150 years of the Military Geographical Institute and the Military Geodetic Service

The paper provides an overview of the main results of the Military Geographic Institute and our military geodetic service from their establishment to the present day, with an emphasis on achievements related to geodetic activities. The introduction highlights general information on the social and professional circumstances experienced by the Institute and the service. The entire period of activity is divided into three sections: the period from the establishment in 1876 to the beginning of World War I; the period between the two world wars; and the period from the end of World War II to the present. Throughout this period, the Military Geographic Institute has been the backbone of the military geodetic service: initially as the Geographic Department of the General Staff of the Serbian Army, in 1920 as the Geographic Institute, from 1923 as the Military Geographic Institute, and since 2020 as the Military Geographic Institute - "General Stevan Bošković". Since 2014, VGI has also been an accredited scientific research institution in the Republic of Serbia. Formally, the military geodetic service has existed since 1923, when the geodetic specialty and distinctive insignia for geodetic officers on uniforms were introduced, after which other military geodetic bodies began to be established.