Military topography of the Commonwealth countries: a unified approach to the development of a geographic information system

Yekaterinburg, May 20, 2021 – Kazakh servicemen took part in a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Topographic Services of the Armed Forces of the CIS member states, which took place in Yekaterinburg.

The meeting discussed issues of interaction between topographic services, implementation of the Concept for the development of a unified geographic information system for military purposes. The procedures for approving the Concept of topographic and geodetic and navigation support for a unified tactical control system, as well as a plan for joint activities of topographic services of the armed forces of the CIS member states for 2022 were discussed.
“Carrying out such events contributes to an increase in the level of interaction and unification of efforts to develop common campaigns in the field of creating a unified geoinformation system for military purposes between the topographic services of the armed forces of the CIS member states,” noted Colonel Serik Zholdybaev, head of the Department of Geoinformation Support of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
At the Aduisky training ground, during the training and methodological meeting, an episode of providing tactical units with geospatial information about the terrain (electronic maps, 3D terrain models) in the field was demonstrated.
The meeting participants also visited the Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant, where they were introduced to topographic and geodetic products, including receivers of the global navigation satellite system and software for them.

The Coordinating Committee of Topographic Services of the Armed Forces of the CIS member states is developing in the format of the Council of Defense Ministers, which makes it possible to form a legal framework and practice of military cooperation, taking into account the interests of all states of the Commonwealth.
As part of its activities, multilateral military cooperation of topographic services of the armed forces of the CIS member states is being implemented: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.