The 1:5 million international geological map of europe and adjacent areas: Development and implementation of a GIS-enabled concept / Международная геологическая карта Европы и прилегающих территорий масштаба 1:5 миллионов: разработка и внедрение концепции

The 1 : 5 000 000 International Geological Map of Europe and Adjacent Areas (IGME 5000) is a truly multidisciplinary project. It crosses three domains: geology, Information Technology and cartography. Within geology it embraces many sub-disciplines: stratigraphy, petrography, European regional and historical geology and marine geology.
The IGME 5000 continues a task that began more than a century ago, when in 1881 the Prussian Geological Survey, the predecessor of BGR today, instigated the work on the 1 : 1 500 000 Geological Map of Europe and the Mediterranean Regions. This map was the world's first ever international geological map, however, the current IGME 5000 will deliver, for the first time for an international geological map of Europe, not only a printed map but also a Geographical Information System.
This map project represents a meeting point between the past and the future: the union of a traditional approach to international map production, with the potential offered by the new digital era of the 21st century. But this decision to adopt a digital approach meant that new methods had to be developed and applied. This is the subject of this publication.