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Welcome

Map Archive of Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1919 - 1939

Non-commercial project with scans of maps and geographic materials published by the Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny (WIG), 1919 - 1939.


medallion front medallion rear Recognition for our work. More here.


14th August 2023 - map update
An additional update for 1:42 000 (one-verst), approx. 40 sheets from one of our helpful users.
30th July 2023 - map update
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
8th July 2022 - map and literature update
2
  • 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'

7th June 2022 - map update
test An update from the collection of the digital National Library of Poland (polona.pl)
- approx. 250 sheets of the Reymann's topographische Special-Karte von Central-Europa (1:200 000), various editions, from 1830s up to 1910. Please note some files are VERY large, i.e. over 100 Mb!
- approx. 60 sheets of the Karte des westlichen Russlands (1:100 000) around 1910 - 1918
- approx. 40 sheets of the 'Topographische Uebersichtskarte des Deutschen Reiches', 1:200 000
- approx. 40 sheets of the Uebersichtskarte von Mitteleuropa), mainly WW2 editions
- several joint sheets of the same 1:300,000 maps, dated 1914 - 1916 (Some files are VERY large, i.e.100 - 400 Mb!)
- approx. 20 sheets of the German 1:25,000 map (Messtischblatt)
- a few German Kreiskarten and Umgebungskarten, 1:100,000 scale
- a few sheets of the Generalstabskarte / Karte des deutchen Reiches, 1:100,000
- a few German maps of the USSR, WW2 (Russland 1:100 000), and a few joint and single sheets of the Russland 1:50 000.
- a few German 1:500,000 maps (Weltkarte 1:500 000)
Generally, most of the sheets we already have had from other collections, but the new versions are all 600 dpi.
18th April 2022 - map update
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.

5th March 2022 - Russian invasion of Ukraine
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.
24th February 2022 - an update
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!”, 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.

22nd January 2022 - map update
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).

That's it! Simple, isn't it? ;)
26th December 2021 - Christmas update
1

We would like to wish you all quiet and peaceful Christmas (and let's hope the new year is no worse than 2021 ;) There are a few presents on account of this; several town plans from the collection of digital arm of the National Library of Poland:
Chełm, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Cieplice-Śląskie Zdrój (Bad Warmbrunn), Tarnowskie Góry (Tarnowitz), Gdańsk (Danzig) (and... one more Gdańsk), Malbork (Marienburg), Gorzów Wielkopolski (Landsberg a.d. Warthe), Nowy Sącz, Kraków, Głębokie (Глыбокае), Świnoujście (Swinemünde) and four sheets of Брэст (Brześć, Brest-Litovsk).

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...

14th December 2021 - an update
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.

We also have some new materials:
19th November 2021 - map update
1 From the collection of Mr Piotr Kamiński, we have added approx. 50 editions of the German, 1:100,000 joint edition (Grossblatt) maps, and from the Library of Congress, approx. 250 sheets of the Soviet 1:42,000 (one-verst) map from the Caucasus area, which we, er... overlooked in 2019.
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08/02/2023 00:50
Glad to see you back, Marek!

08/25/2022 15:09
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

01/22/2022 22:50
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

03/21/2020 14:55
What's up, Marek? What are you working on? Hope all is OK.

01/26/2019 14:42
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

12/04/2017 15:22
peut-on obtenir la carte détaillée de la frontière Est suite au traité de Brest-litovsk ? merci d'avance

09/10/2017 04:54
Can I get some guidance on the projection that WIG cartographers used on the 1 to 100,000 maps?

04/02/2017 23:15
osowiec

03/17/2017 11:34
@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)

03/16/2017 18:10
I think we need to drill into this... Please check for my e-mail in your inbox! Smile