Digital and Print Literature Relevant to Historical Maps of Galicia

This page of the Gesher Galicia Map Room organizes and presents written references regarding historical maps and the sciences of surveying and cartography applicable to Galicia in the past and the present, as well as the use of old maps of Galicia (its borders, landscapes, and settlements) as tools for historical research on social, family, cultural, and economic themes. Both print and digital resources are listed, with links to free online versions wherever possible.

The source categories below include modern Austrian land survey organizations (inheritors of the former royal administrations which produced the immensely valuable cadastral maps of Galicia); proceedings from archival, cartographic, historical, mathematical, and genealogical conferences; a sampling of online encyclopedia articles; articles from genealogical research journals focused on East Central Europe; and articles from other resources such as textbooks, scientific association websites, and blogs.

• Publications of the Austrian BEV and OÖLA
• Conference proceedings and presentations
• Wikipedia articles and Wikimedia Commons data
• Articles in The Galitzianer
• Articles in the East European Genealogist
• Articles on Forgotten Galicia
• Other online references
• Other print references

These categories do not include physical and online archives and other collections of maps. For linked lists of resources which preserve and/or provide maps of former Galicia, see the Sources page in the Map Room.

Publications of the Austrian Bundesamtes für Eich- und Vermessungswesen (BEV) and the Oberösterreichisches Landesarchiv (OÖLA):

• Susanne Fuhrmann, Digitale Historische Geobasisdaten im Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen (BEV) Die Urmappe des Franziszeischen Kataster (Digital historical geobase data in the Federal Office for Calibration and Surveying (BEV): The original documents of the Franciscan Cadastre), BEV, 2007.
• Zeichenerklärung von 1824 für den Historischen Kataster – Urmappe (Explanation of symbols from 1824 for the historical cadastre - original document), BEV, no date.
• Franziszeischer Kataster – Blatteckwerte (Franciscan Cadastre – Sheet Corner Coordinates), BEV, 2021.
• 200 Jahre Kataster – Österreichisches Kulturgut 1817 - 2017 (200 years of cadastre - Austrian cultural assets 1817 - 2017), BEV, 2017.
• Katastral Vermessungs Instruktion 1820 (Cadastral Surveying Instruction 1820), BEV, no date [1820].
• Detailinfo der digitalen Urmappe OÖ (Detailed information on the digital original maps of Upper Austria), OÖLA, no date.
• Legende 1820 (Cadastral Map Legend 1820), OÖLA, no date [1820].

Conference proceedings and presentations:

