1822 marks the start of production for the Prussian Urmesstischblatt, hand-drawn topographic map sheets at a scale of 1:25,000. Created by the Royal Prussian General Staff, these unique, unpublished sheets formed the basis for smaller-scale maps and represent the beginning of modern topographic cartography. The Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie provides some sheets as high-quality plots, with individual sheets reworked to match original color schemes.
Use Cases
- Analyze historical land use and settlement patterns based on the detailed 1:25,000 scale maps.
- Study the evolution of cartographic design and standards based on the 1821 Royal Prussian General Staff instructions.
- Digitize and georeference historical map features for comparison with modern geospatial data.
- Train computer vision models for historical map feature recognition based on hand-drawn symbols and annotations.
Strengths
- Sheets are hand-drawn unique pieces at a detailed 1:25,000 scale.
- Production began in 1822, providing a long-term historical record.
- Some individual sheets have been reworked to more closely match original color schemes.
Limitations
- Last updated 1846-01-01 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
- Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie
- Collection Method
- Hand-drawn map sheets produced by the Royal Prussian General Staff.
- Time Range
- Production began in 1822.
- Geography
- Territory of Prussia.