because these maps had no casual readers: they were secret maps for official use only. You needed to be trained to create or use these maps; the handbook was 220 pages,<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0and there were a number of training posters<\/a>. Without that training, it would not be immediately obvious that, for example, an underlined town name meant that the nearby train station shared the name,<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> or that navigable rivers were labelled in uppercase.<\/p>\n

The level of detail required by those standards made compiling information in western countries something of a challenge. The extent to which the Soviet maps were copied from existing western sources, based on satellite reconnaissance or derived from on-the-ground observation and surveillance is something\u00a0The Red Atlas<\/em> delves into in some detail.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If\u00a0The Red Atlas<\/em> suffers from being too anglocentric\u2014too focused on Soviet maps of the United States and Great Britain\u2014it may be because the authors spent time comparing and contrasting the Soviet maps with their USGS and Ordnance Survey counterparts. On the one hand, the Soviet maps so resembled the Ordnance Survey’s work that the OS moved to block their use in the United Kingdom.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0On the other hand, there are differences, even outright errors, that come from the Soviets’ attempts to reconcile different sources (places that no longer existed, but appeared on older maps), linguistic or cultural confusion and misunderstanding, and differences in emphasis on the part of Soviet mapmakers (who assigned greater importance to railways and heavy industry than western mapmakers would).<\/p>\n

And there is clear evidence that the Soviets did do their own mapmaking, such as military installations left blank on OS maps or under-detailed by the USGS mapped in intricate detail on the Soviet maps. There are also, here and there, attempts to include data that were standard on Soviet maps that did not normally appear on an OS Explorer or USGS quad map\u2014notably bridge information (length, width, clearance, carrying capacity, what it’s built of), river flow direction and speed, and the width, in metres, of roads. That data could only come from on-the-ground surveying. As the authors speculate, these data suggest maps intended for administrative use rather than to support a military invasion.<\/p>\n

The Red Atlas<\/em> is a truly handsome book, filled with dozens of examples of Soviet mapmaking. For someone interested in the Cold War and spycraft, it’d make a hell of a gift this season. But as you have probably figured out by now, this is not, despite its name, a true atlas. We are given\u00a0examples<\/em> of Soviet cartography. Lots and lots of examples. The point of the book is to puzzle out, based on the too-fragmetary evidence in our hands, what Soviet cartography looked like, and how it (likely) was made. What we get is tantalizing. It isn’t enough. But, barring a sea change in Russia, it’s all we’re likely to get for some time.<\/p>\n

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.<\/p>\n

Previously: Soviet Topo Maps; Old Russian Maps<\/a>;\u00a0Soviet Spies Map the World<\/a>;\u00a0Soviet Mapping Update<\/a>;\u00a0Soviet-Era Topo Maps of Russian Cities<\/a>;\u00a0Soviet Spy Maps, Redux<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amazon<\/a> | iBooks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the second half of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union’s military and civilian cartographers created topographical maps of the entire world of a\u00a0very high standard of quality and accuracy. How they did so, and… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,51],"tags":[30,749,585,748,287],"class_list":["post-6075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-conflicts","tag-books","tag-espionage","tag-russia","tag-soviet-union","tag-topo-maps"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3629,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/12\/soviet-spy-maps-redux\/","url_meta":{"origin":6075,"position":0},"title":"Soviet Spy Maps, Redux","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"14 December 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"That Soviet spies created detailed topographic maps of the world, including their Cold War enemies, is not news.\u00a0Wired had a feature on the maps last year, and I've been aware of the work of\u00a0John Davies\u00a0and Alex Kent on the subject for more than a decade. But for\u00a0some unexplained reason\u00a0interest in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conflicts"","block_context":{"text":"Conflicts","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conflicts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"soviet-map-dc","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/soviet-map-dc-1024x670.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/soviet-map-dc-1024x670.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/soviet-map-dc-1024x670.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/soviet-map-dc-1024x670.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5372,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/10\/book-review-roundup\/","url_meta":{"origin":6075,"position":1},"title":"Book Review Roundup","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 October 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Geographical\u00a0magazine reviews\u00a0The Red Atlas, the survey of Soviet-era topo maps of the world by John Davies and Alexander J. Kent out this month from University of Chicago Press.\u00a0National Geographic\u2019s\u00a0All Over the Map blog also has a feature on\u00a0The Red Atlas. I've received my own review copy of The Red Atlas\u00a0and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conflicts"","block_context":{"text":"Conflicts","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conflicts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/beyond-the-map-94x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5097,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/10\/new-map-books-for-october-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":6075,"position":2},"title":"New Map Books for October 2017","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 October 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"It's a busy month for map book publishing; so far I'm aware of eight map-related book (many of them scholarly monographs) seeing print in October. New Views: The World Mapped Like Never Before by Alastair Bonnett (Aurum Press, 26 October). Collects 50 \"unique and beautiful\" maps of our world. [Amazon]\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conflicts"","block_context":{"text":"Conflicts","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conflicts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/new-views-128x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/new-views-128x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/new-views-128x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/new-views-128x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/new-views-128x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5716,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/11\/a-book-roundup\/","url_meta":{"origin":6075,"position":3},"title":"A Book Roundup","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"7 November 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Writing for the\u00a0Globe and Mail, Charlotte Grey reviews two recent Canadian books about mapmaking and mapmakers, both of which came out last month: Adam Shoalts's\u00a0History of Canada in Ten Maps (which I reviewed here last month) and Barbara Mitchell's\u00a0Mapmaker: Philip Turnor in Rupert\u2019s Land in the Age of Enlightenment.\u00a0Mitchell and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6123,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/11\/2017-holiday-gift-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":6075,"position":4},"title":"2017 Holiday Gift Guide","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 November 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year at about this time I post a gift guide that lists some of the noteworthy books about maps that have been published this year. If you have a map-obsessed person in your life and would like to give them something map-related\u2014or\u00a0you\u00a0are\u00a0a map-obsessed person and would your broad hints\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gift Guides"","block_context":{"text":"Gift Guides","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gift-guides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1784986,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/02\/indiana-university-is-digitizing-its-collection-of-russian-topo-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":6075,"position":5},"title":"Indiana University Is Digitizing Its Collection of Russian Topo Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"13 February 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"Indiana University's collection of some 4,000 Russian military topographic maps is being digitized, thanks to a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources. \u201cThe world-changing differences documented by maps in the Eastern Bloc Borderlands project cannot be overstated,\u201d says Michelle Dalmau, head of Digital Collections Services for IU\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conflicts"","block_context":{"text":"Conflicts","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conflicts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6075"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6086,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6075\/revisions\/6086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}