Vietnam's surveying and mapping work has a long tradition. With time and the ups and downs of the country's history, surveying and mapping work has left many important marks and achievements.

The August Revolution was successful, September 2, 1945, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born, September 25, 1945, the Map Department of the General Staff - the first mapping agency of the People's Army Vietnamese people were established.

In 1945, the North was liberated. On December 14, 1959, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong signed Decree No. 444-TTg to establish the Department of Surveying and Mapping under the Prime Minister's Office, officially forming the surveying and mapping agency. map. Over the past 45 years since the establishment of the Department of Surveying and Mapping, the Department of Surveying and Mapping has gone through the following stages of development:

I. The period when the Department of Surveying and Mapping was under the Prime Minister's Office

The Department of Surveying and Mapping is under the Prime Minister's Office, officially established under Decree 444-TTg dated December 14, 1959 of the Government to perform the task of state management of surveying and mapping activities, developing Carrying out basic surveying and mapping work. The first force was about 200 officers and soldiers of the Map Department - General Staff of the People's Army of Vietnam and 1,121 young volunteers on route 12B.

The important event that stands out during this period is that the Department of Surveying and Mapping has completed and submitted to the Government to officially promulgate a Decree to unify the application of the national coordinate system HN-72. It is a fundamental work of the Surveying and Mapping Industry, symbolizing Vietnamese science and technology, demonstrating a sovereign country.

In addition to state management of surveying and mapping activities and implementation of basic surveying and mapping, the Department of Surveying and Mapping also presides over or participates in establishing specialized maps to serve the industries. and locality.

From the practical application of electronic computers from the first generations to professional work, the Department of Surveying and Mapping began to form a team of programmers and computer users to meet the needs of industry development. to this day.

Research on the map projection grid system to accurately represent the Vietnamese territory and the above areas on maps at different scales has been of interest since the first years of operation. The set of map projection grids - the topic of Vietnam and the Indochina peninsula was published in 1977.

II. State Department of Surveying and Mapping period (1974-1994)

Implementing Resolution 415-NQ/QH-K4 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly dated January 29, 1974, the Government Council issued Decree 106-CP dated May 3, 1974 on transferring the Department of Surveying and Mapping under The Prime Minister's Office became the State Department of Surveying and Mapping under the Council of Ministers. This is an important turning point in terms of organization, enhancing the position, role and position of the Department of Surveying and Mapping in state management of surveying and mapping activities, and implementation of surveying work. Basic surveying and mapping.

The period of the State Department of Surveying and Mapping marked important changes in organization, management mechanism, innovation of facilities, techniques, and technology, creating conditions for better and better performance of its functions. state management capacity; Surveying and mapping products are becoming more and more available with increasingly high quality. In 1989, the State Department of Surveying and Mapping solemnly celebrated the 30th anniversary of its establishment. General Vo Nguyen Giap attended and highly appreciated 30 years of building and developing the surveying and mapping industry in our country.

III. General Department of Land Administration period (1994 – 2002)

On February 22, 1994, the Government issued Decree No. 12/CP on the establishment of the General Department of Land Administration on the basis of merging and reorganizing the State Department of Surveying and Mapping and the General Department of Land Management, Department Surveying and Mapping is an agency that helps the Director General of the General Department of Land Administration perform the state management function of surveying and mapping, including cadastral mapping.

During this period, the state management of surveying and mapping was supplemented with the development of a system of documents regulating cadastral surveying and mapping to uniformly direct the surveying and establishment work. Cadastral map of the whole country.

Decree No. 12/2002/ND-CP on surveying and mapping activities was issued by the Government on January 22, 2002, marking a new stage in state management of surveying and mapping.

On July 12, 2000, the Prime Minister issued Decision 83/2000/QD-TTg on the application of the VN-2000 National Reference System and Coordinate System and announced its unified use worldwide. country.

Since 1995, the General Department of Land Administration has carried out measurements and established a set of Vietnam - Laos border maps at a scale of 1/50,000, including 63 pieces; Measure and determine the coordinates of 116 out of 214 border markers according to the assignment agreement between the two countries.
In 2000, a set of Vietnam-China border topographic maps at a scale of 1/50,000 including 34 pieces were completed; serving the negotiation and signing of the Vietnam - China land border agreement. Construction of 3 fixed GPS stations in Lai Chau, Ha Giang and Cao Bang to serve the work of demarcating and marking the Vietnam - China border. Starting in 2001, the work of demarcating and planting border markers on land was carried out with about 1,200 markers.

Meet all needs for surveying and mapping for Vietnam - Cambodia border negotiations.

Prepare necessary map documents on the East Sea to serve negotiations with relevant countries in the region on maritime borders.

Participate with the Government Personnel Organization Committee (now the Ministry of Home Affairs) to complete a set of maps and administrative boundary records at all levels according to Directive 364/CT to serve the management of administrative boundaries at all levels provinces, districts, and communes nationwide.

IV. The period when the Department of Surveying and Mapping was under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (from 2002 to present)

On August 5, 2002, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam issued a Resolution on the Establishment of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. On November 11, 2002, the Government issued Decree No. 91/2002/ND-CP regulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, performing the function of state management. land resources, water resources, mineral resources, environment, hydrometeorology, surveying and mapping nationwide. In the organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, there is the Department of Surveying and Mapping.

The Department of Surveying and Mapping under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was re-established in early 2003, with the function of assisting the Minister in state management of the field of surveying and mapping.

This is a new period of development of digital technology in surveying and mapping. To meet the requirements of localities, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has implemented projects to build a topographic database to build a geographic information system to serve management requirements and meet regulatory requirements. other local needs.

The important event marking the achievements and new developments of basic surveying and mapping in 2004 was that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment completed and officially announced the completion of the basic cadastral and mapping network. 1:50,000 scale topographic map system covering the entire country, and at the same time introducing the use of the national DGPS positioning station system in December 2004, right at the time of celebrating the traditional day of surveying and mapping industry. Vietnam map and celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Surveying and Mapping.

On March 25, 2008, the Government issued Decree No. 25/2008/ND-CP regulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Surveying and Mapping was renamed. into the Vietnam Department of Surveying and Mapping.

On April 4, 2017, the Government issued Decree No. 36/2017/ND-CP regulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam Department of Surveying and Mapping was renamed the Vietnam Department of Surveying, Mapping and Geographic Information.