Web Publication of Schmitt’s Map of Southern Germany (1797)—The Projection of the Map Based on Archival Documents and Geospatial Analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22032797 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gábor Tímár (0000-0001-9675-6192, Eötvös Loránd University, corresponding author), Eszter Kiss (0000-0001-7953-9348, Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 207 |
| Publication date | 2024-06-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2220-9964 • E-ISSN: 2220-9964 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/ijgi13060207 |
| OpenAlex | W4399745937 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 13 |
This work shows the original projection of a 1:57,600 scale map of southern Germany at the end of the 18th century, produced under the direction of Karl-Heinrich von Schmitt (1743–1805). The sections of the map were scanned and georeferenced as part of the MAPIRE project, and the results are publicly available. In the present work, we use contemporary documents, in particular the books of César-Francois Cassini de Thury and manuscript sketches of the map found in the Military Archive of Vienna, to show that the overall projection of the map is identical to that used in Cassini’s survey of France (first half of the 18th century). In the archive, we managed to find the overview sheet on which—in addition to the Paris Cassini coordinate system—the section grid of the Schmitt map was also constructed. This sketch served as the basis for the compilation and copying work, wherein the existing map works and survey sketches were inserted into 197 sections of the Schmitt map. Thus, the map coordinate system can be modeled in GIS systems using the Cassini (or Cassini-Soldner) projection, with the Paris Observatory as the projection origin. The georeferencing accuracy of using the pure Cassini projection is around 1–1.3 km (at the extremes, around 5 km), which is much more inaccurate than the one used in later topographic surveys. It is considered a combined result of the compilation of the different maps, presumably surveyed by graphic triangulation with measuring tables
Cartography · Geography · Geospatial analysis · Map projection · Web 2.0 · Web application · Web Coverage Service · Web mapping · Web page · World Wide Web · Archaeological Research and Protection · Computer Science · Political Theology and Sovereignty
Principal warps
Accuracy Evaluation for Plan-Reliefs and Historical Maps Created during WWI in Northern Italy
Possible Projection of the First Military Survey of the Habsburg Empire in Lower Austria and Hungary (Late 18th Century)—An Improvement in Fitting Historical Topographic Maps to Modern Cartographic Systems
Historical Vltava River Valley–Various Historical Sources within Web Mapping Environment
Medieval Distortions
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |