Military Maps Research Articles

A Reassessment of the Military Careers and Writings of Sir John Peyton (1579–1635) and Sir Henry Peyton (c.1580–1623)

AbstractThis research note shines new light on previously misinterpreted and incorrectly catalogued key information about the role‐holder of the Lieutenant‐Governor of Brill in 1612. It identifies that a source for this information previously attributed to Sir John Peyton (1579–1635) was actually written by Sir Henry Peyton (c.1580–1623) and discusses the significance and impact of the newly discovered identification. It reveals Henry Peyton to be a prolific letter writer and collector of military maps and shows how he shared his research with Sir Robert Cotton. It also identifies that further research is needed into the military career of Henry Peyton and the significant role he played in early modern military history, with particular attention to be given to his martial reports from Venice and the Low Countries.

Automated system of generating military maps of passability

Automated system of generating military maps of passability

AU3-GAN: A Method for Extracting Roads from Historical Maps Based on an Attention Generative Adversarial Network

In recent years, the integration of deep learning technology based on convolutional neural networks with historical maps has made it possible to automatically extract roads from these maps, which is highly important for studying the evolution of transportation networks. However, the similarity between roads and other features (such as contours, water systems, and administrative boundaries) poses a significant challenge to the feature extraction capabilities of convolutional neural networks (CNN). Additionally, CNN require a large quantity of labelled data for training, which can be a complex issue for historical maps. To address these limitations, we propose a method for extracting roads from historical maps based on an attention generative adversarial network. This approach leverages the unique architecture and training methodology of the generative adversarial network to augment datasets by generating data that closely resembles real samples. Meanwhile, we introduce an attention mechanism to enhance UNet3 + and achieve accurate historical map road segmentation images. We validate our method using the Third Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary and compare it with a typical U-shaped network. The experimental results show that our proposed method outperforms the direct use of the U-shaped network, achieving at least an 18.26% increase in F1 and a 7.62% increase in the MIoU, demonstrating its strong ability to extract roads from historical maps and provide a valuable reference for road extraction from other types of historical maps.

A method of drawing double arrow symbols with automation support for 2D digital map applications

This paper addresses the challenges of translating pivotal military symbols like double arrows onto 2D digital maps, particularly when automation is essential. It proposes a comprehensive method integrating data structure, user workflow, and algorithms to generate tactically aligned, balanced, and visually appealing double arrows for military 2D digital maps. Experimental validation affirms its efficacy in meeting tactical requisites and aesthetic standards. Additionally, it outlines avenues for future research to further enhance and broaden the applicability of this method. In essence, this study presents a robust solution for the automated generation of double arrows on 2D digital military maps, marking a significant step in advancing automated symbolization for military planning.

Accuracy Evaluation for Plan-Reliefs and Historical Maps Created during WWI in Northern Italy

The availability of digital copies of historical artifacts modeling the territory through the so-called “plan-reliefs” is important for many reasons: the preservation of the artifact if the physical object is damaged or destroyed, the possibility of creating virtual showrooms and providing researchers a tool to study the object combining information from different sources. For these reasons, a set of plan-reliefs created during World War I on the Italian front and kept by the Italian Historical War Museum of Rovereto (Italy) was surveyed to create digital models of the surfaces, which were georeferenced in the ETRS89 datum. A set of historical military maps of the same period was georeferenced to overlay the sets to the surface in the digital representation and to try to infer clues about the cartographic sources used in the historical artifact creation. The best transformation for georeferencing the maps is different depending on the map scale, map origin, conservation status and number of Ground Control Points. The georeferencing process precision and accuracy were evaluated. The digital models created in this study were compared to the official Digital Terrain Model (DTM) provided by the Regions or the autonomous provinces. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach, and the combination of the models with the georeferenced maps is used by historians to describe the process used in the creation of plan-reliefs.

Transportation Networks and the Geographic Concentration of Employment

Abstract This paper examines the effect of expanding transportation networks on spatial industrial growth across the United States from 1953 to 2016. I use a new methodological approach that applies network theory combined with a historic military map to address the two forms of endogeneity present in expanding transportation networks: route placement and construction timing. I find that Interstate counties experienced significant growth in employment and the number of establishments relative to non-Interstate counties. Growth rates are highest within two decades of receiving an Interstate. Results also reveal positive spillovers occurred in later decades among adjacent counties along the metropolitan periphery.

