All map files in mapster (igrek.amzp.pl) are (temporarily) unavailable, courtesy of our hosting provider who, from time to time, likes to keep us on our toes. It's a relatively minor technical problem though and the person who can fix it is very likely to do it next week. An update: map files are back online, though it might take a couple of hours to have all of them available.
A small update after a short break:
- approx. 200 - 300
sheets of Russian (and Soviet) 'one-verst maps' (1:42 000),
mainly from the area of the Baltic states, showed up on our map lists
already, but they never surfaced on our index sheet. It's quite
possible it was due to some encoding error related
to Cyrillic fonts (OUR fault!). Having 'added' those sheets to the
index, we also took some time to fix various errors in this map series
and addes some latin, historical (and current) place names. On top of
which, we added several sheets from the digital library of Polona. As a
matter of fact, majority of them were already available a few years ago
courtesy of Humboldt University a few years ago, but those extra sheets
are well-scanned, 600 dpi, and include a few 'new' editions too.
We do not expect the
collection of 1:42 000 to grow soon, it might increase some time
next year though.
- a few town plans
from the same digital library ('Polona')
- one sheet of German
1:25,000 air-photomap (Bildplan), Wolsztyn (Wollstein) -
courtesy, as usual, of Wydziałowe Archiwum Kartograficzne / Biblioteka
Collegium Geographicum, Uniwersytet A. Mickiewicza, Poznań, Poland
From the collection of the University of Berkeley, a few hundred
German & Austrian 1:75,000 maps which cover the area of Czechia and Austria,
Hungary and Slovakia,
and severa original Czech sheets.
Unfortunately, all maps were scanned at 300 dpi, so this is the only
resolution available.
A surprise from Mr Brendon Whyte, National Library of Australia,
who shared 2 maps of Russia. The first is one we already have from
previous editions, this one, however, Jan. 1944, showd the amin borders
of the Reichskommissariat
Ostland i Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Another map, from
1970s' Soviet Union, to is a wall map of Old
Rus State; it relates to the debate on the margins of
current Russian war against Ukraine, about who was who ruled whom, and
when, etc.
As always, in the process of year-long spring-cleaning, we
managed to consolidate, to some degree, various small-scale German maps
of WW2. Ultimately, all irregular and joint
editions of 'Ãœbersichtskarte' and 'Operationskarten', 1:1 mln scale,
ended up in one list. We will not create an index sheet
though. The maps were compiled for various military compaigns, so
individual sheets overlap significantly. Some of those irregular
editions are mentioned in the original index sheets which are available
below the map list.
On the subject of index sheets, we have added another few dozen
of original German index sheets, they can be found below individual map
series.
And finally... courtesy of a person who wished to remain
anonymous, we managed to scan unique brochurers called'Kartenbriefe',
issue 20 - 29, with an overview of developments and progres in German
war-time military cartography. Some brochures are short of index
sheets, as they were re-used by US and British post-WW2 military
cartography services and libraries. Fortunately, we managed to link a
few loose index sheets in those brochures to one of the last of them,
i.e. Kartenbriefe Nr 31. So, for a completed package, we miss only the
first few isues of Kartenbriefe. By the way, here's the shortcut to the pdf
files. And, a marginal note on Kartenbriefe: the issue of
April 1943 included samples of a German 1:25,000 experimental
photo-map (Bildplankarte) from the area north of Kyiv, Sample 1,
Sample 2.
A few other
sheets of this photo-maps are available on this list under the name of 'Bildplankarte'
1. Courtesy of our hosting provider and their tireless efforts to help
us more and more, the main contact channnel with us, i.e. e-mail (info,
etc.), will cease to be available, at least for some time (for urgent
questions and problems, shoutbox, on the
right-hand side, is available).
2. We have added several dozen town plans (Polish and Ukrainian):
- from the collection of Mr Hubisz: Jawor (Jauer),
Warszawa,
Bytom (Beuthen),
and a German, WW2 plan of Żyrardow,
dated mid-1944 (possibly the only plan I have seen where Herman Göring
Strasse cuts across 1st May Street). There's also a German, WW2 copy of
a pre-war, Polish 1:25,000 (Lemberg-Dublany), also dated
1944.
- a few dozen other
town plans, from the collection of polona.pl -
National Library of Poland.
We would like to annouce that we will not share any mapping material,
etc., related to the Russian attack on Ukraine that began 10 days ago.
As to the invasion itself, we believe everybody with a bit of common
sense knows best what to do about it.
pl
For
a change, some 'literature' (overdue) - which today relates, somewhat,
to the
current grim developments, that is, the Russian invasion of Ukraine:
the
'literature' here is two folders of the German, WW2 documents, which we
received from Peter K. Clark, who passed away recently. The materials,
marked as „Geheim!â€, were prepared by the German engineering unit,
Wehrgeologenstelle 16, and describe terrain and cross-country
conditions alongside the rivers of Dniepr and Bug. It was the line,
behind the German armies retreated in 1943/44.
