Military topographers: “Without us, war will not start!”

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Humor, of course. But nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine a modern army without topographic maps. No, all these GPS, GLONASS is, of course, great. But for tablets, smartphones and other electronics, two things are needed, which in the case of a real batch may not be at hand. This is, first of all, electricity, the second - the signal of these same satellites.

What can happen with the orbital grouping of spacecraft, we have already told, the essence is the same: you can stay without a signal, and without receivers of this signal.



But the map is still a serious and reliable topic today. Slightly more 200 years already. 206, to be exact.

We attended the work of military cartographers who specified maps of the Pogonovo test site.

There was a light frost (-15 degrees) and a slight wind (8-10 m / s). Not the best, to be honest, the weather. But service is the thing ...

The most interesting thing is that the work of a military topographer over 200 years of existence, if it has changed, is very slight. The essence is the same - work first with feet, then with head.







Exit to the specified area, installation and calibration of equipment.





The modernity of the equipment is felt.



On the other hand, yes, the 21st century, drones flying, caterpillar, satellites with their shooting and so on. And yet, the picture is the same as 100 years ago:



On the question of satellite imagery and modern phenomena such as GLONASS, experts said unequivocally: the accuracy is not the same. It would be nice, of course, if a drone with a mirror could fly a day or two. But in reality, all the same legs are faster and more passable.



Surprised, frankly, a manufacturer of modern equipment for geographic surveys. No, "watering", of course, the company is known. The only question is the relevance of the presence in the Russian army.





When the calculations were walking enough around the landfill, it was time to process the data. We occupied a tent during this part of the work, and topographers were waiting there near the stove.



Next came the field data processing center.



Inside is nothing special. A couple of jobs with computers and places for more or less comfortable movement of calculations.



The survey data is immediately entered into the working computer and the boundaries of the landfill are clarified and everything else that was needed.







Further, the communications operators come in, who transmit data through the AAS via an encrypted channel to another unit.



We had to ride to this car, because it took a position, or rather, just stood at some distance from the landfill. This was a new installation for the rapid printing of maps. Previously, such a printing house was located on four trucks. Today, in accordance with the implemented concept of the Russian army "We shall all push into one kung" - on one machine.



The car really just arrived from the factory. Even the tool has not been updated yet.



Inside there are two workplaces with computers, a paper cutting machine and, of course, the highlight of the program: a printing unit.









The map with the updates was loaded into the bowels of the installation, and after a while it was printed.







That's all. The calculations have completed their task, the information has been collected, the specifications have been made, new maps will be printed in the required quantity.



An inconspicuous such and unhurried service. But if you think hard - no cartographer anywhere. Even in our time, all sorts of technical gizmos.
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  1. +2
    15 February 2018 05: 21
    Military topographers: “War will not start without us!”

    But who will ask?
    All, damn it, the problem is that wars start not only without topographers, but sometimes without genshabs ...
  2. +5
    15 February 2018 06: 48
    Interesting software, only very heavy in gigabytes. The legacy of "Panorama" can be traced. In wartime conditions, all this electronics can be completely covered with a copper basin, and then "leika" is suitable for hammering nails. Or just a telescope. On a “dashing horse” there will only be those who have optical theodolites, logarimic tables for equalizing polygons using the least squares method and “iron felixes” somewhere in the dummies. I only doubt that now, in general, someone really can do it from the young. In the 70s, such calculation methods were actually practiced, and if they see a conventional calculator in their hands, it will not seem enough. The most harmless sentence, remove this lascivious .. So they twisted the "Felix" to the sounds of the bell.
    1. +1
      15 February 2018 10: 00
      This is Panorama, its a swing!
      Well, yes, the official name now is GIS Map.
  3. +1
    15 February 2018 07: 43
    On February 8, on the Day of the Surveyor, a dispute arose with the "glory1974" about the availability of b / w cards during the Second World War. Forced to admit that in some ways he is right. When viewing maps of the times of the Second World War, sometimes there were cards in which there was no color of any kind. I suppose that when printing cards, a marriage arose, but instead of destroying the defective cards, they were left just in case, and sometimes they were used. B / w you will not name, but they are not full-fledged. https://topwar.ru/135515-den-voennogo-topografa-s
    -kartoy-na-peredovoy.html
    For example, the glued "General Decision Map for the Defense of the Western Sector of Leningrad 18 December 1941", the lower right corner is made on such a defective map. There is no blue color.

    On the maps of the Caucasus and Crimea regions there was no green color.
    1. +1
      15 February 2018 21: 15
      On February 8, on the Day of the Surveyor, a dispute arose with the "glory1974" about the availability of b / w cards during the Second World War.

      drinks
      at the glued-in "General Decision Map for the Defense of the Western Sector of Leningrad 18 December 1941", the lower right corner is made on such a defective map. There is no blue color.

