4 Survey and Printing Regiment was formed on 1 January 1967, as a unit for both the Permanent Force and Citizen Force. It was reformed by amalgamation in 1983 of the 3 Survey Squadrons which existed at that time, 46 Survey Squadron, formed at Cape Town in 1959, 45 Survey Squadron, formed at Pietermaritzburg in 1969, and 47 Survey Squadron, a PF unit formed in 1975. This Unit trained all the National Servicemen posted to it and in turn fed the two CF Survey Units which had been established. By 1992, 4 Survey and Mapping Regiment comprised of the Geographical Information Squadron, the Terrain Negotiability Squadron (degraded to a Troop status in 1994), the Mapping Squadron, as well as 45 Survey Squadron, 46 Survey Squadron and 47 Survey Squadron. Another unofficial squadron, 49 Survey Squadron, was seemingly unofficially established in 1995, but it just comprised of the reserve force component of 47 Survey Squadron.