The Prussian Urmesstischblätter are hand-drawn, one-off topographic maps produced starting in 1822 for the entire territory of Prussia. They were created on a scale of 1:25,000 and were not published, serving as the basis for smaller-scale maps. The Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie provides these sheets, which mark the beginning of modern topographic cartography.
Use Cases
- Analyze historical land use and settlement patterns based on the hand-drawn topographic features.
- Study the evolution of cartographic design and standards based on the 1821 Royal Prussian General Staff instructions.
- Digitize and compare historical geography with modern maps based on the original 1:25,000 scale survey sheets.
Strengths
- The maps are foundational to modern topographic cartography, marking its beginning.
- They were produced at a detailed scale of 1:25,000 for the entire territory of Prussia.
- Some individual sheets have been reworked in color to be more similar to the original.
Limitations
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
- Last updated 1840-01-01 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
Provenance
- Source
- Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie
- Collection Method
- Hand-drawn survey sheets produced by the Royal Prussian General Staff.
- Time Range
- Production began in 1822.
- Geography
- The entire territory of Prussia.