Military Maps Research Articles

Spain’s Military Campaigns in Sardinia and Sicily (1717–1720) According to Jaime Miguel de Guzmán-Dávalos, Marquis of la Mina

The Colección de cuadros y planos sobre de Cerdeña y Sicilia en los anõs 1717, 1720 is an archive of military maps complementing the Memorias written by Jaime Miguel de Guzmán-Dávalos, second marquis of la Mina, who had participated in these campaigns. The Colección illustrates some of the most important events of the Italian campaigns against the Quadruple Alliance of Britain, France, Austria and the Dutch Republic (1717–1720). Comparison of the maps and other drawings with details in la Mina’s Memorias allows us to clarify his main objective in compiling the text, which was to record the operations faithfully for use in military education.

Print-Scan Resilient Binary Map Watermarking Based on DCT and Scrambling

This article describes how combing the characteristics of simple textures and uneven black area distribution of a binary map, a novel blind print-scan resilient watermarking scheme is proposed. First, the flipping probability of each pixel is calculated, and then the image characteristic value matrix is obtained by scrambling and partitioning. Second, a DCT transform is performed on the characteristic value matrix and then the DCT coefficients are modified according to the hidden data. After that, an inverse DCT is made to the modified DCT coefficient matrix, and the pixels of the corresponding block are flipped. Finally, the watermarked map is obtained by inverse scrambling. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed scheme not only provides a large capacity and good imperceptibility, but also can resist the impact of a print-scan operation, and has strong robustness. Meanwhile, compared with the existing algorithms, it has a low implementation complexity and can be applied to military maps, engineering design drawings and other binary images.

Simplifying a deltaic labyrinth: anthropogenic imprint on river deltas

The information contained by historical maps provides a good source of understanding the complex transformation of a deltaic environment by human activity. Using the Danube delta as an example, here we show that a artographic diagnosis for river deltas is based on four main steps that outline the learning stages for every similar area: 1) exploring coasts (for the early stages of the portolan and Ptolemaic maps); 2) exploring depths (for the succeeding imperial and military maps which focused on the access along the deltaic distributaries); 3) exploring deltaic networks (when economic and ecological reasons led to detailed topographic maps based on field measurements and aerial photos); 4) ecological protectionism (when ecological reasons dictate land use patterns and determine land use change). This synopsis is applicable to other river deltas with some adaptations imposed by the local context. We interpret the four stages in the description of the Delta as resting on and further reinforcing the power of the centre to dictate the uses of the periphery. We further argue that the way the territory is lived by local inhabitants is continuously marginalized and effaced. This stands in the way of future adaptive strategies.

Russian military cartography in World War I

ABSTRACTWorld War I greatly influenced Russian military cartography, as the patriarch of Russian cartography, K .A. Salishchev, noted in 1948:The two facts have become obvious during the war. The military maps of the 19th – early 20th Centuries, so to say, ‘yesterday maps’, have proved to be ineffective to solve new problems. The old centralized organization of the military topographic service with its stuffy, scanty and unprepared for work under conditions of war, has proved to be equally ineffective. (Salishchev K. A. Essential cartography. Historical part and cartographic material: a textbook for universities. Moscow, 1948, p. 100. Салищев, К. А. Основы картоведения. Часть историческая и картографические материалы : Учебник для вузов. - Москва : Геодезиздат, 1948, c.100)Against this backdrop, this article targets three different spheres of the key innovations in Russian military cartography: the adaptation of maps for use by artillery; the use of aviation; and the decentralization of map printing.

British military mapping on the Western Front 1914–18

ABSTRACTCertain pointers to the possible direction military operations might take were available by 1914, notably the trench warfare, heavy artillery and siege operations of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), and the air and siege elements of the Balkan Wars (1912–13), and the air aspects of Italian operations in Libya (1911–12). Given the crucial importance of aerial photography and air survey to operations and mapping in the First World War, it is important to note that British survey and mapping on the Western Front developed from a starting point of almost total British lack of knowledge, equipment or experience for aerial photogrammetry. The Germans (and Austrians) and French were significantly ahead. Another initial weakness was the lack of provision for artillery survey. The Crimean War (1854–6) apart, the British Army had seen only colonial campaigns since Waterloo, and was ill-prepared for a long, continental campaign. The experience of the Boer War (1899–1902), however, had been invaluable in terms of the realisation of the need for indirect artillery fire, air observation (balloons, and latterly airships and aeroplanes) and rethinking survey and mapping requirements. After a slow start in 1914–16 (particularly with map reproduction plant in the field), the British rapidly adapted to the challenge of a new type of warfare, eventually creating a remarkably efficient field survey and mapping organisation which ended the war in a commanding position.