• Baiocchi et al., Reconstruction of historical geodetic systems for their implementation in reprojection algorithms, paper presented at GEORES 2019 – 2nd International Conference of Geomatics and Restoration, Milan Italy, 2019.
• Dominika Kuśnierz-Krupa, Issue of Protecting Historic Urban Layouts of Small Towns in South-Eastern Poland – On Selected Examples, paper presented at the World Multidisciplinary Civil Engineering-Architecture-Urban Planning Symposium in Prague, 22Jun2018.
• Ed Mitukiewicz, “Location, Location, Location: How Historical Maps Can Help to Identify and Locate Your Ancestral Towns” (resource list), IAJGS Cleveland, 2019.
• Jay Osborn, Cadastral Maps: Visualizing the Franciscan Survey, Gesher Galicia Symposium at AGAD in Warsaw, 07Aug2018.
• Biszak et al., Historical topographic and cadastral maps of Europe in spotlight – Evolution of the MAPIRE map portal, paper presented at the 12th ICA Conference "Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage", Venice Italy, 2017.
• Jay Osborn and Marla Raucher Osborn, "Cadastral Maps in Galician Genealogical and Historical Research", paper presented at the second annual conference "Religious and National Issues in Contemporary Polish, Slovakian, and Ukrainian Research in the Carpathian Euroregion: Historical, Sociological, and Political Aspects", Jarosław, Poland, 2016 (published 2017).
• Jay Osborn, "Historical Cadastral Maps for Locating and Sizing Old Jewish Cemeteries"(slides plus text), panel presentation at the Rothschild Foundation conference "European Jewish Cemeteries: An Interdisciplinary Conference", Vilnius Lithuania, 2015.
• András Sipos, "The cadastral heritage of the Habsburg Empire – necessity and possibilities of 'virtual reunification' of a divided and scattered source material", paper published online in the forum "En route to a shared Identity - Sources on the history of Central Europe in the Digital Age", on hypotheses.org, a project of OpenEdition; 30 November 2014.
• Biszak et al., Cartographic heritage of the Habsburg Empire on the web: the MAPIRE initiative, paper presented at the 9th ICA Conference "Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage", Budapest Hungary, 2014.
• Gábor Molnár et al., Can the First Military Survey maps of the Habsburg Empire (1763-1790) be georeferenced by an accuracy of 200 meters?, paper presented at the 9th ICA Conference "Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage", Budapest Hungary, 2014.
• Marla Raucher Osborn, "Historic Cadastral Maps as a Resource for Genealogists: Rohatyn 1846 Map as Example", lecture presented at the May 2014 Tel Aviv-Dan Branch meeting of The Israel Genealogical Society, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• András Sipos, "Cadastral Maps – Ideal Field for International Archival Cooperation", paper presented at the ENArC/Icarus workshop "Cartography and Cadastral Maps: Visions from the Past, for a Vision of Our Future", SNS Pisa Italy, 2013.
• Enikő Török, "Step by Step: Digitisation Projects of Cadastral Documents in the Central Archive of National Archives of Hungary, Budapest", paper presented at the ENArC/Icarus workshop "Cartography and Cadastral Maps: Visions from the Past, for a Vision of Our Future", SNS Pisa Italy, 2013.
• Pamela Weisberger, "Gesher Galicia's Cadastral Map and Landowner Project: A Virtual Recreation of a Vanished Province", paper presented at the ENArC/Icarus workshop "Cartography and Cadastral Maps: Visions from the Past, for a Vision of Our Future", SNS Pisa Italy, 2013.
• Jay Osborn, "Gesher Galicia's Online Cadastral Map Room: Evolution and Opportunities", paper presented at the ENArC/Icarus workshop "Cartography and Cadastral Maps: Visions from the Past, for a Vision of Our Future", SNS Pisa Italy, 2013.
• Anna Sokół, "Cadastral Maps in Poland", paper presented at the ENArC/Icarus workshop "Cadastral Maps Network", Poznań Poland, 2011.
• Gábor Timár and Sándor Biszak, Digitizing and georeferencing of the historical cadastral maps (1856-60) of Hungary, paper presented at the 5th International Workshop on Digital Approaches in Cartographic Heritage, Vienna Austria 2010.
• Susanne Fuhrmann, The Historic Cadastre 1817 – 1861, Icarus Cadastral Maps Network initial meeting, Budapest, 2010 (published 2012).

Wikipedia articles and Wikimedia Commons data:

• Galicia (Eastern Europe)
• Cadastre (in English)
• Kataster (Cadastre) (in German)
• Franziszeischer Kataster (Franciscan/Stabile Land Survey) (in German)
• Cadastral Community
• Surveying
• Cadastral Surveying
• Cartography
• Topographic Map

Articles in The Galitzianer:

Note: Gesher Galicia's quarterly research journal The Galitzianer is a benefit of membership in the organization. Past issues of the journal are searchable and also available for download in the Gesher Galicia Members Portal.

