Report of the Hungarian National Committee of the International Cartographic Association
CARTOGRAPHIC ACTIVITY IN HUNGARY 1976-1980
In the national report of Hungary we are giving an account of the situation and the organization of Hungarian cartography, of cartographic institutions, systems of training cartographers, official map series, major publications issued between 1976-1980, and of the function and activity of the Hungarian National Committee.
Cartographic institutions and their activity
In Hungary cartographic activity is directed by the National Office of Lands and Mapping operating under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Its activity includes
The cartographic works within the Office are managed by the Department of Cartography. This department works out the principles for publishing maps, establishes the national, base-and thematic map systems, takes charge of geographic-cartographical data supply, directs its automatization, settles and registers geographical names, directs development and research works on its field, and participates in international co-operation.
The international relations - through the Society for Geodesy and Cartography - include the participation in the organizations and programs of the International Geographical Union and the International Cartographic Association. The close co-operation with the surveying services of socialist countries is of special importance. As the result of this co-operation collective work has been in process for the preparation of the second edition of the World Map on the scale 1:2 500 000, for the joint publication of the tourist road-atlas of socialist countries; the compilation of the popular atlas of COMECON countries (countries belonging to the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance) also in process.
There are two institutions and three enterprises under the direction of the National Office of Lands and Mapping. The Data Processing Center deals with land registration, while the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography is mainly a research institute.
The cartographic research is carried out by the Geocartographic Department of the institute. The collection and registration of thematic maps published in Hungary are also found there. The well-known international map service Cartactual and its supplement Cartinform are also edited at this department.
The department has heavily contributed to the compilation of the Geographical Names Gazetteer of Hungary. The gazetteer consists of nineteen volumes, each volume presenting a county. It contains about 70 000 geographical names, with a double index of names. Each volume is accompanied with a map supplement of 1:150 000. From other activities on geographic Names of the department we must mention its contribution to the modification of the principles of lettering of geographical Names used on the 1:2 500 000 World Map, to the transcription of non-Roman lettered geographical names in the Hungarian World Atlas, and to the establishing of Hungarian geographical names for submarine objects. The Research Department published in 1977 the “Multilingual Explanatory Dictionary of Automatization in Cartography” as a result of the voluntary scientific work of more than 20 European specialists through several years. The dictionary includes 450 terms with about 6 000 entry-words, and a multilingual index.
The “Land Use Map of Europe” at the scale of 1:2 500 000 was produced also in international co-operation, in 1978. Specialists and institutions from 24 countries voluntarily contributed to the compilation of the map. The map consists of four (70 cm x 110 cm) sheets and it represents 36 land use categories.
From the cartographic enterprises of the National Office of Lands and Mapping the “Cartographic Enterprise” – besides its surveying activity – deals with publishing geographic cartographical materials. The Enterprise celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1979, its publications became well-known on the international market of maps; the most important of the last years is the “Climatic Atlas of North and Central America”, published in 1979 and made for the UNESCO.
One of the aims of the “Cartographic Enterprise” was to complete its road-map series in the related period in order to fulfil the demand of increasing tourism. For this purpose the road-map of each European country and also a road-atlas of Europe were published. The presentation of Hungary on a detailed, large-scale and uniform map series was a work of special importance which went through the whole period. Accordingly the 1:150 000 scale map of each county (altogether 19) was published. The geographical general map of Hungary (1:300 000) was made on the base of the county maps. Paralelly to the publication of the map series presenting the whole country, up-to-date maps are published about those Hungarian regions which are of great importance for home tourism. Finally there will be 23 tourist maps in this series, and besides them 3 maps about the River Danube and 2 about the River Tisza.
For the purpose of better fulfilment of the demands of tourism, the most frequently visited tourist areas (E.g. Lake Balaton, the Danube Bend) were published in details also in the form of tourist atlases, which sum up all the main tourist objects in the area. These atlases were published in German, Polish and Czech languages as well.
