National Geographic Institute
The National Geographic Institute is the Belgian authority responsible for national surveying and the production of official maps and is called Institut géographique national in French with the abbreviation IGN (like the French ), and in Dutch or Flemish Nationaal geografisch instituut with the abbreviation NGI .
The Institut géographique national (IGN) founded in June 1976 in Brussels is a scientific institute for the representation of the topography of Belgium. It goes back to a decree in which the Provisional Government ordered the War Ministry to draw up maps in 1831, shortly after Belgium became independent . With the task of creating an official topographical map of the Kingdom of Belgium in 1843, the Institut cartographique militaire (ICM) (Military Cartographic Institute), which works according to scientific principles and is subordinate to the Ministry of War, developed in 1878 . Thoroughly modernized after the Second World War in 1947 and renamed Institut géographique militaire (IGM) (Military Geographic Institute), it was demilitarized in 1976 in view of its many tasks in the field of geodesy , which have long exceeded the needs of national defense. national geographic institute ”and is under the supervision of the Defense Minister.
Nowadays, both the name of the institution and the legend of its map series are generally given in four languages, apart from French and Dutch, also in the third national language German and in English. The Flemish-Dutch version is referred to as Dutch on websites and the like.
Web links
- official homepage
- topomapviewer (map server ), on ngi.be
Individual proof
- ↑ Historique de l'Institut geographique national . Information on its history on the website of the institute, accessed on February 15, 2020.