• Jay Osborn, "New Interactive Data Maps"; The Galitzianer, March 2022, Volume 29, No. 1.
• Jay Osborn, "Cadastral Map Legends"; The Galitzianer, June 2021, Volume 28, No. 2.
• Jay Osborn, "Tutorial: Understanding Cadastral Maps"; The Galitzianer, March 2021, Volume 28, No. 1.
• Jay Osborn, "A Rare Sketch of Gródek"; The Galitzianer, December 2020, Volume 27, No. 4.
• Jay Osborn, "1850 Cadastral Map of Gorlice"; The Galitzianer, December 2019, Volume 26, No. 4.
• Jay Osborn, "New Finds: Old Regional Maps"; The Galitzianer, September 2019, Volume 26, No. 3.
• Jay Osborn, "Lwów University on the Move"; The Galitzianer, June 2019, Volume 26, No. 2.
• Jay Osborn, "Rediscovering Old Jewish Cemeteries in Galicia"; The Galitzianer, March 2019, Volume 26, No. 1.
• Jay Osborn, "Nadwórna 1847 Field Sketch"; The Galitzianer, December 2018, Volume 25, No. 4.
• Jay Osborn, "No Quiet on the Eastern Front"; The Galitzianer, September 2018, Volume 25, No. 3.
• Jay Osborn, "One Town’s Story in WWI"; The Galitzianer, June 2018, Volume 25, No. 2.
• Jay Osborn, "My First Galician Map: Rohatyn"; The Galitzianer, March 2018, Volume 25, No. 1.
• Jay Osborn, "A Jewel in the Crown: The Kraków 1856 Cadastral Map"; The Galitzianer, December 2017, Volume 24, No. 4.
• Jay Osborn, "Moving Pictures: The Sokal 1854 Cadastral Map"; The Galitzianer, September 2017, Volume 24, No. 3.
• Andrew Zalewski, "Research Project Updates: Josephine and Franciscan Surveys Project"; The Galitzianer, September 2017, Volume 24, No. 3.
• Jay Osborn, "Jewish Community Sites in 19th Century Kopyczyńce"; The Galitzianer, June 2017, Volume 24, No. 2.
• Jay Osborn, "House Numbers and Building Parcels: Research with the Rozdół Cadastral Map of 1850"; The Galitzianer, March 2017, Volume 24, No. 1.
• Jay Osborn, "Synagogues of the 'Kraków Suburb' of Lemberg"; The Galitzianer, December 2016, Volume 23, No. 4.
• Jay Osborn, "Austrian, Polish & Soviet Street Maps of Lwów (Lemberg, Lvov)"; The Galitzianer, September 2016, Volume 23, No. 3.
• Jay Osborn, "Partnership with POLIN Museum on Printed Cadastral Maps"; The Galitzianer, June 2016, Volume 23, No. 2.
• Jay Osborn, "Łańcut Cadastral Map 1849"; The Galitzianer, June 2016, Volume 23, No. 2.
• Jay Osborn, "Gesher Galicia Publishes Its 100th Cadastral Map!"; The Galitzianer, March 2016, Volume 23, No. 1.
• Andrew Zalewski, "Early Galician Population Surveys: Hidden Genealogical Gems"; The Galitzianer, March 2016, Volume 23, No. 1.
• Jay Osborn, "1825 Cadastral Map of Obertyn"; The Galitzianer, March 2016, Volume 23, No. 1.
• Pamela Weisberger, "Interpreting Unusual Galician Records & Creating a Narrative"; The Galitzianer, March 2014, Volume 21, No. 1.
• Jay Osborn, "Gesher Galicia's Online Cadastral Map Room: Evolution and Opportunities"; The Galitzianer, September 2013, Volume 20, No. 3.
• Pamela Weisberger, "Gesher Galicia’s Cadastral Map and Landowner Records Project: A Virtual Recreation of a Vanished Province"; The Galitzianer, September 2013, Volume 20, No. 3.
• Pamela Weisberger, "Gesher Galicia Map Room"; The Galitzianer, June 2012, Volume 19, No. 2.
• Racheli Kreisberg, "The As Yet Unrevealed Secrets of the Skala House Number Project"; The Galitzianer, November 2010, Volume 18, No. 1.

Articles in the East European Genealogist:

Note: The quarterly research journal of the East European Genealogical Society is a benefit of membership in the organization, and is available only in print format. The contents of past issues of the journal are searchable online and some issues are available for purchase. The special issue Vol. 13 No. 3 (Spring 2005) was entirely focused on cadastral maps and records of Galicia.

