The Ethiopian Mapping Agency (EMA) is an

Ethiopian government The government of Ethiopia () is the federal government of Ethiopia. It is structured in a framework of a federal republic, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, prime minister is the hea ...

agency, a department within the Ministry of Finance and Cooperation, that is responsible for cartographic mapping and

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

activities in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. The EMA has expanded its operation to include a comprehensive map revision program in addition to various phases of

digital mapping Computer cartography (also called digital cartography) is the art, science, and technology of making and using maps with a computer. This technology represents a paradigm shift in how maps are produced, but is still fundamentally a subset of trad ...

and

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

History

Origin

The Ethiopian Mapping Agency, originally known as the Ethiopian Mapping and Geography Institute, located in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

, Ethiopia, is the official organization responsible for mapping, surveying and remote sensing activities in

. The organization was established in 1954 under the reign of Emperor

Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

as a department in the Imperial Ethiopian Ministry of Education. It was initially established to produce graphic materials and

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

textbooks for educational purposes. During its early years, the EMA benefited from

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

assistance, both in terms of financial assistance from the

Point Four Program The Point Four Program was a technical assistance program for "developing countries" announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address on January 20, 1949. It took its name from the fact that it was the fourth foreig ...

and a comprehensive base mapping operation of the country undertaken by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

1960–1979

The Institute was transferred to the Ministry of Interior in 1960 and expanded its operations to include some basic cartographic activities and extended research. The organisation had benefited from the

Point Four Programme of financial aid until it was discontinued in 1962,UNECA Geoinfo EMA, Date of Establishment and Succinct History
at which time the country entered into an agreement with the United States for the

U.S. Army Map Service The Army Map Service (AMS) was the military cartography, cartographic agency of the United States Department of Defense from 1941 to 1968, subordinated to the United States Army Corps of Engineers. On September 1, 1968, the AMS was redesignated th ...

, later known as Topographic Command (Topocom), to produce base maps of the country. The topographic surveying was provided by soldiers from the 64th Engineer Battalion, 29th Engineer Company, and the project was known as the Ethiopia-United States Mapping Mission. Using the survey data from the Mapping Mission, The Army Map Service/Topocom completed the photogrammetric map compilation and cartographic map finishing operations. The resulting 1:250,000-scale base maps of the country and 1:50,000-scale maps of special interest areas served as the impetus for the Institute to begin its cartographic map maintenance and distribution program. The organization was placed under a Director General with two Directors and seventy employees, and was reorganized into three subdivisions:

Photogrammetry Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant ima ...

Cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

and Photo Laboratory.

1980–2017

The Institute was reorganized again in 1980 and was renamed the Ethiopian Mapping Agency. As of 2017, the EMA employs about 350 people, engaged in

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...

, geodetic surveying, photogrammetric, cartographic and photo lab activities to support and maintain its 1:250,000; 1:50,000; 1:1,000,000; 1:2,000,000; National

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

of Ethiopia and 1:15,000-scale map of Addis Ababa. In addition, it is involved in

orthophoto An orthophoto, orthophotograph, orthoimage or orthoimagery is an Aerial photography, aerial photograph or satellite imagery geometrically corrected ("orthorectified") such that the scale is uniform: the photo or image follows a given map p ...

mapping,

and

land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...

land cover Land cover is the physical material at the land surface of Earth. Land covers include flora, concrete, built structures, bare ground, and temporary water. Earth cover is the expression used by ecologist Frederick Edward Clements that has as ...

(LULC) studies and maintains a library of

geoinformation Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position). It is also ca ...

in support of Ethiopia's infrastructure.

2018–present

In February 2018, the Ethiopian Mapping Agency's request to be reestablished as the Ethiopian Geospatial Information Agency was approved by the

Ethiopian Parliament The Federal Parliamentary Assembly () is the federal legislature of Ethiopia. It consists of two chambers: *The House of Federation (upper chamber) *The House of Peoples' Representatives (lower chamber) Created with the adoption of the Ethi ...

. The motivation for this change was to modernize the aims of the organization as well as to differentiate themselves from the Information Network Security Agency (INSA) and the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing.

References

External links

Portals to the World – Geography and Environment: EthiopiaEthiopia Topographic Maps
East View Cartographic web site
UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia – EMA Maps
{{authority control 1954 establishments in Ethiopia National mapping agencies Maps of Ethiopia Government agencies established in 1954 Government agencies of Ethiopia Organisations based in Addis Ababa Geography of Addis Ababa