Grids & Datums Ukraine by Clifford J. Mugnier, C.P., C.M.S.

Paleolithic remains have been found in the were for military purposes only. They did middle of each section. In continuous first- region, but the oldest dwelling in Kiev is nothing with respect to individual land own- order chains, the LaPlace stations are spaced from the 25th century B.C., about 4,500 years ership registration, and they preferred the every 10 triangles, and the accuracy of the ago. “Ukraine was the center of the first Slavic sazhen for their unit of measurement. (Para- azimuths is ±1.2". In second-order chains, state, Kievan Rus, which during the 10th and phrased from Poland, PE&RS, September LaPlace stations are located at baseline ter- 11th centuries was the largest and most pow- 2000). The existing classical triangulation net minals. The accuracy of baseline distance erful state in Europe. Weakened by is a dense mesh to the west along the bor- measurements is not less than 4×10-6. In internecine quarrels and Mongol invasions, der with Poland, Hungary, România, and general, a single Ukraine map sheet at a scale Kievan Rus was incorporated into the Grand Moldova, primarily in the mountainous re- of 1:1,000,000 will contain about 35-70 Duchy of Lithuania and eventually into the gion and extending as far east as Rivne, LaPlace station points and about 20-30 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The cul- Ternopil’, and Chernivtsi. A southern chain baselines. The average density of HSGN tural and religious legacy of Kievan Rus laid of figures reaches from the western city of points is 1 point in 30 km2, but this varies in the foundation for Ukrainian nationalism Izmayil, through Odessa and Kherson to the different regions. For instance, in the indus- through subsequent centuries. A new Ukrai- Crimea where it includes Feodosiya and trial region around Donbass, the density goes nian state, the Cossack Hetmanate, was es- Kerch. There are seven other meridional arcs up to 1 point in 5-10 km2, while in the rural tablished during the mid-17th century after that are connected by three more-or-less region around Polissia the density goes down an uprising against the Poles. Despite con- continuous east-west chains. Although some to about 1 point in 40-50 km2. The grid sys- tinuous Muscovite pressure, the Hetmanate first-order work is evident around Kiev, there tem associated with the Ukraine HSGN is managed to remain autonomous for well over is a very dense network about Yalta in the the same as with all former countries of the 100 years. During the latter part of the 18th Crimea. There are a number of high-order Soviet Union – the Russia Belts which are century, most Ukrainian ethnographic terri- local surveys evident in Ukraine, and I sus- identical to the UTM grid except that the tory was absorbed by the Russian Empire. pect that some of these locations may be scale factor at origin (mo) = unity. For large- Following the collapse of czarist Russia in coincident with now-empty underground scale mapping, the width of the belts re- 1917, Ukraine was able to bring about a short- silos; a once-favorite area for ICBM sites duces to 3° rather than the standard 6° belt. lived period of independence (1917-1920), when the USSR had control of Ukraine. The Vertical State Geodetic Network but was reconquered and forced to endure a The observations for the Horizontal State (VSGN) consists of almost 11,000 km of first- brutal Soviet rule that engineered two arti- Geodetic Network (HSGN) of Ukraine began order leveling, plus12,600 km of second-or- ficial famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which in 1923-25, but it took over 30 years to com- der leveling, 6,000 km of third-order level- over 8 million died. In World War II, German plete both horizontal and vertical leveling ing, and about 300,000 km of ordinary level- and Soviet armies were responsible for some work. Completed in 1970, the first-order ing. The average distance from any site in 7 to 8 million more deaths.” (World Factbook, network has been maintained while densifi- Ukraine to a first- or second-order level line 2004). The republic achieved independence cation has continued for third and fourth or- does not exceed 40 km. The first-order VSGN in 1991. der control. The HSGN consists of 19,538 is tied to the vertical networks of Poland, Ukraine is slightly smaller than Texas and points that include 547 first-order and 5,386 Slovakia, România, Hungary, Russia, and borders Belarus (891 km), Hungary (103 km), second-order points. The HSGN is on the Belarus. The vertical datum is referenced to Moldova (939 km), Poland (526 km), România “System 42” datum established (in 1942) by the Kronstadt tide gauge located at the Bal- (169 km), Russia (1,576 km), and Slovakia (97 the USSR where the origin point is at Pulkovo tic Sea, near St. Petersburg (Russia). Bench- km). The coastline is 2,782 km along the Black Observatory where: Φo = 59° 46' 18.55" mark spacing in Ukraine is not in my files.

