Map Men did a great video on the reverse of this, classified Soviet-made maps of Britain which were all labelled in Polish! They were in some cases more accurate than the British OS maps of the era which did not print some features around military bases, but they did make mistakes too.
I thought it was quite interesting, I'm too young to remember the Cold War but it's always described to me in terms of nuclear warfare and mutually assured destruction. The quality of the Soviet maps suggests the mentality of a conquering adversary rather than a destroying one though, as though they intended to occupy the territory they were mapping rather than nuke it.
> They were in some cases more accurate than the British OS maps of the era which did not print some features around military bases,
Not so much more accurate ('classified' features aside), as more detailed: The soviet maps included such things as bridge weight limits...... After all, if trying to invade you need to know if the local bridges can support a T-62 tank.
Ah so that's why we've not maintained anything since the 2000s, if the Russians invade their tanks will go straight through the bridges or require extraction from the potholes. Clever civil defence measure!
Why does the summary of each map read like it was AI generated? Somehow no feeling at all in any of the summaries.
> By 1980, Moscow was under intense scrutiny from Western intelligence agencies.
> The city hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics during a period of heightened Cold War tension following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. CIA maps like this would have been useful for diplomatic security planning, intelligence analysis, and understanding the geography of Soviet government operations.
The clean graphic design is characteristic of late Cold War CIA cartography.
> Rather than artistic relief shading seen in earlier maps, this style focused on clarity, precision, and rapid interpretation. E (sic)
> very rail yard, roadway, and public site could hold intelligence value, especially in a closed society like the USSR where reliable geographic information was often difficult for outsiders to obtain.
I can’t find a human behind any of this on the website. I’m certain there is one, but I’m not certain the summary is anything other than AI generated. Content farms at a new level? To what end?
> I am currently the Managing Director of Brilliant British Ltd, which owns and operates several websites in the UK payment, energy and small business sectors.
> Previously I was the Senior SEO manager for the EMEA region at Hotels.com and the Head of B2B SEO at MVF (Winner of the Sunday Times Tech Track 2013). I have over 13 years experience in SEO and online marketing and have worked for large corporations, startups and independently over that time.
> In my spare time I continue to operate a few test websites to see what's working in the world of SEO and also run my blog RandomlyLondon.com which has been featured in the Londonist, TimeOut and The Guardian.
And in the ‘blurb’ in his current company, he says:
> I'm currently the Managing Director of Brilliant British Ltd which publishes websites in various sectors including, business finance, payments and home improvements.
Maybe because it is AI generated? Not sure if it's true, but I had the same feeling. Also, it reads like someone seeing a good old city map for the first time: "Rather than artistic relief shading seen in earlier maps, this style focused on clarity, precision, and rapid interpretation." Yes, city maps rarely have relief shading, that would only get in the way.
Whatever they and their affliction are called, they've successfully ruined the last few comment sections on the web that were still worth visiting for me. I hope they'll eventually receive the help they so desperately need. Maybe they'll be able to handle reality one day.
Map Men did a great video on the reverse of this, classified Soviet-made maps of Britain which were all labelled in Polish! They were in some cases more accurate than the British OS maps of the era which did not print some features around military bases, but they did make mistakes too.
I thought it was quite interesting, I'm too young to remember the Cold War but it's always described to me in terms of nuclear warfare and mutually assured destruction. The quality of the Soviet maps suggests the mentality of a conquering adversary rather than a destroying one though, as though they intended to occupy the territory they were mapping rather than nuke it.
> They were in some cases more accurate than the British OS maps of the era which did not print some features around military bases,
Not so much more accurate ('classified' features aside), as more detailed: The soviet maps included such things as bridge weight limits...... After all, if trying to invade you need to know if the local bridges can support a T-62 tank.
Ah so that's why we've not maintained anything since the 2000s, if the Russians invade their tanks will go straight through the bridges or require extraction from the potholes. Clever civil defence measure!
Why does the summary of each map read like it was AI generated? Somehow no feeling at all in any of the summaries.
> By 1980, Moscow was under intense scrutiny from Western intelligence agencies.
> The city hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics during a period of heightened Cold War tension following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. CIA maps like this would have been useful for diplomatic security planning, intelligence analysis, and understanding the geography of Soviet government operations.
The clean graphic design is characteristic of late Cold War CIA cartography.
> Rather than artistic relief shading seen in earlier maps, this style focused on clarity, precision, and rapid interpretation. E (sic)
> very rail yard, roadway, and public site could hold intelligence value, especially in a closed society like the USSR where reliable geographic information was often difficult for outsiders to obtain.
I can’t find a human behind any of this on the website. I’m certain there is one, but I’m not certain the summary is anything other than AI generated. Content farms at a new level? To what end?
Ah, the company that owns the site “Brilliant British Ltd” is a content farm. Its managing director says this on his own LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-wright-2079531b?originalSubd...):
> I am currently the Managing Director of Brilliant British Ltd, which owns and operates several websites in the UK payment, energy and small business sectors.
> Previously I was the Senior SEO manager for the EMEA region at Hotels.com and the Head of B2B SEO at MVF (Winner of the Sunday Times Tech Track 2013). I have over 13 years experience in SEO and online marketing and have worked for large corporations, startups and independently over that time.
> In my spare time I continue to operate a few test websites to see what's working in the world of SEO and also run my blog RandomlyLondon.com which has been featured in the Londonist, TimeOut and The Guardian.
And in the ‘blurb’ in his current company, he says:
> I'm currently the Managing Director of Brilliant British Ltd which publishes websites in various sectors including, business finance, payments and home improvements.
Maybe because it is AI generated? Not sure if it's true, but I had the same feeling. Also, it reads like someone seeing a good old city map for the first time: "Rather than artistic relief shading seen in earlier maps, this style focused on clarity, precision, and rapid interpretation." Yes, city maps rarely have relief shading, that would only get in the way.
What is the opposite of ai psychosis? Where you're so afraid of being hoodwinked that you accuse ai of being everywhere
Whatever they and their affliction are called, they've successfully ruined the last few comment sections on the web that were still worth visiting for me. I hope they'll eventually receive the help they so desperately need. Maybe they'll be able to handle reality one day.
Wake me up when they offer an unredacted, unadulterated map of S4.
I would love to see other countries classified maps of US cities.
Here's a fun collection of Soviet maps of DC - https://www.wired.com/2015/07/secret-cold-war-maps/
Someone on reddit got the actual maps but the link has bitrotted, wayback saved some - https://web.archive.org/web/20241207144716/http://architecto...
Thank you, that Wired piece is fascinating. (I probably enjoyed it 10 years ago too.)
Do they have pointers to the bars with the best vodka?
You could like The Red Atlas by John Davies and Alexander Kent. It is full of maps made by the Soviets for the Western world during the Cold War.