Prussian Urmesstischblätter mark the beginning of topographic cartography, with production starting in 1822. These one-off maps were hand-drawn at a scale of 1:25,000 and served as the basis for smaller-scale maps. The Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie provides these sheets, which are available as plano prints and high-quality plots.
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 georeference historical map sheets for comparison with modern geographic data.
Strengths
- Maps were produced at a detailed scale of 1:25,000.
- Production began in 1822, providing a long historical baseline.
- Individual sheets have been reworked in color to be more similar to the original hand-drawn versions.
Limitations
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
- Last updated 1841-12-31 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 one-off maps produced by the Royal Prussian General Staff.
- Time Range
- Production began in 1822.
- Geography
- Entire territory of Prussia.