Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography, USSR

Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography of the USSR, often abbreviated in Cyrillic as ГУГК СССР (or in the Latin alphabet as GUGK USSR) was the principal Soviet authority for mapping and survey work from 1939 to 1991. Its origins trace to the Higher Geodetic Administration (VGU), created after the Russian Revolution to centralize topographic, geodetic, and cartographic efforts. Initially weak, VGU was restructured under Gosplan in 1925, then transferred to the NKVD in 1935. It became GUGK in 1939, under the USSR Council of Ministers, and from that point managed the production of all maps for Soviet civilian, military, and scientific use. GUGK published maps of the USSR and its allies in multiple languages. Civilian maps were often deliberately distorted to obscure accurate geographic data from potential enemies. After the Soviet Union’s collapse, it was succeeded by Roskartografiya (1991–2009), and then by Rosreestr. GUGK publications remain among the most distinctive and technically accomplished examples of mid- to late-20th-century cartography.