Beginning from the 1990s, after regaining the independence, the Latvian cartography began to develop successfully. This paper shows in a very general form the present structure of the Latvian state and private cartography. There are described first cartographical works connected with Latvian topographic maps, kinds of maps and data distribution, problems disturbing cartographical works. Currently used methods of cartographic presentations, data collecting, digital databases, state and private companies and cartographical projects are mentioned.

The paper shows present state and private cartographic activity in the Czech Republic. There are described currently used methods of cartographic presentations, digital databases, internet pages and sources containing cartographical information, on-line access, cartographical projects and other mapping services.

The paper presents problems connected with copyright in Russia, especially in cartographic works. There are described Laws and Articles related to copyright in general and to copyright in cartographic works in detail. Some instructions, rules, legal and law regulating copyright in relation to cartographic works are described in the paper.

More than 100 titles of various geographical atlases were issued in Russia during the last five years. The article explains what is the reason of this extraordinary boom of atlas mapping in Russia. There are given some factors, themes, purposes and new phenomenon responsible for this development. Some kinds of complex geographical atlases, thematic (branch) atlases, public and governmental estimation of Russian atlases are described in the article.

The primary goal of the elaboration of universal visualisation methods of VMap data was to obtain a readable and understandable cartographic composition, which might be reproduced by the user on any fragment of the VMap L2 database in the usable structure independently of the software used. Assuming that geodesic and cartographic companies will be the main recipients of the product, the authors chose the three most popular programmes of leading producers on the geoinformation market: ArcGIS by ESRI, GeoMedia by Intergraph and MapInfo Professional. Several preliminary assumptions were made, aiming at the universality and functionality of proposed solutions. The final cartographic presentation should fulfil the condition of readability, unequivocality and measurability both on the screen and in quick prints from the system. The drawn up methods of visualisation will enable the promotion and more extensive use of VMap L2 data in the GIS environment.

As the INSPIRE Directive concerning creation of the European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) came into force on 15^th May, 2007, the Polish geodetic service has to face new challenges and tackle new goals. One of the more important and priority tasks is to prepare and harmonize a set of topographic reference data for Poland. The current situation, resulting from the lack of appropriate topographic reference data, forced the State Geological Institute (PIG) to collect its own spatial data necessary for performing its statutory activity. It developed its own standards and definitions of objects connected with spatial information. Topographic data collected by PIG are of relatively high quality and accuracy, thanks to field work carried out by documenting geologists permitting data verification in the field. This paper is devoted to a detailed comparative analysis of selected PIG databases carried out by the PIG Team, a geoenvironmental map of Poland, scale l :50 000 (MGśP) and a geologic and economic map of Poland, scale 1:50 000 (MGGP) with the TBD and VMap_L2+ bases (VMapL2 of the so-called second edition) as well as an assessment of possibilities of their integration within the confines of the future Multi-Resolution Topographic Database (WBDT). The PIG Team activities are connected with the implementation of a task within the confines of the designated grant KBN No 6T 12 2005C/06552 entitled „Methodology and procedures of integration, visualization, generalization and standardization of reference databases available from the state geodetic and cartographic resources and their use for creation of thematic databases".