Past Forward: Holocaust Testimony in Documentary Film

Abstract This paper addresses the use of oral history sources in my practice of documentary filmmaking as a second-generation Holocaust survivor. It examines how the filmic documentation of oral history sources can reflect aspects of testimony, memory, and postmemory, as they are theorized in the field of Holocaust Studies. In my film “Past Forward: Journeys to Transnistria,” I document the challenge of relating an intergenerational and cross-cultural story while preserving historical accuracy. Filmed in Ukraine in 2002, it tells the story of my mother, a child-survivor of the Romanian Holocaust. Through oral testimony, the film captures my mother’s survival story as she tells it to me and later to her granddaughter who documents it for a history school project. It then retraces my mother’s journey between 1941 and 1944 from her hometown of Dorohoi, Romania to Transnistria as it was called then under German-allied Romanian occupation. Survivor’s testimony combined with onsite witness interviews, and an archival military map, were used to trace the story of a little Jewish Romanian girl who survived the journey to Transnistria. Recently available archival sources have further validated her story. It has also contributed to locating the film within the broader context of the Holocaust in Ukraine.

Keeping the Memory of the Past: Toponymic Space of Historical Circassia. Review of the book: Еmykova N. H. Istoricheskaia toponimiia Zapadnoi Cherkesii. Po materialam russkikh dokumentov XVIII–XIX vv. Chast’ pervaia: Abadzekhiia [Historical Toponymy of Western Circassia. Based on the Materials from Russian Documents of the 18th–19th Centuries. Part 1: Abadzekhia]. Maykop: Poligraph-Yug, 2021. 768 p.

The reviewed work represents the first instalment of a comprehensive project aimed at studying the historical toponymy of Western Circassia. This volume focuses on the geographical names of the Abadzekhia region. Since many of these toponyms have fallen out of use, their documentation, analysis, and interpretation rely primarily on the study of 18th and 19th-century Russian documents, including military maps, historical and ethnographic texts, and military and topographic descriptions of the area. Additionally, the author incorporates folklore references to geographical features of Abadzekhia. In total, approximately one thousand toponyms, encompassing both natural features and oikonyms, have been identified and mapped onto a modern representation of the North-West Caucasus. The dictionary entries, arranged alphabetically, consolidate all known spelling variants of each toponym, facilitating their semiotic reconstruction. Given the linguistic differences between Russian and Adyghe (Circassian), reconstructing the original pronunciation and etymology of the toponyms presents challenges. To address this, the author identified and utilised over five hundred Adyghe topographical elements frequently found in local place names. The work employs data and methodologies from various disciplines — linguistics, folklore, history, geography, ethnography, and archaeology — lending it an interdisciplinary nature. The scholarly apparatus of the publication, particularly the compilation of documents and literature, holds intrinsic value, offering a concise history of Circassian toponymy and providing a comprehensive overview of the book’s source material. This publication will undoubtedly be of significant interest to specialists in Adyghe toponymy as well as to local historians and guides.

Big Brother was watching us: Soviet mapping of Norway during the Cold War

ABSTRACT In the early 1990s, it was revealed that during the Cold War the Soviet Union’s General Staff had secretly mapped large parts of the world in great detail. This article discusses Soviet military maps covering Norway, and analyses how the maps were produced and how successfully they depict their subject. The author concludes that the USSR utilised open sources, satellite imagery, and human intelligence when compiling the maps, with varying degrees of success ranging from the successful penetration of Norwegian military secrecy to misidentification of commonly known institutions, which resulted in maps of highly non-uniform quality that were unique in Norwegian mapping history. A further conclusion is that the maps clearly do not represent the full Soviet intelligence repository on Norwegian topography, and the author discusses some possible theories for their unexpectedly low quality and reasons why they were perceived as vastly superior when first discovered.

Transformer-Based Object Detection with Deep Feature Fusion Using Carafe Operator in Remote Sensing Image

Recently, broad applications can be found in optical remote sensing images (ORSI), such as in urban planning, military mapping, field survey, and so on. Target detection is one of its important applications. In the past few years, with the wings of deep learning, the target detection algorithm based on CNN has harvested a breakthrough. However, due to the different directions and target sizes in ORSI, it will lead to poor performance if the target detection algorithm for ordinary optical images is directly applied. Therefore, how to improve the performance of the object detection model on ORSI is thorny. Aiming at solving the above problems, premised on the one-stage target detection model-RetinaNet, this paper proposes a new network structure with more efficiency and accuracy, that is, a Transformer-Based Network with Deep Feature Fusion Using Carafe Operator (TRCNet). Firstly, a PVT2 structure based on the transformer is adopted in the backbone and we apply a multi-head attention mechanism to obtain global information in optical images with complex backgrounds. Meanwhile, the depth is increased to better extract features. Secondly, we introduce the carafe operator into the FPN structure of the neck to integrate the high-level semantics with the low-level ones more efficiently to further improve its target detection performance. Experiments on our well-known public NWPU-VHR-10 and RSOD show that mAP increases by 8.4% and 1.7% respectively. Comparison with other advanced networks also witnesses that our proposed network is effective and advanced.

“The Want of Accurate Maps”: On Using Period Maps in Research for the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse

This paper presents an analysis of period military maps associated with the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse, and in so doing, encourages researchers of such maps to consult the perspective of the mapmaker and the context surrounding the document. Modernity tends to consider maps as accurate, objective portrayals of events, and modern scholars are overly critical or dismissive of historic maps when divergent or inaccurate features are presented. This mindset may not be appropriate; period maps should not be thought of as merely historic versions of today’s satellite images, but rather as depicting the perspective of the draftsman or commissioner of the map, which of itself may harbor important insights to discover. 
 In examining this point, American, French, British, and Hessian maps developed in the aftermath of the battle were consulted, focusing on the important features of each illustration, the backgrounds of the relevant draftsmen and/or commissioners, and their possible motivations and objectives in making the maps. The ultimate goal emphasized by this piece is that the wise historical researcher of military maps from this period should remember that the depiction of positions and events should be perceived through the eyes of the individuals responsible for the map’s creation, and not taken at face value.

Detecting changes in ecological stability from the I. military mapping to the present

AbstractThe aim of the study is to determine the environmental conditions in the territory of the Myjava river basin (Slovakia) in order to analyze changes in the ecological stability from the first military mapping (1769–1784) until the present (2020). Except of the assessment of the ecological condition of the area, the stress factors of the territory were evaluated together with proposed measures according to the need to improve the current situation. The ecological prosperity of the landscape was evaluated based on the several methodologies used in Slovakia including coefficients of ecological stability. The results pointed to changes in ecological stability during the period evaluated, together with analyses of the stress factors that are currently affecting the territory researched.

Review: The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. II: Architecture, Topography and Military Maps

Review: <i>The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. II: Architecture, Topography and Military Maps</i>

An Image of Northwest Yorùbáland during World War II

Abstract West Africa became more strategically important during the Second World War owing to the air reinforcement route to Northeast Africa. The West African Air Reinforcement Route (WARR) went across the colony of Nigeria into the African interior. Geographical knowledge production was important for the smooth running of these air logistics operations. The United States, which came on the air supply route in support of the British war effort, was involved in map production for this purpose. Hence, this paper explores the United States military cartography of WARR, used during the Second World War. In particular, it examines the 1942 image of Northwest Yorùbáland. This paper contends that the reproduced African landscapes of the Geographical Section of the General Staff (GSGS) 2465 Series convey ideological meanings. As a social practice, cartography during this global conflict resulted in further territorial ordering and control over the ground and air space of this part of West Africa. These Allied military maps depicted specific geographies along the trans-African air route, with precise strategic purpose, but they also had ideological implications for wider cultural geographies.

Maintaining the state cadaster of the territories on the base of remote sensing materials

In the past, remote sensing was limited to the use of the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, the part of the spectrum that is invisible to the human eye can now be used with the help of spectral filters, photo films and other types of sensors. Also, the view of the earth was applied to practice and to solve life problems, for example, we can cite air reconnaissance during World War II. Aerial photographs provided the opportunity to observe the location of the enemy's army quickly and more safely than observation from the ground. Aerial photographs allowed military maps and information about strategic locations to be updated quickly and with relative accuracy. Remote sensing is carried out from the air by airplanes and with the help of satellites. Digital cameras, scanners, video images, radar and thermal sensors are also used in remote sensing. Remote sensing is a field that requires fast, accurate and new data collection and is widely used in environmental management. This article presents the stages of creating topographical bases for maintaining state cadastres in the Tashkent region, taking space photos, taking aerial photos, performing geospatial linking, vectoring, and creating electronic digital maps. At the same time, scientific research such as filling the attributes of electronic digital cards and comparative analysis of space photo download sources has been reflected.

