Prussian Original Survey Maps at 1:25,000 Scale from 1822 Onwards

Beginning in 1822, hand-drawn Prussian original survey maps were produced for the entire territory of Prussia at a scale of 1:25,000. These one-off sheets, created by the Royal Prussian General Staff, were not published but served as the foundational basis for smaller-scale maps. The dataset represents the origin of modern topographic cartography and is provided by the Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie.

Use Cases

• Analyze historical land use and landscape changes based on the detailed hand-drawn topographic features.
• Study the evolution of cartographic design and symbology based on the standardized content and design rules.
• Georeference and digitize historical map sheets for integration with modern geospatial datasets.
• Train computer vision models for historical document analysis based on the high-quality plot and print formats.

Strengths

• Maps mark the beginning of topographic cartography, establishing a foundational standard.
• Individual sheets have been reworked in color to be more similar to the original, enhancing visual fidelity.
• Production began in 1822, providing a long historical baseline for the territory of Prussia.

Limitations

• Last updated 1844-01-01 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie

Collection Method

Hand-drawn original survey maps produced by the Royal Prussian General Staff.

Time Range

Production began in 1822.

Freshness

1844-01-01 00:00:00

Geography

Entire territory of Prussia.