Scotland’s formal landscapes surveyed on General Roy’s military map of Scotland

ABSTRACTMature designed landscapes planted c. 1700 are visible on General Roy’s Great Map of Scotland (1747 to 1755). The Scottish formal style, or Scottish Historical Landscape as it is known, was developed by the landscapists Sir William Bruce and Alexander Edward, and by the outstanding designer John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, Secretary of State for Scotland and later leader the Jacobite Rising of 1715. Essentially French in form but with avenues directed on natural and historical sites, the Scottish style achieved unique characteristics. The essay argues that recognition of the style, which is long overdue, will enable its evaluation as a Scottish national historical resource. The study contributes to current research on the impact of French designing beyond the European centres, and it will help disentangle the Scottish style’s characteristics from the dominant historiographies of the Picturesque.A selection of sites on Roy’s map were traced through nineteenth-century maps and compared with surviving contemporary mapping resources including aerial and satellite photographs. This enabled an evaluation Roy’s reliability for identifying these landscapes: instances of misplaced features and misaligned avenues were found. In addition, the digitisation of Roy for the National Library of Scotland’s website has distorted distances but the map’s geometry is generally sound.The study disclosed unknown designed features such as splayed or perspectival avenues. Dice-style or quincuncial planting, panorama terraces and roundels have been noticed by other researchers but the study reveals them to be far more numerous than presently thought. Finally, a new type of landscape adapted to mountainous sites is described.

Comparative analysis of a characterization of the built-up area and settlement network on Polish topographic maps from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries

Abstract Built-up area is a particularly important element of the content of topographic maps. Its presentation changes significantly when map scales are reduced, due to both conceptual and graphic generalization. What is more, historically, changes in the depiction of built-up area were consequences of changes in the intended use of topographic maps, development of technology and changes in the cultural landscape, of which the built-up area is an important component.1 The authors describe the method of presentation of built-up areas on six Polish topographic maps or series of maps. The above-mentioned maps include the following: – Topograficzna Karta Królestwa Polskiego (Topographic Map of the Polish Kingdom) at the scale of 1:126,000 developed in 1822–1843; – topographic maps of the Polish Military Geographical Institute (MGI) at the scales of 1:25,000 and 1:100,000, published in 1930s; – a series of military maps (or military-civilian maps) at the scales of 1:10,000, 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:100,000, developed in 1956–1989, in accordance with the instruction for developing Soviet maps; – a series of civilian maps at the scales of 1:10,000, 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 developed after 1995. The basis for a quantitative comparison of the content of the maps was the number of categories of objects (identifications) which constitute part of built-up area and are presented on individual maps as symbols, as well as the number of characteristics represented by these symbols. These characteristics are divided into two basic types: functional characteristics and physiognomic characteristics. The analysis shows that military maps issued after the Second World War differ from the civilian maps, as they contain a much larger share of physiognomic characteristics, which is caused mainly from the fact that the vast majority of military maps distinguish between wooden and brick buildings. This difference was to large extent already noticeable among the oldest of the analysed maps – the Quartermaster’s Map and nineteenth-century Russian maps, which were partly modelled on the Quartermaster’s Map, and later also Soviet maps. Due to political reasons, the model of these Soviet maps was later adopted for the development of post-war Polish military maps. Out of all maps drawn up by military services, the inter-war MGI map serves special attention, as it was modelled on German maps. The main difference between military and civilian maps is foremost the fact that civilian maps include more functional characteristics of buildings and take into consideration new physiognomic characteristics related to residential development (compact, dense, multifamily dwellings, single family dwellings). The analysed maps include not only the characteristics of buildings and built-up area, but also information on the features of the town – population size, number of village houses and the administrative function.

Changes in woodland cover in the Karviná district from the second half of the 18th century to the beginning of the 21st century

Abstract This study analyses the changes in woodland cover from the mid-18th century to the turn of the 21st century in a distinctive region of the Czech Republic – the Karviná district. This region has been substantially affected by the process of industrialisation during the 19th and 20th centuries, which transformed a formerly agricultural landscape into a landscape heavily impacted by underground coal mining and related landscape processes. The occurrence of woodland cover in the Karviná district was determined from historical military maps (second half of the 18th century, first half of the 19th century, second half of the 19th century, first half of the 20th century) and from a colour orthophoto (2017) verified with reference to a contemporary map. The article interprets the occurrence of woodland cover depicted in the abovementioned sources and presents an interpretative key. The vectorisation of the woodland cover and the analysis of temporal–spatial changes in woodland cover were conducted using ArcGIS 10 software.

The Transformation of Relief Representation on Topographic Maps in Hungary: From Hachures to Contour Lines

ABSTRACTAlthough the maps of the Third and Fourth Military Surveys of the Austria–Hungarian Empire were classified, after its dissolution the new countries had access to the topographic maps covering their own territories. Lehmann’s slope hachures were used for representing relief, both at the survey scale and the derived scales. Contour lines were used to plan the hachures, which were the primary method of relief representation; therefore, most of the contour lines were removed from the final map. Following the political and administrative changes, a new organization, the independent Military Mapping Group was established in Hungary in 1919. After developing it into an institute, Hungary started a new topographic survey revising the former Austro-Hungarian 1:25 000 scale topographic maps. The revision changed the relief representation from hachures to contour lines and the language of the map lettering from German to Hungarian.

Hungarian Military Mapping Abroad 1919–1990

ABSTRACTThe Hungarian military cartography scarcely mapped foreign areas until World War II. The 1:50 000 survey of the areas occupied temporarily by Hungarian soldiers in the Soviet Union in 1941–1942 was an interesting event. The transformation of Hungary into a Soviet-type system was practically completed by 1950. Being part of the Warsaw Pact, the socialist countries systematically produced maps of the areas of NATO countries: 1:100 000 and 1:200 000 maps (and even smaller scale sheets of larger areas) were made. The topographic maps were completed with many city plans at larger scales. This type of city maps became a special product of Hungary: the Hungarians prepared maps of numerous cities lying outside the mapped area. The Hungarian army was thrown into open combat only once in the Cold War era when it took part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. This event also has its interest for cartography historians.

Urbanistička istorija lokacije Trga partizana od 16. veka do 1961. godine

The area on which the city is built Partisans square in Užice had a dynamic urban history which began to develop from the late 15th century as a series of objects along the street. During the 16th and 17th century the area was extensively developed and included in the physical structure of the city. During the Ottoman administration at the site was a city residential and business block recorded in the Austrian military maps from 1737. According to the sketch of the current situation of the burnt part of Užice in 1863 at the site of the cemetery records. The new plan of 1863 provides that the location of offices space for city beverages to trade grain. The plan from 1891 as a space defined by the following square. The plan of 1945 provides for the reconstruction of locations according to the principles of Modern architecture. Finally, in 1958, defined the solution of Partisans Square. This paper analyzes, step by step, urban location status since the 15th century until 1958, through the written sources, maps and plans.

Twentieth-century hydromorphological degradation of Polish Carpathian rivers

Case studies of the Soła, San and Dunajec rivers are used to demonstrate changes in planform geometry of the rivers draining the western and eastern parts of the flysch Polish Carpathians and those originating in the high-mountain Tatra massif since the second half of the nineteenth century. The number and width of low-flow channels and the length of river reaches are compared between the nineteenth-century and contemporary rivers, with analysis of other features of their planform geometry prevented by differences in the cartographic presentation of rivers on Austrian military maps and Polish topographic maps. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the rivers flowed in wide channels. The Soła supported a braided channel along its entire course, the Dunajec was mostly braided, with a single-thread channel within gorge sections, whereas for the San the braided pattern was limited to the reaches within intramontane and foreland basins. Over the twentieth century, the braided channel pattern was nearly completely eliminated and substituted by a single-thread pattern; multi-thread channel segments remained only in the upper course of the Dunajec River. Average low-flow-channel width significantly decreased, even by 66%, and this was accompanied by a reduction in the variability of low-flow channel width along the rivers. The change in planform channel geometry was accompanied by channel incision, which started earlier and has resulted in greater bed degradation in the foreland and foothill reaches of the rivers than in their mountain reaches. Twentieth-century river changes also encompassed a radical change in the facies pattern of channel sediments, accompanied by their coarsening and improved sorting and development of bed armour. Moreover, transformation of alluvial channel beds to bedrock ones took place in many reaches of Carpathian streams and rivers. The degradation of physical structure of Carpathian watercourses has resulted in adverse hydraulic and hydrological effects and a marked deterioration of habitat conditions for riverine biota.

