Beginning in 1822, the Prussian Urmesstischblätter were hand-drawn topographic map sheets at a scale of 1:25,000 for the entire territory of Prussia. They were produced by the Royal Prussian General Staff as one-off originals intended as the basis for smaller-scale maps, marking the start of modern topographic cartography. The dataset is provided by the Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie.
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.
- Georeference historical maps for comparison with modern geospatial data based on the precise 1:25,000 scale.
Strengths
- Sheets were produced at a precise 1:25,000 scale, providing detailed topographic information.
- The maps mark the documented beginning of modern topographic cartography, established by the Royal Prussian General Staff in 1821.
Limitations
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
- Last updated 1847-01-01 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 original map sheets produced by the Royal Prussian General Staff.
- Time Range
- Production began in 1822.
- Freshness
- 1847-01-01
- Geography
- Entire territory of Prussia.