The German Empire's first large-scale topographic map series, covering the territory of the former Reich. The work was initiated in 1878 and completed for the first time by the states of Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, and Saxony in 1909. It consists of 675 sheets, each covering an area of approximately 35 km by 28 km, originally published in a single-colored edition.
Use Cases
- Analyze historical land use and settlement patterns based on the detailed topographic features.
- Study the evolution of administrative and political boundaries within the German Empire.
- Georeference and compare historical landscapes with modern maps based on the standardized 1:100,000 scale.
- Create digital reconstructions of historical terrain for research or visualization projects.
Strengths
- Contains 675 map sheets providing detailed coverage of the historical German Empire.
- Based on a standardized production process agreed upon by multiple German states in 1878.
- Sheets have a consistent scale (1:100,000) and format (approx. 35 cm x 28 cm).
Limitations
- Last updated 1936-01-01 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
Provenance
- Source
- Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie
- Collection Method
- Production of a uniform Reichskartewerk (Imperial map series) by the states of Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, and Saxony.
- Time Range
- Production initiated 1878, first completed 1909.
- Geography
- Territory of the former German Empire.