Last check: 04/26/2024 Slap count: 4 Last checked ID: 16777215
01/06/2008 - update
1. Over 50 x WIG map (100K) added, in case you haven't been to the folder. The maps are "for internal use only", i.e. copies of German and Czech maps, with minor updates at times.
2. We have updated the links to the left to include one to a folder, previously only visible when clicking on Polish flag. The folder contains other WIG maps, i.e. those which are not of the main series (25K, 100K, 300K, 500K); they are various maps, from detailed, to quite general, some are quite exotic (Liberia, Greenland). There will be more.
3. We have uploaded an issue of "Wiadomosci Sluzby Geograficznej", 1/1939. This quarterly, unfortunately in Polish, provides a better insight into the work of WIG, with articles loosely based around cartography / geography / ethnography / trigonnometry, etc. Some articles include a precis, usually in French or German. The issue also includes a section (several pages) on sailing.
The current version of this quarterly is a non-OCR pdf (19Mb + 35 Mb pdf with maps), so you can't search for or copy text yet. We are working on an OCR and will upload it as soon as possible.
n.b. we have scanned the editions from 1935, 1936, 1937, 1939 and the first issue of 1939. All of them will become available, however it will take time - each volume holds approx. 700 pages.
4. Although it remains a sideline for our website, we might have something of particular interest to our international users - we have received a fair number of K.u.K. map scans n 1:75 000, which show the area of Galicja (Galizien) between 1879 - 1905, a crucial period for emigration from Eastern Europe. Quite a number of sheets come from the early years and quality is usually very good. At present "only" 400 dpi version is available, we will add 600 dpi in a few months time. Total number of new sheets will be around 130, of which 62 are already available, the rest should appear in about 4 weeks' time.
5. A few new German maps from Central / Eastern Europe, and two city plans have been added. Plan of Odessa from 1917, sadly, due to scanning flop, has lost the air of "authenticity", although it is perfectly legible (no, we can't rescan it, the map is no longer available). The other plan is of Vilnius, then Wilna, probably dated around WWI times.
We have received (from our friends at Archiwum Map Zachodniej Polski) 70 scans of German war-time copies of WIG 1:25 000 maps. Further 70 sheets will appear in about a month's time. These maps cover the area of central-western Poland (in its pre-WW2 borders). Those areas were incorporated into III Reich therefore, in many cases, original Polish sheet titles and / or individual place-names are either distorted or replaced with German names. Other elements within the map, i.e. topographic information, is identical with the pre-war Polish maps. The above is not an ideal situation, we do however need to consider the fact, that we might never get hold of the pre-war original maps.
We have also added two other sheets:
1:100 000, P40 S37 BRZESC nad BUGIEM, from a different source, 400 dpi, and P51 S32 A KRYNICA, 1:25 000, (tourist edition, in colour).
In the next few weeks there will be plenty of other new maps and materials.
1. Last month the users of our site downloaded over 100GB more than our monthly limit, which automatically triggered a “penalty” charge of over $250. After discussions with our host, the charge has been refunded, but this was only a one-off gesture of good will.
We do not blame you, the users in this sense that, after all, we keep adding new files and, naturally, people want to download them; at the same time our project becomes more popular which generates more traffic. What we would like to ask, in these circumstances, is just a little thought and a feeling of responsibility. If you have just discovered our website and want to download all the maps, go ahead and do it, but do it only once and, if possible, share your collections with others on DVDs which won’t cost you much.
The bottom line is that we can not afford to pay such high charges each moth and if the amount of data downloaded each month approaches our limit, we will have no choice but to block access to the files until the start of a new billing month.
2. For the record, as the maps have been available for quite some time now, we have opened a new sub-page with WIG maps scaled at 1:500 000, in a post-WW2 edition.
3. There is slow bit steady progress in a stock-taking of WIG 1:25 000 maps held across various map collections across the world. As you might know, a total of approx. 4000 sheets were to cover the whole territory of pre-war Poland. By 1939 about 1300 - 1500 sheets were printed, most of them known only from the war-time German copies.
Obviously the list of those maps has more than the basic purpose of knowing where they are, we want to get them scanned and made available, although this might be a long-drawn process.
As mentioned previously, we keep adding new files every few days, so please check relevant folders, at present, in particular "other maps".