According to the new requirements of the Hungarian educational reform the "Cartographic Enterprise" began to revise its present school atlases. The enlarged primary school historical atlas will be published in 1980. The compilation of several educational wall-maps has also been in process.
Some scientific institutions - not under the direction of the National Office of Lands and Mapping - also deal with map-making and with cartographic research work. They produce thematic maps on the bases of the state base-maps. Without observing completeness we must mention the thematic cartographical activities of the following institutions: Central Office of Meteorology, Hungarian State Geological Institute, Eötvös Loránd Hungarian Geophysical Institute, Geographical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Cartographic Department of Eötvös Loránd University, Enterprise for Survey and Soil Research, Scientific and Planning Institute for City-Planning, Scientific Research Institute for Public Roads and Transport.
We should like to mention the main cartographic activity of the Geographical Research Institute of the Academy of Sciences as an example of publication of scientific cartographic subjects. During the related period the institute dealt with the mapping of crustal movement areas of Hungary, with engineering-geomorphological mapping, with the relief-qualification mapping of the Transdanubia Hills, with the compilation of general and geographical maps and with environment-qualification mapping.
“The Map of the Metamorphites of the Carpatho-Balkan Region” at the scale of 1:1 000 000 is also a thematic work of great importance, which was made in the Cartographic Department of the Eötvös Loránd University.
In the Cartographic Department of the Eötvös Loránd University and in the Map-room of the War History Museum researchers deal with the history of cartography. In their publications they mainly write about remarkable periods and outstanding personalities of Hungarian cartography.
The War History Map Collection - due to the proposal of the Hungarian Committee on Map History - has published twelve old maps in facsimile form, and has collected the Hungarian cartographical studies and publications written earlier than 1900. The collection was then forwarded to the International Cartographic Association for elaboration in the publication,
“Cartographic Innovations till 1900. Collection of Documents”. Four cartographical-historical studies were published in miniature edition.
The Cartographic Department of Eötvös Loránd University in the latest issue of its series, “Cartographical Studies”, published a study on the activity of Ferenc Karacs, an eighteenth century Hungarian cartographer and copper-plate engraver.
The cartographic-historic activity of the department is appreciated also by the publication "The Beginnings of Hungarian Cartography", which includes the facsimile print of the first Hungarian map, made in the 16th century by Magister Lazarus.
There are also peculiarities, like calendars presenting the fascimiles of old maps. Such calendars were published by the Cartographic Institute of the Hungarian People's Army (1979), the Pharmaceutical Works of Kőbánya (1979) and by the Mahart Hungarian Shipping Company (1978).
Training of cartographers
In Hungary the higher training of surveyors is carried out in the Geodetic Institute of the Technical University of Budapest, Faculty of Civil Engineering, and in the Surveying and Land Management Faculty (in Szekesfehervar) of the University of Forestry and Timber Industry of Sopron. Five technical schools deal with the secondary education of surveyors. The surveyors - regarding the demands of their own special fields - also receive cartographic training.
Cartography in general is taught to the students of geosciences and geography in every university or high school.
The Cartographic Department of the Eötvös Loránd University deals with the higher training of cartographers. At the Cartographic Department the students get thorough theoretical knowledge and deep practical training; on this base they become compilers, and after a certain time in practice they are able to perform leading posts. The higher training of cartographers involves courses in geosciences, geography and also in the special subjects of cartography. This way the students get comprehensive theoretical knowledge and skill in theoretical and practical projection, cartographical mathematics, compilation of maps, planning of maps, drawing and manifolding, cartographic automatization and thematic cartographic representation, and also in the history of cartography. Graduated cartographers can easily find employment at Hungarian cartographical enterprises, but they are gladly employed also at any institution dealing with regional planning and development, and are also welcome at any geo-scientific research institute. They can obtain various scientific degrees after satisfying certain requirements, as the result of their scientific work. During the last four years 5 cartographers obtained university doctorate and two obtained the academic degree of candidate of sciences.