Folders are available
as pdfs. Because some maps are very large, the longest is over 2 m.
long, and scanned at 600 dpi, the larger of the two pdf files is over 800 Mb. Therefore it takes patience to
download, open and zoom in to see map details in those pdf files.
For your convenience, the files are also available in smaller, more
compact version, at 150 Mb and 80 Mb accordingly. Naturally, to read
the manuscripts, you need to understand German. Page numbering is often
dual and often contradictory, some pages might be missing, but all
available ones have been scanned in the order they appear in the
folders.
The files can be downloaded from the „Literature†page (approx. 3/4
down the page), where we have also included some sections of the
British assessment inside the folders.
Also, several 1:50,000 maps and one 1:100 000 map have also been
made available via Mapster index sheets.
1
We have added approx. 940 sheets
of the Soviet, post-WW2, 1:25,000 map from Lithuania
(600dpi). Because mapster index sheet for 1:25, 000 maps of this type
is, for rather obvious reasons, very extensive, it can take quite a long time to
open
- it appears that Opera and Edge take less time than Firefox. The maps
are also available via a less computer-intensive list and
they will show up on a map list in mapster search. Where possible, we
tried to provide alternative (Polish, German, Latvian and Lithuanian)
place-names, however errors
can occur, as there are several different place-names with
identical name in one language, but different variants in other
languages.
A little side note: to search historical maps in mapster by their
geographical coordinates (when no larger village is found nearby), you
can use a 'hack', i.e. an unofficial mapster search feature. First, you
need to find the coordinates of a place, eg. via google maps. When you
click anywhere on the map (left-click), a small window pops up at the
bottom of the screen. When you click on that windo, the coordinates
show up on the left hand side, usually under a photo of the location,
if one is available. You should copy the coordinates (CTRL
+ C) which are presented in UTM format, and they look like the example
below:
53.951819, 23.519671
Copy 1st part above, before
the comma, i.e. 53.951819, using (CTRL + C) and then paste
it (CTRL + V) into the link below:
http://igrek.amzp.pl/result.php?cmd=pt&lat=XXX&lon=YYY&hideempty=on
- you should replace only
XXX (be careful not to copy or delete any characters before or after
XXX).
Copy 2nd part above, after
the comma, i.e. 23.519671, using (CTRL + C) and then paste (CTRL
A+ V) to the very same link, by replacing only YYY.
When the link is complete, mark it with a mouse cursor and copy the
whole link przygotowany (CTRL + C) and paste it (CTRL + V) into the
main search (web address) window of your web browser (firefod, edge,
chrome, opera, etc.) http://igrek.amzp.pl/result.php?cmd=pt&lat=53.951819&lon=23.519671&hideempty=on
- when you do that, don't forget the 'enter' command, which is the
'Return' key on the right side of the keyboard (the one with an
arrow pointing down and right).
We will, gradually make available all other plans form the polona
project. It will take time as each plan has to be processed and
metadata, even basic, manually entered. There are a good few thousands
of such plans so... please bear with us. In the meantime, we are
updating some index sheets to add those odd sheets that have, until
know, spilled over index sheet edge.
And, for now at least, just one map from a set of documents,
which comes from Peter Clark and which we plan to make available in
full early next year. And a passing comment: 77 years have passed since
its publication yet it appears that, suddenly, the map is becoming very
relevant to the current political developments...
1
We have received information that Peter K. Clark (‘PKC’), who's been a
good friend and supported us for many years, has passed away at the age
of 95. It's difficult to express, in a few words, his immense
contribution to our project; the shortest way to put it is this: he's
not only shared his own cartographic collections and snippets of
knowledge difficult to find in literature, but on many occasions he
tipped us about sources of material and contacts in institutions, which
we had not previously considered at all, or which would have been
difficult or impossible to access without his personal recommendation.
Incidentally, in January 2022 we will try to make available some very
interesting cartographic material that Peter shared with us this summer.
a few more Kreiskarten 1:100,000
and Umgebungskarten
1:100,000, from the collection of National State Archive,
Poznań, Poland, National Library of Poland, and Peter Clark's
collection.
Hey, Marek! Trying to access maps at your page "Other Central European Maps, via both Chrome and Opera browsers, I get the dialog box "File not found (404 error)
If you think what you'r
Hello: I do Polish Genealogy. I need a topo map of Poland with major cities which I’ve never been able to find on the WEB. It should show post partition Poland with an out line of pre-partition Pola
Hi:
Are there any other maps showing parishes such as:
Andrzej Tomczak
Siec parafialna
Wojewoddztwa pomorskiego
Okregu bytowskiego I leborskiego
W drugiej polowie xvi wieku
Skala 1:300.
Thanks
