CARTOGRAPHY FOR TOWN PLANNING 
Giorgio Bezoari* - Attilio Selvini* 
* Dipartimento IIAR - Sezione Rilevamento - Politecnico di Milano 
Summary 
In this paper presented in honour of Professor Mariano Cunietti memorial day, we underline once again a 
subject very close to the heart of the famous professor and researcher: which cartography for the general town 
planning and for the trafic network. 
A reorganization proposal of this subject ends this relation. 
1 - Introduction 
During the 70's there were many discussions, in 
particular in the case of Milan and especially in our 
former " Istituto di Geodesia, Topografia e 
Fotogrammetria ", about the fate and the future of 
tecnic cartography in Italy. We remember, at this 
aim, not only some writings quoted in the 
references (1), (2), (3), but also several meetings, 
concerning this matter, of the " Commissione 
Geodetica italiana ", that brought, before the 
suppression of this commission, to issuing of two 
"guides" for tecnical maps editing one for the 
scales 1:10000 and 1: 5000,and one for 1:2000 and 
1:1000.. 
In that decade, it seemed we were close to promote 
the birth, in both tecnical and political areas, of a 
"cartographic consciousness" that could lead Italy 
again to the supremacy in that field as it had been 
in the second half of the XIX century and in the 
first fourty years of our century. Such an attitude 
should have been able to avoid, in the most critical 
phase of road development and town planning, the 
most outstanding mistakes committed for example 
in planning the motorway network at that time in 
state of relay. 
Mariano Cunietti was at that time the leader of this 
informative activity, addressed in particular to 
local institutions also considering the future 
creation of the Regions. 
He organized a National conference in Milan, with 
the collaboration of the " Comitato Regionale per 
la Programmazione Economica" held by Mr. Piero 
Bassetti. The results of that meeting, that had an 
unexpected resonance, have been depicted in 
several publications (6); we are interested in 
reporting here only some considerations that are 
still topical some thirty years later. 
Giuseppe Inghilleri said for example (6), in a 
passionate speech, that the lack of suitable maps 
for road and town planning, according to precise 
and recent (at that time) investigations, led in the 
United States, meant more expensive costs of 
public works until 7 per cent. 
The case of the "variante Umbro-Sabina"of the 
"Autostrada del Sole", was recalled by Mr. Vanoni, 
president of SPEA. It was wrongly traced for 
political hurry on IGM maps at the scale of 
1:25000, with higher costs of twenty billions lira 
(at that time!). 
It seemed (we were in 1969, and the following year 
marked the birth of some Regions) that the so 
invoked "national cartographic consciousness" was 
ready to bom and to spread: but it came true just 
the opposite, as any topographer feared. 
Cartography became quickly conquest soil; 
physicists, mathematicians, programmers, 
unspecialized architects, graphic designers, and 
even advertisers seized it. 
The spread of the so called numerical cartography 
and then the rise of SIT, GIS and other various 
initials saw the political run-up of councillors, of 
mayors and technicians to draw money from 
public cases to endow the boards with more or less 
useful cartographies. 
We are asking now: is it possible to express a 
general critique to the by now usual way of 
proceeding, and give once again some suggestions 
to explain? the planning and therefore give 
reasonable statements in the employment of 
cartography? This is the aim of this writing in 
memory of our Master, always alive in us. 
2 - The Italian cartographic disorder, facing the 
year two thousand. 
In the last twenty years, the activity for the creation 
of technical maps has taken a frenzied rhythm. 
On the other hand, the state official cartography is 
almost forgotten: this is the case of IGM, that 
survives from the 70's with a low organic,