Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Viet Ha at the Ancient Map Exhibition Area at the Oceanographic Museum

Valuable map materials about Vietnamese sea
   Over 100 years of establishment and development, along with research projects on Vietnamese Sea and East Sea, the Institute of Oceanography also preserves many valuable books, magazines and maps. Among them, a rare material set on oceanography is also stored with 2,224 pieces of maps, nautical charts, and aerial photos of 739 maps (a map can have many pieces). The Institute's map archive is classified according to content including sea maps, nautical maps, bathymetric maps, East Sea maps, Vietnam maps, Vietnam geological maps, etc. The oldest map was published in 1831 and most of the sea maps before 1975 were published in France and some were issued by the US Navy. In addition, some maps of the northern coastal defense line of Vietnam (military maps) were published by the Vietnam People's Navy from before 1955 to 1976. Typically, the East Sea depth map warns of dangerous fishing areas in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. The map of coral reefs, continental shelf from the Gulf of Tonkin to Hoang Sa, Truong Sa, to the Gulf of Thailand and the Natouna overlapping area near Indonesia was built from data of surveys by the De Lanessan ship of the Indochina Oceanographic Institute in 1925 - 1929. In addition, the map of the coral reef islands as Thi Tu, Loai Ta, Subi in the Truong Sa archipelago (East of Annam) was drawn by British navigators from 1867-1868. In addition, the maps of Pattle Island in Hoang Sa are related to the planning of Hoang Sa island during the French survey in 1937.
   This set of map materials has an important value for historical research on Hoang Sa, Truong Sa, Vietnam's sovereignty over the seas and islands, serving the diplomatic struggle for the implementation of sovereignty. This is also a valuable material set serving for the reference and comparison of the changes in topography and geomorphology of Vietnam's coastal areas with current survey and mapping data. However, after a long storage period, most of the maps have been seriously degraded due to changes in the physical condition of the paper, at risk of rotting and damage. Therefore, the restoration, digitization and creation of a database of this material source is a necessary and urgent task to preserve and promote the important scientific and historical values as well as serve the work of promoting sovereignty over the seas and islands through scientific and historical evidence.
Based on the above facts, scientists of the Institute of Oceanography proposed and were approved by the Academy to carry out the task of "Restoring and building a database of ancient French maps of Vietnamese Sea and East Sea" (code: NVKH17.00/23-23).
Research on restoration and promotion
   Within the framework of the task, the team restored 415 maps of Vietnamese Sea and East Sea published in 1831-1948 by using the method of backing, reinforcing both sides of the map with Japanese and Vietnamese Do paper according to the procedures of the State Archives Department at the National Archives Center IV in Da Lat. The team digitized 739 maps and stored them in PDF and PNG formats with a resolution of 300 dpi. The digitized maps are clear and without any information distortion compared to the original maps. In which, QR codes were created for 52 maps to serve the thematic room. The research team successfully created an Excel database of 2,224 map sheets (of 739 maps) with 25 information fields (map name, year of publication, place of publication, scale, coordinate system, type of geological or depth map, storage cabinet, information recorded on the map...).

Four pieces of the bathymetric map of the East Sea (Carte Bathymétrique de la Mer de Chine Méridionale) before restoration

The bathymetric map of the East Sea (Carte Bathymétrique de la Mer de Chine Méridionale) after being restored

The Map of Hoang Sa Island, Hoang Sa Archipelago, 1939

The map shows the morphology of the islands and the tidal levels around the islands of Hoang Sa, Phu Lam and Huu Nhat in the Hoang Sa archipelago. The map was drawn from data of the Indochina Hydrographic Survey Team in 1938, under the command of Mr. P. Couillault - hydrographic engineer and Mr. J. Aubertin - captain of the Corvette ship.
In the report of Dr. Raoul Serène - Former Director of the Indochina Institute of Oceanography - in 1953, this map was related to the surveys to prepare for the construction of lighthouses, TFS radio stations and meteorological stations on the Hoang Sa Islands in 1938 according to Decree No. 3282 signed by Governor-General of Indochina Joseph-Jules Brévié.
Photos, QR codes and map information of Hoang Sa island, Hoang Sa archipelago in 1939 after digitization

In particular, the map exhibition area was displayed with the theme "Presence of Vietnam in Bien Dong" including 18 maps, designed and arranged to ensure scientific and aesthetic standards with 3 main topics including: Vietnam's imprint on the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos in ancient materials, Vietnam's journey to exercise sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, Sea and islands with socio-economy. The exhibition area has been opened to serve visitors as well as effectively carry out the task of propagating Vietnam's sovereignty over seas and islands in the East Sea.

\
Some images of the ancient map exhibition area "Presence of Vietnam in Bien Dong" at the Oceanographic Museum

   Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Viet Ha shared: The research team has made great efforts to complete a large amount of work assigned. However, due to limited implementation time, some contents such as digitization and creation of a database are only performed on Excel software. To effectively manage and exploit the digital information of this map collection, the authors wish to continue with the next step of building a software to manage the ancient map database, serving the effective search and exploitation. Another product of the task is the book "Vietnam's seas and islands in ancient map materials", about 100 pages, introducing some maps of Vietnam's seas and islands in the East Sea that have been compiled by the project manager to propagate and promote the sovereignty of seas and islands. Hopefully, the book will soon be published and will be a valuable reference document welcomed by the scientific community.

Editor: Chu Thi Ngan, Information - Documentation Center
Information processing: Thanh Ha

Link.