Sea and the Sea of Azov. The climate is tem- North, Λo = 30° 19' 42.09" East of Green- The State Gravimetric Network is comprised perate continental, and most of Ukraine is wich. The defining azimuth at the point of of 80 first-order points and 20 second-order steppes and plateaus, with the Carpathian origin to Signal A is: αo = 317° 02' 50.62". points with the fundamental point located in Mountains in the west and the southeast- System 42 is referenced to the Krassovsky Poltava. ern coast of the Crimea from Sevastopol 1940 ellipsoid where a = 6,378,245.0 meters, The NGA does not list datum transforma- through Yalta and north to Feodosiya. The and 1/f = 298.3. The previously mentioned tion parameters from System 42 to WGS84 lowest point is the Black Sea (0 m), and the dense and continuous western network is for Ukraine. My guess is that the parameters highest point is Hora Hoverla (2,061 m). The entirely first-order in quality. The remainder are pretty close to what they are for Mos- capitol is Kiev, and according to legend, the of the first-order network of the Ukraine is cow since the strategic importance of the city was founded in 482 A.D. by a royal fam- comprised of polygons: the lengths of each country was so enormous to the USSR. ily of three brothers and one sister. section being less than 200-250 km. There Ukraine has now passed legislation that de- The czarist Russians performed surveys are 250 LaPlace (astronomic) stations in the notes WGS84 as the national datum of the and topographic mapping of Ukraine in the HSGN which are located at each end of the republic. 19th and early 20th centuries, but these works first-order triangulation polygons and in the Years ago, I sat in a hotel room in South

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING June 2004 667 Grids & Datums

sociological/economic phenomena more herein. The contents do not necessarily re- America and watched “The Wall” being torn than anything else, but it’s disappointing to flect the official views or policies of the down. I was working on a U.S. A.I.D. project see such developments in new republics American Society for Photogrammetry and for land titlelization in which I designed the striving for excellence in a worldwide capi- Remote Sensing and/or the Louisiana State geodetic and photogrammetric aspects of talistic environment. I wish them success in University Center for GeoInformatics (C4G). the project for a canton in Ecuador. That pro- their endeavors to provide farmers with a cess is a major project now in Ukraine, and title to the soil their forefathers have tilled Ô GPS technology is an integral component of Cliff Mugnier teaches Surveying, Geodesy, for so many centuries; the geodetic and pho- the social transformation. Those that read and Photogrammetry at Louisiana State Uni- togrammetric sciences will allow the tech- my columns are aware that I often grouse versity. He is the Chief of Geodesy at LSU’s nical aspects to flow smoothly. on “La Ley” – “The Law” as it exists in much Center for GeoInformatics (Dept. of Civil and I have to thank Dr. Momchil Minchev of of Latin America in which a branch of the Environmental Engineering), and his geo- Sofia, Bulgaria for his generous assistance in federal government is given the exclusive detic research is mainly in the subsidence of locating geodetic publications in English on monopoly for geodetic surveying and topo- Louisiana and in Grids and Datums of the the Ukraine for me. The reports of Dr. Michael graphic mapping of a country. That is a cus- world. He is a Board-certified Photogram- Cheremshynsky of the Ukraine Main Admin- tom derived from the European way of do- metrist and Mapping Scientist (GIS/LIS), and istration of Geodesy, Cartography and Ca- ing things back in the 19th century. I don’t he has extensive experience in the practice dastre of Ukraine in Kiev have made the tech- care for the concept because it frustrates of Forensic Photogrammetry. nical details of the geodetic history possible private commercial mapping in favor of some for this article. Once again, Dr. Minchev has federal group, usually the military. Such an The contents of this column reflect the views of the helped me unravel an enigma. author, who is responsible for the facts and accuracy of idea seems to be the current state of affairs The contents of this column reflect the the data presented herein. The contents do not neces- in Ukraine, and their federal government sarily reflect the official views or policies of the Ameri- views of the author, who is responsible for appears to have passed a similar 19th cen- can Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing the facts and accuracy of the data presented and/or the Louisiana State University Center for tury era-type law. This may be a result of GeoInformatics (C4G).

668 June 2004 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING