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| Early 1948 | Moshe Yohnovetski was appointed by the British Mandate as temporary Director General of the Survey Department of the Jewish State in Israel (exact date is unknown). The appointment is assumed to have been made between February and April 1948. |
| May 14, 1948 | David Ben-Gurion, head of the People's Council, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel |
| May 28, 1948 | Yohnovetski calls on the Survey Department employees to increase their work pace due to the significant decrease in staff size - from 736 at the end of the British Mandate to 68 in October 1948. |
| June 28, 1948 | Military Photo-Mapping Service sworn-in at the Survey Department's yard. (Earlier, the Service moved to the Survey Department's offices from its previous location on Yefet St. in Jaffa). The Military Photo-Mapping Service, which would later become the Military Mapping Unit, is directed by Lieutenant colonel Pinchas Yoely. |
| Second half of 1948 | Joseph Elster was appointed Director General of the Survey Department by the Minister of Labor, Mordechai Bentov. |
| 1948 | Law and Administration Ordinance 5708-1948: Sections of the ordinance authorize the Minister of Labor, who is responsible for the Survey Department, to regulate surveyor licensing requirements, survey methods used and other related issues. |
| Late 1948 | The Photo-Mapping Service maps the Negev region in three months. A series of maps of the area south of Beersheva on a scale of 1:100,000 are completed. The British never mapped this region. The maps are printed at the Survey Department's printing house, which also provides the mapping component needed to complete the assignment. |
| 1949 | Elster defines work procedures and priorities based on the needs of the young state, sometimes reassigning employees to different departments. Elster fights to centralize governmental mapping and survey under the authority of the Survey Department. The 49/50 annual report indicates that the number of Survey Department employees grew to 173 due to employees being discharged from the army. |
| March 1949 | The Survey Department sends its calculations of the total area of the State of Israel to the CBS - Central Bureau of Statistics (including territories occupied by Israel and by Arab countries during the War of Independence). From that point on, the Survey Department is responsible for providing information on the country's boundaries and area to the CBS and other government institutions. |
| March 28, 1949 | Elster requests that the land registry management check the urgency of surveys for cadastre purposes in order to define priorities. As a result, topographical surveys for housing and development are given priority over cadastral surveys. |
| April 1949 | Moshe Erez travels to the US and Switzerland for photogrammetry training, in preparation for a new photogrammetry division, which he will direct after completing his training. |
| June 20, 1949 | The photo-mapping service as a production unit is closed, and becomes an organization responsible for planning military mapping – a management unit which mediates between military command and the Survey Department on all issues pertaining to military mapping. During 1950, the planning organization will become the Military Mapping Unit. Despite the unit's small size in its early years, its services and skills contributed significantly to the Survey Department. |
| October 1949 | Elster publishes a weekly report after the Minister of Labor instructs him to focus on topographic survey assignments in order to build new housing projects. |
| December 1949 | The School of Survey is opened at its temporary location in PWD (Public Work Department) warehouses in Holon. 50 students register for the first year, most of them new immigrants. The leading teachers in the school, Moshe Ryng and Julian Familier, teach geodesy. The program is one year long. |
| December 5-15, 1949 | Sub-committee of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire committee tours the border between the two countries. Two members of the Survey Department participate in the deliberations and reconnaissance – Zvi Padova (Deputy Manager of Field Surveys) and Yisrael Segal (Head of the Tiberias office). When the reconnaissance is complete, both countries agree to restore most of the boundary markers that were placed by the British Mandate (34 of 38), to set 11 new markers and 104 midway points along the boundary. |
| December 18, 1949 | Elster writes a letter to the Ministry of Labor and the National Insurance Institute describing the roles of the Survey Department in detail, as he sees them. He lists survey and border monumentation, managing the national map archives and defining technical survey procedures, to name a few. This is, of course, in addition to "conventional" surveying (control, cadastre, surveys for development projects, etc). |
| 1949-1950 | The number of maps printed grows from 682,500 (the average number of maps printed annually at the end of the British Mandate) to 1,423,000 this year. (In 1950-1951, the number will continue to grow, reaching 3,004,594, and will continue to grow over the following years). |
| 1950 | A technical dictionary is published explaining all mapping terminology. This dictionary is the work of the Geodesy Terminology Committee located in the Survey Department. The committee is comprised of members of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, Technion representatives and members of the Survey Department – Boris Goussinsky, Eliezer Sisa and Pinchas Yoely. |
| | Work begins on a triangulation network in the Southern Negev region. The project commences near the Eilat Bay. During the first two years, a local base line is measured in Eilat and a low-level triangulation network is laid, covering approximately 70 square kilometers. |
| | Large survey projects in Israel's center and northern region include engineering surveys for housing projects, defining industrial areas, surveys needed to drain Lake Hula and expanding the Haifa Port. Only minimal cadastre surveys are performed. |
| February 1, 1950 | Lieutenant Colonel Pinchas Yoely, the military Mapping Unit commander, is appointed deputy Director General of the Survey Department. |
| February 9, 1950 | Survey Regulations 5710-1950 are published in the 67th Book of Regulations. |
| April 17, 1950 | The Survey Department decides on a common key for maps of Israel on scales ranging from 1:10,000 to 1:100,000. 1:100,000 scale maps will be the basis for creating additional series at even smaller scales. |
| 1950-1951 | Due to public demand, 1:250,000 maps are printed (with both updated geography and settlements) as well as a road map and a map of southern Israel (both 1:500,000) and a 1:400,000 geographical map. |
| | Exams are required to receive surveyor licenses for the first time in Israel. Only one examinee out of 17 passes the exams. |
| | The Survey Department participates in monumenting the Israel-Lebanon boundary based on the Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Committee decision. |
| 1951 | The Photogrammetry division of the Survey Department is established. Within a few years, photogrammetric mapping will replace that done at the plane table and become faster and more efficient. Most of the division's work during its first years involves graphically updating the 1:20,000 mandate maps. |
| | The National Names Committee is established. The committee is crucial for Survey Department cartographers who assign Hebrew names to settlements and other areas on the plane table. |
| | Over the course of the year, regulations for surveying and surveyors are published, such as regulations regarding changes to survey fees (Regulations 166 from April 5, 1951) and surveyor certification regulations (Regulations booklet no. 201 from September 6, 1951 and Regulations 217 from November 8, 1951) |
| 1951-1952 | Work begins to expand the Survey Department's building. Construction begins on the new School of Surveying in Holon's Tel Giborim neighborhood. |
| | Preparations for control surveys in the Negev are completed. Triangulation begins in the northern Negev beginning south of Beersheva. Top level control points are placed in order to connect the Negev to the triangulation network surveyed during the British Mandate. |
| 1952 | Work begins on the Atlas of Israel. The atlas, which would be completed in 1964, graphically presents Israel's nature, history, economy, settlements and culture with explanations and descriptions. The editorial staff includes scientists from different fields. Participating members of the Survey Department are Joseph Elster (Director General), Prof. Naftali Kadmon (Staff Coordinator) and Uri Tzidon (Cartographic Coordinator). The Bialik Institute Publishing House and the Survey Department publish the atlas. It will include 720 maps and 101 pamphlets with verbal information on different topics. |
| | The military geo-historical atlas and an atlas for elementary school use are published. This is the first time that a complete atlas is made in Israel. |
| August 1952 | The Survey Department purchases analog photogrammetric equipment (A5 and A6) from the Lif Institute of Photogrammetry (owned by Zalman Lifschitz) to be used to produce new maps. Azriel Markuze joins the department as equipment operator and instructor. |
| September 1952 | The School of Surveying becomes the Advanced School of Surveying and the program is extended to two years, beginning in the school's fourth year. The school moves to its new location in the Tel Giborim neighborhood. |
| | Israel becomes a member of the International Society for Photogrammetry when Director General Elster participates in the 7th photogrammetry conference in Washington. |
| 1952-1953 | Significant progress is made in the main triangulation project in the Negev, which progresses from North to South. The Negev triangulation network covers 1,000 sq. kilometers at this stage. |
| | All of the 1:100,000 maps have been completed and verified and a new edition is distributed (printed with a protective covering). All maps other than maps of the Negev area are distributed to the public to meet demand. |
| | The department completes renewal of registration blocks replacing those taken from the Tel Aviv Survey Department in early 1948 by the Mandate Survey Department management and transferred to Ramle, to the Arab part of the country that was to be established in Israel.
Surveying for development purposes continues, including surveying large areas to build a city and port in southern Israel and to lay a railroad to Beersheva. |
| | A regional Survey office is opened in Beersheva, in addition to the existing regional offices in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Tiberias. The Beersheva office will manage survey projects to prepare land regulations and registry. Yisrael Segal will manage the new office. |
| | The Survey of Israel publishing house purchases a new offset printing machine from Roland in Germany. The machine is the first of its type to be purchased by the Survey Department. The old British machines which are slow and hard to operate will become obsolete. |
| December 1952- January 1953 | The Gaza border is marked for the first time by a plough-line, with the active assistance of the Survey Department. The plough-line will be renewed on occasion during the 1950s and 1960s. The border will be marked with barrels in the sandy areas of the northern Gaza strip and Rafia. |
| April 15, 1953 | The committee for improving survey efficiency in national institutions is formed. The committee will formulate surveying standards and procedures and will decide to establish a committee for survey coordination and efficiency improvement which shall define efficient and uniform surveying methods, coordinate survey projects involving different institutions and more. |
| June 19, 1953 | The section of the Mandate's survey regulations restricting the Survey Department's authority to registration is cancelled (new regulations are set for all types of survey following this development in Regulations no.487, December 2, 1954). |
| 1954 | Work begins on a new series of 1:20,000 maps. The Hebrew names that appear on the maps were assigned by the National Names Committee. Names of Arab settlements are spelled according Hebrew transcription rules. 125 maps of this type are updated or renewed before the project ends in the 1970s. |
| | The Survey Department purchases its first aerial camera, Wild RC5a. |
| January 26, 1954 | New regulations for surveyor certification are published, stating that licenses will be given only to surveyors certified by the Technion as survey engineers and who interned with a certified surveyor for at least two years, or to those who received a surveyor diploma from the Advanced School of Surveying near the Survey Department or from a similar school abroad and interned with a certified surveyor for three years. |
| November 1954 | The Survey Department publishing house begins printing 1:20,000 maps of soil studies. Approximately 100 such maps will be printed by the end of 1956. The study is done by the Soil Conservation Service of the Ministry of Agriculture and is processed in April 1952. It provides information on the best ways to utilize the soil from the northern Negev to the Israel's northern border. |
| | Field survey stages of the Negev triangulation project are completed and verification stages begin in which observations are validated, their accuracy is ensured and work is coordinated. The Negev triangulation network contains 74 control points. |
| November 26, 1954 | Regulations for surveyor and apprentice registration in the survey apprentice registry are published. They define the rights and obligations of survey apprentices and their instructors, and appear in Regulations no. 492, December 30, 1954. |
| November 27, 1954 | Topography regulations are published, including requirements of topographic maps - Regulations no. 492, December 30, 1954. |
| 1954-1955 | Precision leveling is performed, especially on the coast and in areas that require precision leveling more than others for the national water works. |
| | The cartography division begins plotting on enamel covered zinc boards instead of paper. With this new method, the maps' measurements are not altered due to climate changes, as often occurred when the old method was used. |
| May 1955 | A new base line of the national triangulation network is measured at Ein Evrona in the Arava region. The line is 4080 meters long. This is the third fixed base line in Israel and the first in the Negev (the base line measured in Eilat in 1950 was temporary; the first two lines were measured during the British Mandate in Imra – near Kibbutz Urim in the south and in Tzemach in the north) |
| January 1956 | The Survey Department begins full coverage aerial photography of Israel. |
| 1956 | The Survey Department prepares 6 map booklets of Northern Sinai on a 1:50,000 scale and maps the Eilat Bay in preparation for the Sinai War (the Kadesh Operation). This project is run by the Survey Department along with members of the military unit. |
| 1956 | The Survey Department increases the cadastral mapping rate and scope. Priority is given to areas in the Negev and the Galilee, in which cadastral mapping was not performed during the British Mandate. The increase in pace is made possible by the budget allocated by the Ministerial Committee for Economic Affairs on July 31, 1955 to survey 100,000 dunams (close to 25,000 acres) of unregistered territory. Cadastre projects in the Galilee are almost doubled compared to the previous year (See July 1963 and March 31, 1965 below). |
| 1957 | A survey of land usage is conducted throughout the entire region of the western Galilee. The results will be used to identify territories on which Carmiel, Maalot and other cities will be established. |
| 1960 | Topographical 1:100,000 maps are redesigned. The old series of 24 sheets is replaced with a new series of 26 maps. The new series maps the country from Beersheva to the northern border and is printed in Hebrew (until this point, maps were printed using mandate-period mapping styles). |
| | Maps are prepared to be printed by scribing them on coated plastic boards instead of plotting on paper. The new method is faster and produces higher-quality graphic results. |
| 1960-1961 | The Survey Department conduct surveys for the Central Bureau of Statistics for the 1961 population census (similar work will be conducted for the 1972 and 1995 censuses). |
| 1962 | Measurement and survey calculations for the main triangulation network are completed based on the surveys done in the Negev. |
| | A decision is made to setup a new network of benchmark points which will include the Negev. The decision is made due to significant inconsistencies in the height of existing benchmark points. Benchmark points will be positioned over a total of 1500 kilometers (compared to 1100 kilometers before 1948). The network will reach Eilat in the south and the Dead Sea in the east. |
| August 6, 1962 | The photogrammetry course given in the Survey Department ends. The course was six months long and included lectures, exercises and instructor-led map updates. Of five graduates, four passed the final exams and were hired by the Survey Department. |
| September 1962 | The Survey Department presents maps that it designed in an international geographical exhibition in the Teheran University in Iran. Israel's presentation was recognized as one of the five best professional presentations. |
| October 22, 1962 | A two-year evening training course for surveyors begins. The goal of the course is to offer skilled training for surveyors who were unable to study in their countries of origin. The course will be at the same level as the Advanced School of Surveying. 22 students enroll. |
| 1962-1963 | Magnetic measurement instruments (and a rayograph) are installed in the coastal aquifer in the Nitzanim sandy region and they begin to automatically register changes to the electromagnetic field. Methodical survey of the absolute values of different elements of the magnetic field begins and in the field, experts finish marking magnetic network points to determine their coordinates. |
| | The A8 Wild photogrammetry plotting machine is put into use. |
| | The Survey Department begins planning road routes based on mapping done using aerial photos and coordinated with the Public Work Department (PWD) plans to add new roads and improve the existing ones. In 1966-1967, the department will establish the Road Division for this project, which will be closed in the 1980s as the number of projects received from PWD declines. |
| | Construction begins to expand the Survey Department's building. A third level measuring 545 sq. meters is built. The Planning, Research, Topography, Land Regulation and Survey Supervision divisions are scheduled to move to the new level. After construction is complete, the size of the Survey Department's building will measure 3,924 sq. meters. Construction lasts for one year. |
| 1963 | The Survey Department purchased the M/RA 1 tellurometer distance measurement tool which operates by broadcasting electro-magnetic waves. The tellurometer leads to a revolution in triangulation technology and difficult terrain measurement and enables measuring long distance areas. |
| | The Survey Department prints the first map of hiking trails – mapping the trails in the Judean Desert. The project is coordinated with the Ein Gedi Field School that marks the actual trails. The map's scale is 1:100,000. All hiking trail maps will be printed at this scale until 1979 and all will be updated editions of trail maps of the Judean Desert and the Eilat Mountains. |
| July 1963 | The department publishes an intermediate summary describing cadastral surveys completed since increased activity for land regulation in northern Israel commenced in 1956: a total of 632,000 dunam (160,000 acres) were surveyed; field inspection of 440,832 dunam (110,000 acres) was completed; the Survey Departments activities for final registration block preparation are completed and the final maps were given to the land registration official, covering 200,282 dunams (50,000 acres). |
| 1963-1964 | All booklets accompanying the first edition of the Atlas of Israel have been published and the first edition of the atlas is completed. It covers a range of topics such as history, geology, geomorphology, hydrology, plants and wildlife, population distribution, agriculture and more. |
| April 15, 1964 | Regulations no. 1569, April 4, 1964 is published. Regulation #5 of the surveyor regulations of 1938 is amended. The regulation stated that any applicant who was certified as a surveyor by an advanced school of surveying in a country abroad which received recognition from the Minister of Labor and holds a surveyor license from that country will not be required to pass field and survey equipment tests. |
| | The Survey Department's annual report is published: according to measurements conducted over the previous years by two mareographes (one in Jaffa, to measure the level of the Mediterranean Sea and the other in Eilat to measure the level of the Red Sea), the average Mediterranean Sea level is 16.4 cm higher than the level reported by the Mandate and 17 cm higher were measured in Eilat. The results, which are still considered temporary, show that the difference between the two seas' levels is 0.6 cm. (These figures will change in the future). |
| | The computerized (or automotive, as it was called then) era begins in the Survey Department. The IBM-360 computer system is introduced. A punched card machine is installed in the department to be used for different projects such as precision leveling, measurement coordination for the calculations division and more. The punched cards are delivered to the IBM building for data processing via messengers.
The Survey Department gradually transitions from mechanical calculation machines to electronic table-top machines; employees participate in courses and seminars on automation, some of which are organized by the department. The courses cover topics such as computer programs, automatic mapping, key-punching and implementing automatic mapping methods. |
| | The photogrammetry division activates a program which computes aerial triangulations and records coordinates on the IBM 1620 electronic computer's punch cards. The key-puncher is connected to the A7 Wild photogrammetry device and implements the computations with the best results. |
| | The Survey Department decides on methodical surveying for new cadastral mapping of all territories that underwent changes due to the partition and the establishment of many new settlements. The cadastral maps are outdated and the new maps will update the cadastral maps and registry. |
| 1965 | The first in a series of booklets edited by Dr. Naftali Kadmon is published. The first booklet discusses text placement on maps and was written by Arye Rofman from the cartography division. The booklet was followed by series on geodesy, cadastre and photogrammetry. These journals will continue to be published until the early 1990s. |
| March 31, 1965 | A report released on the state of cadastral mapping in Israel shows that approximately half of Israel's territories have not yet been registered (during the British Mandate, 5 million dunams [1.25 million acres] were registered; after the state was established, an additional 388,532 dunams were registered in the north and 4,632,493 in the south, totaling 10,021,025 dunams. An additional 10,233,975 had not yet been registered) |
| August 5, 1965 | Regulations no.1755 is published on July 14, 1965, including the 1965 surveyor regulations. This file regulates licensing, surveying and other issues (such as examination and license fees). They list the rights of Technion graduates and graduates of the Advanced School of Surveying to receive licenses to work as surveyors. |
| August 12, 1965 | The Planning and Construction Law – 5725-1965 cancels almost all of the 1936 City Construction regulations. The law defines national, regional and local planning and construction procedures, different level master plans and land division and unification. |
| October 1965 | The Director General of the Ministry of Labor appoints a senior coordination committee of surveying. Different government offices and national institutions are represented in the committee, led by the Director General of the Survey Department. Its role is to define the authority and jurisdiction of different agencies involved in mapping; to develop uniform work methods within these organizations and to establish an Information Center. |
| 1965-1966 | Astronomical observations begin to determine the geographical location and azimuths of the points needed to set the main triangulation network and strengthen it before it is recomputed. |
| | The photogrammetry division acquires two new advanced photogrammetric instruments: Wild B8 for small-scale charting and Wild A8 which comes with equipment that provides punch cards for electronic computers. This equipment is intended for cadastre and photogrammetric engineering projects. |
| | The Survey Department begins working on an English edition of the Atlas of Israel. |
| | An additional 140 sq. meters is built on to the Survey Department's building in order to increase the space allocated for the photogrammetry division, making room for more photogrammetric equipment. |
| January 1966 | The Survey Department decides to accept the average result of 35 years of mareograph measurements in Jaffa as the fixed starting average of sea level. Based on this level (level zero), new levels are assigned to the entire network of fixed points in Israel's territory. |
| May 9 ,1966 | The electronic plotter begins working systematically, following a trial period. Some of its uses are: monumenting control points and plotting networks in settlement blocks; plotting transects measured in the field and with aerial photos; receiving coordinates of parcel corners within blocks for automatic calculation of parcels' areas. |
| July 1966 | The senior coordination committee of surveying appointed by the Director General of the Ministry of Labor in October 1965, recommends that government institutions that require surveying and mapping work and do not have their own surveying divisions must order the project from the Survey Department. If the Survey Department cannot carry out the project, the department will outsource it. |
| September 1966 | From this point on, the training program at the Advanced School of Surveying will be three years long, instead of two. |
| May-June 1967 | The Survey Department's publishing house prints maps for the IDF before the Six-Day War, while it is raging and after it is over. |
| 1967 | After the Six-Day War, a 1:750,000 map of the ceasefire lines and a 1:1,000,000 map of IDF forces' advancements are printed. |
| | A Survey Department regional office is opened in Gaza. The office employs the staff of 18 people that worked there before the war. Felix Mizrahi is appointed manager of the office. The office continues all survey work related to land ownership in the area and performs surveys for local development projects. A special staff operations office will later be opened in Beit-El to manage surveys done in the west bank. |
| Summer 1967 | The Ministry of Agriculture orders a survey of cultivated land in Judea and Samaria. The goal is to understand the agricultural problems in these areas, determine the best way to treat crops grown there and plan production and development. The results, per district, will be published in a booklet during 1970. |
| September 1967 | Maps of Sinai at a scale of 1:250,000 are printed; maps of El-Arish, the Eilat Bay and the Suez Cannel cover the entire peninsula. During the 1970s, the two sheets mapping the bays will be combined into one sheet entitled "Southern Sinai". |
| 1967-1968 | For the first time, research is done on the entire precision leveling processes. The goal is to define the level of vertical refraction corrections to be made during the precision leveling processes in mountain, uneven and flat terrains. For this purpose, gravitational force is measured at 200 different points on the precision leveling network. The results showed that corrections were needed only to the precision leveling points in mountainous and uneven terrain. |
| | Sea navigation maps are prepared using Deka hi-pix electronic navigation equipment. The maps include sketches of hyperboles that the navigator can use to determine his position at sea, along with instrument readings. |
| | Some of the Acre employees transfer to the regional office in Haifa as the land regulation activities in northern Israel come to an end. |
| 1968 | A survey of soil usage in the Golan Heights is conducted for the Israel Land Administration. |
| | The committee responsible for preparing a master plan for land regulation estimates that completing the settlements will take approximately 25 years, if the work pace remains unchanged. |
| | Following the senior coordination committee of surveying's recommendation (see July 1966), the Ministry of Finance accountant general formally instructs government offices to order all surveying work from the Survey Department |
| | An RC-8 aerial camera is purchased with an 88mm wide-angle lens and a 152mm normal focal length. Its advantages: the camera's more sophisticated lens is more suitable for color and infra-red photographs and can be used to take photographs from small aircrafts. |
| 1969 | Land Law, 5729-1969 is published. The law discusses land ownership and cancels the categorization of land defined by Ottoman law; cancels the Ottoman land law and all other Ottoman legislation related to land, as well as additional land-related ordinances and laws from the time of the British Mandate and after the establishment of the state of Israel. |
| July 27, 1969 | The Land Regulation of Title Ordinance (New Version), 5729-1969 is released. This ordinance regulates land regulation and land rights registration, defines settlement regions according to the Minister of Justice, appoints land regulation officials and assistants, defines their responsibilities, methods of settlement, etc. The new version is published on January 1, 1970. |
| October 24, 1969 | The digimeter (an instrument used to receive data for area calculations) is introduced in the Survey Department. It becomes operational 40 days later, on December 11, and is used for settlement block calculations among other uses. |
| 1969-1970 | The major topography project of the previous years, mapping Israel at a 1:50,000 scale, comes to an end. The series contains 84 sheets, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The last two sheets in the series ready for print are maps of Haifa and Tel Aviv. |
| | The 1969-1970 annual report describes the state of cadastre mapping per March 31, 1970. 5000 sq. kilometers were mapped during the British Mandate; 642 sq. kilometers of villages and cities and 8927 sq. kilometers of the Negev were mapped since the state was established. A total of 14,569 sq. kilometers have been mapped at this point. |
| | Electronic distance survey equipment that measure using laser beams or microwaves is purchased. The new equipment can measure a distance of over 50 kilometers at a precision degree of only a few centimeters. The equipment is purchased to expand and improve the national triangulation network. Short distance survey equipment is purchased as well, for measuring distances up to 1000 meters, which use infra-red technology. |
| | An all-encompassing in-service training session is offered to several of the cartography division employees for the first time. The training is at an academic level, is one year long and is given at the Geography Department of Tel Aviv University. |
| 1970 | The second English edition of the Atlas of Israel is published, funded in part by Elsevier, owner of the London, Amsterdam and New York's largest international publishing house. Planning for the third edition begins. |
| January 1970 | The Maps of Israel for the Blind is published by the Central Library for the Blind in Netanya, with the assistance of the Survey Department. The atlas is available in Hebrew and English editions. A cartography division employee, Emil Peretz, prepared the surface shapes, special pre-determined symbols were added for the blind and the introduction was printed in Braille. The pre-determined symbols and the introduction were prepared and written by the Survey Department. |
| August 31, 1971 | Joseph Elster steps down from his role as Director General of the Survey Department after 23 years of service. Dr. Ron Adler takes the role of Director General on the following day. |
