06.12.2024_news_en
A (slightly) delayed
update:
- approx. 30 sheets of a
1:50,000 (GSGS 4529 Med 4) dated 1945 (Austria), a re-scaled
copy of an Austrian and / or German 1:75,000 map. The series was
published by the 'Survey Directorate AFHQ' (Allied Force
Headquarters). As there's no modern
index sheet for this series in mapster, you can use one from 1945
that's available underneath the list of sheets. The series is marked on
the index sheet, in the bottom-right corner, in GREEN. For those
interested in AFHQ history and
structure, here's a pdf file.
- a few British and US 1M map series
covering Europe and Asia (AMS 1301 / AMS 5301, 5302 / GSGS
2555 / GSGS 4646), dated 1940 - 1965. There have been quite a few of
series in this scale and they might be continued until today and we
have no time to figure out details and nuances, they have
'provisionally' ended in one bag (list).
- right in the same 'bag', about 20 sheets
of a British small-scale (2.5M) map series GSGS 4340 / HIND 1080)
which covers Asia, though the sheets started from... the Black Sea.
Some scans are doubles, but here and there, different publishing dates
are available.
- Himalaya, 3 (out of 4?) sheets, ‘Tibet and Adjacent
Countries’, 1:2,5M.
- ...and one (probably out of 2) sheets of
‘Highlands of Tibet
and Surrounding Regions’. Interestingly, the map shows a
dense network of railways, most of which no longer exist.
From the collection of Leibniz-Institut
für Länderkunde
All Leibniz-Institut fuer
Laenderkunde maps, though scanned really well, are available only at
300
dpi.
From the collection of the University of Berkeley Library, unfortunately
also at 300 dpi only:
- approx. 700 sheets of a German „Russland” map, 1:50,000 dated 1942 - 1944/45;
the map covers the arc of Eastern Europe, from the Baltic States,
Belarus, parts of Russia, to the Ukrainian border against Moldova
/Transnistria along the Dnieper (Dnipro) river and, in south-east, probably extended past
Crimea and possibly covered the east coastline of the Black Sea
- approx.
20 double (x2) sheets
of the same map, mainly from the central area, i.e. current
Belarus. Unfortunately there's no index sheet in mapster available, so
the sheets were put on a list.
- approx. 50 sheets of the same 1:50,000
map, but in a joint edition, i.e. x 4 single sheets.
As to the map type itself: German
1:50,000, under a code-names of Eol 50 (Ostland) and Esu 50
(Sowjetunion) based on a compilation of map sources: captured Polish
maps by WIG, likewise Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian maps, but
primarily, based on massive cache of Soviet 1:50,000 and 1:100,000
maps, additionally updated from German air photos from 1942-1944 and
field reports. We don't know the extent of this map type, so when
mapster index was drawn, the range was rather... excessive, stretching
to Berlin in the west. No cler, original German index sheets are
available (yet), we added what was at hand below the index sheets of
single and quadruple sheets. Given the area
covered by this map type, and number of war-time editions, estimated
number of sheets could have easily run into a few thousands, or more.
However, we do not expect to add any further sheets either this year -
or the next either.
It needs to be acknowledged, that using this map type in mapster is
difficult; firstly, because mapster database of place names does not
extend to the east. Secondly, mapster index 'background maps' do not
extend east of Poland either, so it's hard to identify individual map
sheets against large terrain features, such as cities, rivers or large
lakes. Thirdly, you can't see sheet names on the mapster Russland
1:50,000 map series. We will try to improve it somewhat by adding sheet
names to the index, but please bear in mind it's over 700 German,
Russian / Lithuanian / Ukrainian place-names. They need to be located,
checked and entered into database manually, which is a very
time-consuming process - we'll start from the larger towns / sheet
titles.
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