Today we have added 15 new files to the "flagship" folder of WIG 1:100 000 and there are more to follow in the next few weeks.
1. The institution we approached some time ago for a permission to scan a large number of their maps has turned us down.
2. We have scanned approx 1000 of our own maps of various types and scales. As it will take some time to process the files and they will be added continuously, rather than in bulk, we will not be able to announce every single map added, please check sub-pages from time to time. Most of the new maps are new, others are old files, but re-scanned for better quality. We will make it clear what is new and what is a replacement.
3. Slowly, but surely, we will tidy up the "other maps" folder, sorting the files and providing additional information. We have begun with German maps and added a city plans folder, to be reworked and expanded.
4. Last but not least, the Mapster interface has been updated with English and German version and the map index pages open faster.
A link to the database of place-names (run by our friends) has been provided, see the panel to the left (bottom).
The main map folder (1:100 000) has been updated - both 300 and 600 dpi files brought together, plus some extra information on the maps themselves (edition, type, year, etc).
As we are due to receive nearly 100 new of those maps, but only in 300 dpi, the links in the main folder reflect this, i.e. you will see the links but no maps YET. We will have the maps ready in the next few weeks, please bear with us.
Two more WIG maps (1:300K) have been added, we expect to have them all (approx 30 sheets in total) available mid-September.
We are awaiting a decision from a certain archive/museum on whether we can scan their entire map collection (approx 2000 - 3000 maps, WIG and others from Central and Eastern Europe). This would obviously make quite a comprehensive collection to say the least. Fingers crossed.
6 colour maps by WIG in 1:25 000 scale (area around Terespol / Brzesc (Brest), plus one double scan of Bydgoszcz in the same scale have been added to the file list. The sheets in colour come from mid-1920s, hence the irregular titles.
Our friends from the
site Archiwum Map Zachodniej Polski
have created a place-name
search tool based on a US database,
cross-referenced
with maps available through all three partner sites, i.e.
mapy.eksploracja.pl, mapy.amzp.pl, mapywig.org. and with a link to the
current situation as displayed by googlemaps.
Database active at
the moment includes place-names found within the current
borders of Poland, Lithuania, Belaurs and Ukraine (other countries
covered by the maps on our sites will follow). The database will be
developed and new elements
added (English interface, map calibration files, location of smaller
villages, alternative place-names and other maps). The files
are LARGE - when a map is selected, the left click on the icon is to
crash your browser (most likely outcome), the right click saves the
file to a destination of your choosing on your computer.
In the process of preparing the project, our friends also created an index of
WIG maps in 1:100 000 scale
(these are the maps listed in the Maps 1:100 000 folder on our site in
600 dpi resolution).
The index can be slightly out of date at times due to a lag between us
adding new files and our friends updating the index. If any files
don't load, please come back to our site for the latest links.
The
project includes other multisheet maps of Central and Eastern Europe in
various scales, to reload
them please enable java and press F5 if the site appears not to respond.
1. Four 100K sheets have been added: "Mosty" and "Wiazanowiec" are earlier editions (mid 1920s) of the sheets we have already got. "Brzesc" is a WW2-time German colour version of a 1930 Polish edition, "Vranow" is a sheet "For internal use only" from Czechoslovakia. All of them are high-res images (approx 15 - 20 Mb), but imperfect (A4-scanned, then stitched). We will replace them with better ones when we have them re-scanned on a large format scanner (approx June). The files added have been marked with bold dark red font.
2. We have received 21 sheets "Wylacznie do uzytku sluzbowego" (for internal use only, in other words "confidential"), showing areas east of the pre-ww2 eastern border of Poland (i.e. territory of the Soviet Union). They are very rare and thus interesting sheets, temporarily only in low-resolution (approx 2Mb each file). We do hope to have them re-scanned (at 600 dpi) and put up on the site within the next month. The files added have been marked in bold, dark blue font.
3. "Other maps". It looks like finally all links to the files work. In the next few days we will add another couple of files; the list is growing and perhaps becomes a bit too confusing, we will try to organize the "other maps" by their origin or function.
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
@JMisiewicz
I tried to send an e-mail, but got an auto-response: "The e-mail address you entered couldn't be found"
If you want to get in touch, please use e-mail (see left)