      This is an army front level map. And what quality were the platoon-company-battalion level cards?
      When viewing maps of the times of the Second World War, sometimes there were cards in which there was no color of any kind.

      I didn’t know about this. Thank you for the information.
      1. +1
        15 February 2018 21: 52
        Quote: glory1974
        This is an army front level map. And what quality were the platoon-company-battalion level cards?

        I think it makes no difference. Printed one printing house. Marriage could be everywhere. But I think that, as you say, at the platoon-company level, i.e. small-scale, hardly sent defective. And on the schematic maps at headquarters, such defective cards could work.
      2. 0
        17 February 2018 00: 41
        An army-front map is a small-scale map from a million to two hundred. Map level battalion and below - from fifty to ... Do not compare red with thick.
  4. +15
    15 February 2018 07: 47
    “Without us, war will not start!”

    This is exactly
  5. +1
    15 February 2018 09: 42
    Yeah, Leica at MoD is sad, albeit accurate and fast. As for the skills of confident work with optical theodolites and calculations on tables “on the knee”, all the “axes” whom I encountered in the service, including those in the TP and AGO departments, possessed them, at least “bottling” before 2008 and before the merger their alma mater in St. Petersburg with the VKA.
  6. +3
    15 February 2018 10: 48
    probably takes pride in the soul of Americans, the Russians have an OS from the United States, and we still want to catch up with and overtake them
  7. +1
    15 February 2018 13: 24
    Peak of military surveyors 6873.
    It is named after the expedition of 1943, when the northernmost seven thousandths of the planet, forgotten for almost half a century, was called the peak of Victory 7439., According to the Chinese version of Tomur 7443, according to the calculations of German topographers in the Swedish expedition of 1899, 7300.
    NATO pilots, by the way, do not neglect the usual human maps on paper, bridges are all marked there, sheds, etc. Quietly rejoice that something is still clumsy on them, at least on the card that came into hand lol
  8. +1
    15 February 2018 15: 44
    No, all these GPS, GLONASS - this, of course, is great. But for tablets, smartphones and other electronics, you need two things that, in the case of a real batch, may not be at hand. This is, first of all, electricity, and secondly, the signal of these same satellites.

    As we were taught in the army (BUAR, top platoon): "in a nuclear explosion, an electromagnetic pulse occurs and all your electronics will be covered! Therefore, the good old optical devices !!!"
    There was a light frost (-15 degrees) and a slight wind (8-10 m / s). Not the best, to be honest, the weather. But service is the thing ...

    Grind the people))) "Northern" instrument versions up to -35 are calculated, and you can even work with the menzul at -45!
    Exit to the specified area, installation and calibration of equipment.

    At Leica, the calibration is to swing the pipe up / down. But if you want to insert more clever words into the article, then yes))) there is also a clever word - adjustment, why did you miss it?)))
    When asked about satellite imagery and modern phenomena such as GLONASS, experts said unequivocally: the accuracy is not the same.

    What nonsense! The dual frequency produces the required accuracy in tolerances. Justification is done by him. Yes, and shooting in stop \ end \ go mode (as they used to say))) is also consistent. It all depends on the terrain and vegetation - you can’t do much work in the forest with “plates” ...
    Surprised, frankly, a manufacturer of modern equipment for geographic surveys. No, "watering", of course, the company is known. The only question is the relevance of the presence in the Russian army.

    The only manufacturer in Russia - in our city of Yekaterinburg - UOMZ ("Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant") produces 3Ta5 and 4Ta5 total stations, corresponding to the class presented by Lake. That's just they also differ, say, classmates of the Togliatti Automobile Plant and Bavarian Motors request
    Design yourself appreciate:


    Well, then yes, we are everywhere:




  9. 0
    15 February 2018 17: 23
    They drove our military topographers in 2008-11. And topography is very important, for example, the current trend is to insure yourself in case of failure of the SNA by comparing objects on the flight path (rocket, aircraft) with images stored in the database.
  10. 0
    17 February 2018 00: 53
    - while they are there, draw maps, we change the landscape manually-
  11. 0
    19 February 2018 17: 49
    The windows operating system is visible on the monitor screen in the topography field machine, which is extremely dangerous to use in combat conditions: the location of the machine in the field, data on collected information, etc. can be controlled from the USA at the windows architecture level ... It’s better to use Kali Linux !!!
  12. 0
    19 February 2018 18: 02
    It would be nice to equip cartographers for work in the field with micro-drones like English: PD-100 Black Hornet Nano

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