• Victor O. Buyniak (trans.), "Preface to The Josephinian (1785-1788) and Franciscan (1819-1820) Cadastres"; East European Genealogist, Winter 2021, Volume 30, No. 2.
• John D. Pihach, "Examples and Analysis of Entries from the Josephinian and Franciscan Cadastres"; East European Genealogist, Winter 2021, Volume 30, No. 2.
• Brian J. Lenius, "Austrian Gemeindelexikon: The Galician Example"; East European Genealogist, Fall 2021, Volume 30, No. 1.
• Brian J. Lenius, "Austrian First and Second Military Map Series: An Update to 'die Josephinische Landesaufnahme' and 'die Franziszeische Landesaufnahme"; East European Genealogist, Fall 2019, Volume 28, No. 1.
• Bronisław Gustawicz (trans. William F. Hoffman), "Galicia, Part Two" (from the Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego); East European Genealogist, Fall 2016, Volume 25, No. 1.
• Bronisław Gustawicz (trans. William F. Hoffman), "Galicia, Part One" (from the Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego); East European Genealogist, Summer 2016, Volume 24, No. 4.
• Brian J. Lenius, "House Numbers and House Names in the Austrian Empire Using Examples and Documents from Galicia"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2016, Volume 24, No. 3.
• Brian J. Lenius, "'NeuDorf' German Colonies in Galicia (Galizien)"; East European Genealogist, Winter 2015, Volume 24, No. 2.
• William F. Hoffman, "Making Sense of Polish and Ukrainian Place Names"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2015, Volume 23, No. 3.
• John D. Pihach, "Ancestors, Baedekers, and Railroads"; East European Genealogist, Winter 2008, Volume 17, No. 2.
• John D. Pihach, "Lesser-Known land Records of the Austrian Crownlands of Galicia and Bukovyna (Bukowina)"; East European Genealogist, Summer 2007, Volume 15, No. 4.
• Gabriele Wessely, "An Overview of the Cadastral Surveys in the Austrian Empire"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2005, Volume 13, No. 3.
• Brian J. Lenius, "Cadastral Land Surveys and Maps for Galicia, Austria"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2005, Volume 13, No. 3.
• Bogusław Bobusia, "The Collection of Cadastral Surveys, Maps, and Operational Materials of the Galician Cadastre in Polish and Ukrainian Archives; Part 1 – The Volume and Distribution of the Resources"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2005, Volume 13, No. 3.
• Orest Maciuk, "The Collection of Cadastral Surveys, Maps, and Operational Materials of the Galician Cadastre Stored in the Central State Historical Archives in Lviv. National Commission of Land Taxes 1813-1939"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2005, Volume 13, No. 3.
• Wiachesław Kucynda, "Topographic and Cartographic Material Resources of the Oblast State Archives in L'viv; Review of Sources"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2005, Volume 13, No. 3.
• Roland Banduch, "Information on the Austrian Cadastral Materials Preserved by the Katowice State Archives in the Cieszyn and Żywiec Branches"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2005, Volume 13, No. 3.
• Zbigniew Dyrdoń, "Information on the Galician Cadastre in the Kraków State Archive"; East European Genealogist, Spring 2005, Volume 13, No. 3.
• Brian J. Lenius, "Josephinian Land Survey Maps: 'Josephinischen Landesaufnahme' at the War Archive 'Kriegsarchiv' in Vienna"; East European Genealogist, Spring 1997, Vol. 5, No. 3.
• Terry Ford, "Austrian Archive Maps of Galicia and Bukovina"; East European Genealogist, Spring 1996, Vol. 4, No. 3.
• John D. Pihach, "Obtaining Galician Maps from Vienna's Kriegsarchiv"; East European Genealogist, March 1995, Vol. 3, No. 3.
• John D. Pihach, "Ukrainian Research in Poland"; East European Genealogist, December 1993, Vol. 2, No. 2.
• John-Paul Himka, "A Neglected Source for Family History in Western Ukraine: The Josephinian and Franciscan Land Cadastres"; East European Genealogist, December 1992, Vol. 1, No. 2

Articles on the website Forgotten Galicia:

Note: The carefully-researched articles on the Forgotten Galicia blog site which focuses on multicultural Galicia frequently feature historical maps of villages, towns, cities, regions, and landscapes as illustration and explanation. The posts linked below go further, incorporating historical maps of all types as tools in the research itself, revealing facets of past life in the Kingdom not entirely visible in other source types.

• Areta Kovalska, Lviv’s Austrian-Era Municipal Cemeteries, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 17Jul2021.
• Areta Kovalska, How Lviv’s Neighborhoods Got Their Names, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), D05Jun2021.
• Areta Kovalska, ‘Schranken’ & ‘Rogatkas’: Lviv’s Austrian-Era Tollgates, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 20Mar2021.
• Areta Kovalska, Austrian Military Barracks in Lviv – Part II, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 12Apr2020.
• Areta Kovalska, Austrian Military Barracks in Lviv – Part I, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 02Nov2019.
• Areta Kovalska, Five Fun Facts about the Galician General Regional Exhibition of 1894, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 27Jul2019.
• Areta Kovalska, Kastelówka: Lviv’s First Attempt at a ‘Garden City’, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 15Jun2019.
• Areta Kovalska, Königsau: Galicia’s Pentagon-Shaped German Colony, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 04Jan2019.
• Iwona Dakiniewicz, German Colonization in Galicia, Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 16Jul2018.
• Areta Kovalska, Historical Maps of Galicia (1775-1918), Forgotten Galicia (blogsite), 05Feb2018.