A note on military mapping for engaging with the Northern Ireland Troubles

During the period of the Northern Ireland Troubles (c. 1968-c.2000), maps were an essential operational resource for the security forces. This review introduces and profiles the wide range of maps produced for the Northern Ireland ‘theatre’ by the UK Directorate of Military Survey. These maps extended from detailed 1:2500 town plans to synoptic ‘religious areas’ maps for the main cities and towns and single-sheets of the whole of Northern Ireland. A 1:20,000 series was also created for border areas that has no civil equivalent and which also covers adjacent parts of the Republic of Ireland. Although usually derived from Ordnance Survey base maps, the DMS maps give enhanced attention to grid-lines to facilitate precise specification of location and to recording places of concealment: woods in rural areas and ruined/ derelict buildings and archways in towns. Using data from various sources, including eBay and library listings, this article attempts to explore an important record of the Troubles, that appears to have received little systematic attention from scholars and archivists.

Um estudo preliminar sobre o espelho do Japão (Ribenyijian).

Abstract: After the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, as the Japanese pirates’ problem became more and more serious, books devoted to the study of Japan began to be published. Among them, the most important ones are A Brief Survey of Japan (Ri Ben Kao Lue), A Compilation of Japanese Maps (Ri Ben Tu Zuan), A Mirror of Japan (Ri Ben Yi Jian), A Survey of Japan (Ri Ben Kao), A Record of Japanese Customs (Ri Ben Fen Tu Ji), and A Biography of Japanese Pirates in Qiantai (Qian Tai Wo Zhuan). Out of these, A Mirror of Japan is a special one. In addition, there are also special books that depict the general ambiance of Japan, such as A Collection of Coastal Military Maps (Chou Hai Tu Bian), Resistance to Japanese Pirates in Ming Dynasty (Huang Ming Yu Wo Lu), the Compilation of Coastal Defense (Hai Fang Zuan Yao) and the Continuation of Coastal Defense Category in Zhedong and Zhexi Regions (Liang Zhe Hai Fang Lei Kao Xu Bian). Zheng Shungong, the author of the book A Mirror of Japan, visited Japan twice, so many contents in the book are based on his own experience and knowledge. Therefore, the breadth and scope of his research on Japan had gone beyond the similar literature of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the Japanese pirates’ record and analysis in the book are of great research value. Before the publication of Huang Zunxian’s Annals of Japan (Ri Ben Tu Zhi), A Mirror of Japan was one of the highest levels of monographs on Japan in ancient China.

Allied Military Mapping of Italy during the Second World

Allied Military Mapping of Italy during the Second World

A Brief Overview of Soviet and Russian Military Map Symbology and Terms

ABSTRACT Soviet and Russian military maps may comprise any combination of over 1,000 map symbols and 3,000 Russian terms. These symbols and terms identify tangible aspects such as locations, unit/equipment type and numbers, but some symbols, and groupings of symbols, can also denote more subjective aspects such as movement over time, types of manoeuvres, relationship to the surrounding environment and other activities or conditions. Unlike Russian topographic maps that have a well-documented symbology system, there has been little study of Soviet/Russian military map symbology and terms. This paper offers a brief overview of the topic and discusses a few examples.

From Borderlands to Boundary Lines: Mapping on the Edges of the Ottoman Empire

ABSTRACT The evolution, nature and characteristics of boundary mapping in Central and Eastern Europe were distinctive, especially considering the imperial borders of states neighbouring the Ottoman Empire. Affected by strong military and geopolitical needs, demarcation maps were not based on cadastres or property mapping undertaken by civil authorities but exclusively on military mapping. The maps were a part of peace treaties with the Ottoman Empire, which gave them the power of legal documents. Moreover, boundary maps constituted an important tool in defending state sovereignty and subsequently in the state- and nation-building processes. In this article I analyse how countries bordering the Ottoman Empire made their demarcation maps, which strategies they applied, what level of cooperation they had with Ottoman cartographers, what cartographic conventions they met, and how these maps were received at the Ottoman court. I argue that boundary mapping was the key driver of territorial statehood in the region.