Geo-referenced Great War Trench Maps
Great War Digital has sought to bring you the most complete archive possible of the trench maps printed by the British Army Royal Engineers during the Great War of 1914-1918.
The four years of relatively static warfare, entailed the excavation of thousands of miles of trenches and static fortifications.
In the
intervening 90 years, much of this legacy has been filled in by man, and
reclaimed by nature, and has disappeared from view into the rolling fields of France and Belgium.
All that
remains to locate the places where our ancestors fought and died are the trench
maps.
These maps
now reside in our national institutions, such as the National Archives, the Imperial War Museum,
and the Royal Geographical Society, and in smaller numbers in private
collections throughout the world.
Great War
Digital have searched the archives of these institutions, and visited numerous
private collections over five years, to scan a selection of maps in 1:10,000,
1:20,000 & 1:40,000 scale.
A full list of approximately 2000 individual maps currently published with our
LinesMan 10 & LinesMan 20 DVD products is available at Map List .
LinesMan 10 Map Key
LinesMan 20 Map Key
Overview
The extent
of the trench lines covered by maps included with the LinesMan 10 & LinesMan 20
products is shown above, covering an area of the British sector of the front,
from Zeebrugge in Belgium,
down to St Gobain in France
for LinesMan 10 and LinesMan 20 reaches the northern outskirts of Reims. The dates
covered range from 1915 and the Battle of Loos, to the last days of the war in
1918.
Each map is
included in as many editions, for as many dates of correction that it has been
possible to find. The right click 'Maps at Cursor' feature produces a list of
all editions at that location from which to choose. The above Map Keys give an
idea of numbers for overall coverage in 1:10,000 & 1:20,000 scales, but
each square has many maps available to view within it.
The maps
are 'geo-referenced' into real world co-ordinates, which makes it is easy to
navigate between maps on screen and, also, enables the maps to be displayed on
an up to date GPS device. When LinesMan
10 and / or LinesMan 20 are used in conjunction with LinesMan NGI Belgium and /
or Memory-Map Premium Edition Nord Picardie - Champagne Ardennes it is possible
to swap the views between modern maps and aerial photography and maps of The
Great War and also access 3D terrain modelling features. The vector trench
overlays shown on the Map Keys above can also be superimposed on the Belgian
NGI and French IGN modern mapping and aerial photography. The vector overlay
has been created as a direct copied overlay of each trench map that is in the
system. It includes all major front line trenches, and significant reserve
trenches.
All the
major trench lines have been re-created as vectors (electronic lines). Any
Trench Map that shows a section of front line trench with no-mans land in
between, has been copied with a thick blue line for British, and a thick red
line for German. In addition, any significant lines of support have been copied
using a thinner line. The purpose is to allow the overlays to be viewed over
the whole map collection and aerial photography to assist with the location of
the main battle areas.
The set of
10,000 and 20,000 vector lines shown above, can be turned on and off
independently (see the Getting Started page for guidance)
What's Next?
Great War
Digital, with LinesMan 10 & LinesMan 20, publishes a comprehensive digital archive
of British maps covering their sectors of the Western Front between 1915 and
the end of 1918. The original ambition
has been to map the Western Front from all the major combatants'
perspectives. This is a colossal task to
seek out suitable material for scanning, agree commercial permissions as
necessary, post process digital images, resolve technical cartographic issues,
geo-reference individual images and finally compile coherent products for sale.
Great War Digital holds an extensive archive
of digital images yet to be published, although many map sets within the
archive are incomplete. Potentially,
with access available to other archives to complete map sets, it may be
possible to produce the following.
Western Front French
Army trench maps
Western Front French
Official History maps
Western Front British
Official History maps
Western Front British
tunnellers' maps
Western Front British aerial photography - photographs from which
trench map detail was produced
Western Front American maps - based on French Army trench maps
Western Front German Army trench maps
Gallipoli British and Turkish maps
The
constraints are the time required and costs involved to complete all of the
above. Also, as any other business, it
is important to ensure that product sales potential, particularly in such a
niche area, justifies the initial investment in time and cost.
We will shortly be offfering a LinesMan Forum on this website where you will be invited to contribute your views on the above, which will enable Great War
Digital to thoughtfully consider user preferences such that ongoing product
development may be prioritised to meet market needs.
Thank
you.
Digital Maps of the Great War - at the touch of a button!