Other online references:

• Catastrum: Évnegyedes katasztertörténeti folyóirat (Catastrum: Quarterly Cadastral Research Journal), a project of the Hungarian National Archives and Herman Ottó Intézet Nonprofit Kft.
• Arcanum Maps (see especially the section on the three military surveys of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian empires).
• International Cartographic Association (see especially the sections on Commissions and Publications).


• Felix Gundacker, Die Besitzer der Bauparzellen in Niederösterreich im Franziszeischen Kataster 1817-1824 (The owners of the building plots in Lower Austria in the Franciscan cadastre 1817-1824), GenTeam.at, 2020.
• Michal Forejt et al., Quantifying inconsistencies in old cadastral maps and their impact on land-use reconstructions; Journal of Land Use Science, May 2020, Vol. 15, No. 4.
• Enikő Török, Föld- és háztulajdonosok kataszteri nyilvántartásai (Cadastral records of land and homeowners); Catastrum, March 2020, Vol. 7, No. 1.
• Using Cadastral Maps of Galicia, From Shepherds to Shoemakers (blogsite), 26Sep2018.
• Zbigniew Stettner, Cadastral records for Galicia online, Polish Origins (blogsite), no date.
• A legend to cadastral maps of Galicia; Jewish Family Search blog, 06Jun2016.
• Brian J. Lenius, House Numbers in Galician Records; FamilySearch Wiki, 26Nov2015.
• Rumpler, et al., Der Franziszeische Kataster im Kronland Bukowina Czernowitzer Kreis (1817–1865): Statistik und Katastralmappen, Böhlau Verlag, 2015.
• Gábor Molnár and Gábor Timár, Inversion application in cartography: Estimation of the parameters of the best fitting Cassini-projections of the First Habsburg Military Survey, in Geosciences and Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 6 (2015), pp. 36–44.
• Mark Monmonier, ed., The History of Cartography; Vol. 6: Cartography in the Twentieth Century; University of Chicago Press, 2015.
• Map of Drohobych (1853); Jewish Family Search blog, 24Apr2014.
• Gábor Timár and Gábor Molnár, Map grids and datums, Eötvös Loránd University, 2013.
• Stabile cadastre; My Czech Roots blog, November 2013.
• Kurt Scharr, Der Franziszeische Grundsteuerkataster 1817-1866 (The Franciscan Land Tax Register 1817-1866); Tiroler Chronist, 2013, No. 128.
• Timár at al., Digitized Maps of the Habsburg Military Surveys – Overview of the Project of ARCANUM Ltd. (Hungary), in M. Jobst (ed.), Preservation in Digital Cartography, Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, Springer-Verlag, 2011.
• Stephen L. Egbert and Karen G. R. Roekard, Geospatial Genealogy: Visualizing and Exploring Ancestral Places, Avotaynu Online, 01Apr2010.
• R. Zimová, J. Pešťák, B. Veverka, "Historical Military Mappings of the Czech Lands - Cartographic Analysis"; Proceedings of the First International Conference on Cartography and GIS, Borovets, 2006
• Gábor Timár et al., Digitized maps of the Habsburg Empire – The map sheets of the second military survey and their georeferenced version, booklet, Arcanum, 2006.
• Andrey Achasov, About Ukrainian Public Cadastral Map; 50°North blog, 10Aug2016.
• Franciszek Faluszczak, Kartografia Galicji Wschodniej w latach 1772-1914: ewolucja form i gatunków (Cartography of Eastern Galicia between 1772-1914: evolution of forms and genres), doctoral dissertation, University of Rzeszów Institute of History, 2008 (via PBC/dlibra).

Other print references:

• Galicja na józefińskiej mapie topograficznej 1779–1783 / Die Josephinische Landesaufnahme von Galizien 1779–1783 (The Josephine Land Survey of Galicia 1779–1783), Wydawnictwo Antykwa and Towarzystwo Naukowe "Societas Vistulana", 2012~2022.
• Jay Osborn, "Cadastral maps and registers in family history research", article published in Shemot, the journal of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, April 2014.
• Roger J. P. Kain and Elizabeth Baigent, "The Cadastral Map in the Service of the State – A History of Property Mapping", University of Chicago Press, 1993.