NATO revolution in the Polish military cartography

Abstract The article presents a review of contemporary Polish military topographic maps, with special focus on those in the scale of 1:50,000. They are basic maps used in all armies of NATO countries at tactical stages. After the political breakthrough of 1989 Polish political elites saw the future of our country in the structures of Western Europe, but the Warsaw Pact still existed, and Soviet Army units were stationed in Poland and in the German Democratic Republic. All the Warsaw Pact countries used maps in the “1942” coordinate system and followed standardized rules of map elaboration. The article presents transformation of those maps into NATO standards, the first stage of which was elaboration of the, so-called, maps adapted to NATO standards. At the end of 1990s there started elaboration of a new topographic map of Poland in the scale of 1:50,000. The project involved preparation of a level 2 map, in NATO nomenclature known as VMap Level 2, and simultaneously using the same base for to generate 580 sheets of a paper map in 1:50,000. Map elaboration finished in 2006 and in the following years the project was enhanced with publication of new maps based on high-resolution image data. Since 2003 Polish cartographers have been participating in Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program (MGCP). Within the program high-resolution vector data is being prepared for selected areas of interest. They are mainly areas of current or potential military conflict, terrorist threat, ethnic or religious conflict, natural disaster, etc. MGCP data is not a ready product meant for direct usage, and without proper preparation it is simply unreadable. Therefore, special computer applications were developed to facilitate fast preparation of topographic maps in 1:50,000: MGCP Derived Graphic (MDG) and lately MGCP Topographic Map (MTM). Such maps differ from Polish topographic maps both in contents (to a lesser extent) and in graphic form (to a larger extent). They contain less objects, but include aerial information.

Analysis of performance on a modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test for the military

Purpose Current Army doctrine stresses a need for military leaders to have the capability to make flexible and adaptive decisions based on a future unknown environment, location and enemy. To assess a military decision maker’s ability in this context, this paper aims to modify the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test which assesses cognitive flexibility, into a military relevant map task. Thirty-four military officers from all service branches completed the map task. Design/methodology/approach The purpose of this study was to modify a current psychological task that measures cognitive flexibility into a military relevant task that includes the challenge of overcoming experiential bias, and understand underlying causes of individual variability in the decision-making and cognitive flexibility behavior of active duty military officers on this task. Findings Results indicated that non-perseverative errors were a strong predictor of cognitive flexibility performance on the map task. Decomposition of non-perseverative error into efficient errors and random errors revealed that participants who did not complete the map task changed their sorting strategy too soon within a series, resulting in a high quantity of random errors. Originality/value This study serves as the first step in customizing cognitive psychological tests for a military purpose and understanding why some military participants show poor cognitive flexibility.

How much did the soldiers dig? A quantification of WW1 remains in Argonne, France

AbstractThe Franco‐German front lines of the Argonne Forest in northern France, now partially preserved under forest cover, were the subject of a geoarchaeological survey that aimed at documenting the geomorphic impact of WW1 on battlefield topography. An archaeological field program, including pedestrian survey and excavation, was combined with geoarchaeological survey, archival research, and a large‐scale lidar survey, the goal being to map and quantify all surface war remains within the study area and their postwar morphological history. These data allowed for the calculation of variations in landscape relief (as displaced sediment volume) related to the construction of the trenches as well as sediment displaced through artillery shelling. Results show that displaced sediment volumes range between 1000 and 2000 m³/ha, and reflect the intensity of trench warfare on the landscape; we are able to document differences in trench building and maintenance between the French and German sides, as well as how artillery shelling altered the landscape. The lidar data, when combined with military maps produced during the war, as well as field verification, highlight the persistence of the now long‐abandoned trenches and wider landscape.