The doctoral dissertations were as follows:
Candidats’ s theses:
The claim of the cartographic publishing houses for cartographers resulted that - after careful consideration - the secondary education of cartographers was introduced as a special form within the frame of the state secondary school system. Those graduated here get education on planning and drawing of maps. Their employment and their professional development are assured. After a certain professional experience they are qualified as cartographer technicians. On this base they are able to handle planning and controlling works of higher quality demands.
The education of cartographic subjects is helped by several text-books and distributed lecture notes. Such publications issued during the related period are as follows: Planning maps, Map-technology, Map-history, Cartography for students of geosciences. For specialized secondary schools the Work "Cartographic geography" was published. For the interest of non-experts in cartography popular publications are published, e.g. “How the map is made”.
Map-systems
The establishment of a uniform national map-system has been in process in order to fulfil the demands for maps of various technical, geodetic, planning, land registration and land use works. The map-system is based on the national uniform geodetic basis; its profiling is also uniform. The units of the map-system:
a) of survey maps:
b) of geographical maps
The series of surveying topographic maps includes the maps at the scales of 1:10 000, 1:25 000 and 1:100 000. The maps at 1:10 000 are generally compiled on the base of new surveys, though sometimes they are made by renewing the former map-systems, as the former map series at 1:10 000 covers the whole country. The topographic maps at 1:25 000 and at 1:100 000 are made by derivation of the new 1:10 000 scaled maps, in the order of their publication. The 1:200 000 and 1:500 000 scaled maps of the map-system will bear geographical names.
From the base-maps of the planning map-system and thematic cartography outline maps are made in small number by the direct use of the documents made in the course of map production.
The social organization and international relations of Hungarian cartographers
The Hungarian cartographers are rallied in the Society for Geodesy and Cartography. The society is a member of the Federation of Technical and Scientific Societies of Hungary. A cartographic section works within the society. The aims of this are to widen the professional knowledge of cartographers, to increase the professional and general cultural role of maps, and to help the realization of state cartographic tasks.
Two-directional work features the section. On the one hand it is the organizer of Hungarian cartographic exhibitions, programs at home and abroad, on the other hand it directs the activities associated with the International Cartographic Association. The programs of the society include special lectures in order to follow new cartographic researches and successes, to get acquainted with new technologies and new decrees. Discussions of scientific questions and commemorations are also organized in the society.
From time to time we invite well-known foreign scientists to give lectures. We express thanks to Mr. Ormeling, Mr. Ogrissek, Mr. Roubitschek and Mr. Berljant for their lectures.
Several international exhibitions of maps and conferences were held in Hungary as the result of the collective work of the cartographic section and the Hungarian cartographic institutes. The Exhibition of Maps in Agriculture was organized in 1976; Geomorphological Maps in 1977; Industrial and Commercial Maps in 1978. International conferences were organized on the occasions of the exhibitions in 1976 and 1977. The text of several important lectures was published in Hungarian.
Two famous foreign cartographers are honorary members of the Hungarian Society for Geodesy and Cartography; they are Mr. K.A. Salishtschev from the Soviet Union, and Mr. F.J. Ormeling from the Netherlands.
The relations with the International Cartographic Union are maintained by the Hungarian National Committee acting at the cartographic section. The National Committee handles correspondence, compiles the national reports for international conferences, approves the lectures to be sent out, prepares and co-ordinates the Hungarian representation at international exhibitions abroad.
An important part of the work of the National Committee is to publish regularly a study volume in English for the ICA conferences held in every four year, in order to present the new Hungarian results in cartography.
Within the National Committee – according to the construction of the ICA – various subcommittees are in operation. The chairmen of these sub-committees are at the same time ordinary or corresponding members of the ICA commissions. On behalf of the sub-committees they participated in the following programs of the ICA:
The sub-committees in their special fields largely contribute to both scientific and both research practical map publishing successes, to the development and international recognition of Hungarian cartography.