The Cartographic Journal is pleased to announce a call for papers for a Special Issue to be published in November 2021 to mark 100 years of Soviet mapping. The Soviet Union produced more maps than any other state in the twentieth century. The extraordinary cartographic output of the Soviet General Staff incorporated a secret global military mapping project comprising topographic maps at several scales and also plans of thousands of towns and cities around the world in street-level detail. Since these maps and plans became commercially available from the early 1990s, they have found new applications in archaeology, disaster relief, environmental studies, urban planning and in many other fields. In addition to its military mapping project, the Soviet Union introduced a wide range of civilian cartographic products (from tourist maps to atlases) that demonstrated innovative methods of data visualisation and cartographic design.
Papers are invited on the following topics:
Soviet military topographic and city mapping, particularly in national contexts outside the USSR
Soviet civilian and/or thematic mapping, particularly innovations in cartographic design
Post-1991 applications of Soviet maps
Geographies of the production and use of Soviet maps
Geopolitical contexts of Soviet mapping
The stylistic evolution of Soviet mapping
Origins of Soviet military mapping and the development of its organisational structure
Any other aspect of Soviet (or Warsaw Pact) mapping that contributes to understanding its wider cartographic or historical significance
Submissions should be made online via the Journal's Editorial Manager system, selecting the Soviet Mapping Special Issue, as appropriate. Authors will be required to register and are encouraged to read the Journal's instructions for authors ahead of submission. Papers may be submitted under the Refereed, Survey or Observation categories.
Deadline for submissions: 30 April 2021 Deadline for revised submissions: 31 August 2021 The editors of this Special Issue will be Dr Alexander Kent (Canterbury Christ Church University), Dr Martin Davis (Royal Geographical Society with IBG) and John Davies (curator of sovietmaps.com and co-author of The Red Atlas). Queries should be directed to alexander.kent@canterbury.ac.uk, m.davis@rgs.org and john@jomidav.com.