Improving User Access to Soviet Military Mapping: Current Issues in Libraries and Collections around the Globe

The collapse of the Soviet Union has seen the emergence of its unprecedentedly comprehensive global military mapping programme and the commercial availability of a vast number of detailed topographic maps and city plans at several scales. Many libraries and archives around the world are discovering and acquiring these maps and plans, developing vast potential to provide researchers in a variety of fields with a wealth of previously inaccessible topographic data. However, significant differences exist in the cataloguing, classification, translation and transliteration between and within the major collections, potentially limiting access to this important new resource. This paper presents a survey of how Soviet military city plans are described in the catalogues of forty libraries and highlights these inconsistencies. It proposes a method for their description that is based on an identification of key sheet characteristics, with a view to facilitating the cataloguing of new acquisitions and improving access to these important sources for current and future users.

Our survey says... [mapping the built environment

Maps, apart from helping travellers, could also be powerful weapons. All maps in the Soviet Union carried deliberate errors to mislead mysterious Western spies with purposeful paranoia-driven deviations. There were no mistakes - deliberate or otherwise - in the Soviet cartographers' military maps of the West; the Maps of the 20th century exhibition in the British Library holds a 1980s map of Brighton as a possible nuclear strike target, describing every single dwelling, warehouse and workshop in minute detail.

Long term changes in water areas and wetlands in an intensively farmed landscape: A case study from the Czech Republic

Abstract The landscape of the Czech Republic currently faces droughts that are caused by several factors. One of the reasons for drought is landscape development and land cover changes. Changes in water and wetland areas and streams were studied by comparing old military maps and the present state. Water and wetland areas in fertile lowlands significantly decreased over time; the landscape was continuously dried out with the aim of increasing agricultural and woody production. While water and wetland areas occupied nearly one-third of the study area (Nové Dvory and Žehušice micro-regions in Central Bohemia) at the end of the 18th century, the present share of these areas is only 3.5%. There was a decrease of approximately 10% in each period, and nearly all of these areas disappeared by the end of the 19th century. Water and wetland areas were changed primarily to arable land. The length of streams decreased by the end of the 19th century. Drainage and irrigation channels were built during the 20th century, and although they are only periodic or episodic streams, these channels increased the total length of streams.

Prelude to War: The Russian Siege and Storming of the Fortress of Ganjeh, 1803–4

This essay is the full account, the first in English, of the correspondence between the Russian general, Paul Tsitsianov, and the governor of the khanate of Ganjeh, Javād Khān Qajar. Drawing on contemporary Russian and Iranian records, it includes a daily account of Tsitsianov’s preparation, siege and the storming of the fortress of Ganjeh, which led to the First Russo-Iranian War (1804–13). The essay further includes two special maps—the first is the map of the South Caucasus in 1800 and the route of the invasion; while the second is based on a rare Russian military map that reveals the siege and storming of the fortress.

Utilization of Historical Maps in the Land Use Change Impact Studies: A Case Study from Myjava River Basin

Abstract The way land is used has a significant impact on many hydrological processes that determine the generation of flood runoff or soil erosion. Advancements in remote sensing which took place in the second half of the 20th century have led to the rise of a new research area focused on analyses of land use changes and their impact on hydrological processes. This study deals with an analysis of the changes in land use over a period of almost three centuries in the Myjava River catchment, which has an outlet at Šaštín-Stráže. In order to obtain information about the way the land was used in the past, three historical mappings representing various periods were used: the first (1st) military mapping (1764-1787), second (2nd) military mapping (1807-1869), and a military topographic mapping (1953-1957). The historical mappings have been manually vectorised in an ArcGIS environment to identify various land use categories. The historical evolution of land use was further compared with a concurrent land use mapping, which was undertaken in 2010 and exploited remote sensing techniques. The study also quantifies the impact of these changes on the long-term catchment runoff as well as their impact on flows induced by extreme precipitation events. This analysis was performed using the WetSpa distributed hydrological model, which enables the simulation of catchment runoff in a daily time step. The analysis showed that the selected catchment has undergone significant changes in land use, mainly characterized by massive deforestation at the end of the 18th century and land consolidation in the middle of the 20th century induced by communist collectivisation. The hydrological simulations demonstrated that the highest and lowest mean annual runoffs were simulated in the first (1st military mapping) and the last (concurrent land use monitoring) time intervals respectively with the smallest and largest percentages of forested areas.