Find a sheet with an image

Cambridge’s MAHSA project announcement of 11 February 2026 separates 480 digitised map sheets from metadata for 1,245 maps. Those are the project’s announced holdings, not a count independently made for this guide. Some British Library records have no accompanying image. Follow the individual record’s image link rather than assuming every search result is a readable scan. The Cambridge collection also distinguishes one-inch, half-inch and quarter-inch map series. Record the series and sheet number before comparing maps: sheets covering the same place can represent different amounts of detail. A database’s geographical search is a way to find evidence, not the evidence for a boundary itself.[1][2]

Separate the survey from publication

The Cambridge record for Punjab sheet 39 J/11 provides a precise example. It dates the survey to 1907–1908 and publication at Calcutta to 1909, with a scale of 1:63,360. Its description places the sheet in Dera Ghazi Khan district and distinguishes western highlands, a central plain and eastern settlements and infrastructure. The classmark and alternative identifier HM-000003 help identify this particular sheet. These are inspected catalogue statements; the map’s small printed margins were not read here. Keep survey and publication dates in separate fields, and verify the actual legend before making a more detailed claim about a road, canal or settlement.[3]

Retain the historical district title

UWM’s record identifies another sheet as Lyallpur and Montgomery districts, Punjab, number 44 F/N.W., first edition 1936, at 1:126,720. Its digital identifier is am021830. Preserve the historical title in the citation even when searching with a later place-name. Catalogue subject headings include Sahiwal and Pakistan, while another geographical field says India. Those fields serve different retrieval purposes; copying one as a statement of present geography would mislead. The whole sheet was viewed, but its small legend was not transcribed. No parcel boundary or precise canal alignment is inferred from this catalogue example.[4]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. MAHSA Project and Cambridge University Library. Explore Historic Maps of South Asia with MAHSA & Cambridge University Library ↗Inspected institutional source · Source date: 2026-02-11 · Locator: Complete announcement: 480 image sheets, 1,245 metadata records and distinction between Cambridge images and British Library metadata. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete static article retrieved and read after the text reader returned 403. Announcement counts are attributed, not independently verified current holdings. Text licence CC BY 4.0 does not by itself establish every map image’s rights.Return to Find a sheet with an image, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Cambridge University Library. Survey of India Maps: collection overview ↗Inspected institutional source · Source date: Undated; checked 2026-11-01 · Locator: Rendered overview: one-inch, half-inch and quarter-inch series; Maps.360.01 and Maps.360.02. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual rendered collection overview read. Conservatively pooled with the MAHSA access announcement; linked research papers were not read for this paragraph.Return to Find a sheet with an image, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Survey of India; Cambridge University Library. Punjab (No. 39 J/11) ↗Inspected institutional source · Source date: Survey 1907–1908; publication 1909 according to record · Locator: Rendered item metadata: publication, date of survey, scale 1:63,360, classmark and alternative ID HM-000003; ARK ark:/12090/cula/cvtc4h20b. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete rendered item metadata read. High-resolution printed margins and legend were not examined. The survey date is not substituted for publication; no specific mapped line or boundary is analysed.Return to Separate the survey from publication, paragraph 1 ↑
  4. Survey of India; University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Libraries, American Geographical Society Library. Lyallpur and Montgomery districts, Punjab, No. 44 F/N.W. ↗Inspected institutional source · Source date: 1936; first edition according to catalogue · Locator: Rendered item metadata: title, edition, scale, original ID and digital ID; whole-sheet image viewed. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete rendered catalogue metadata and whole-sheet image inspected. Small printed legend and marginal text were not transcribed. Original ID 430-b A-1:126,720/no.44F/N.W.; digital ID am021830.Return to Retain the historical district title, paragraph 1 ↑
Help improve this entry. Suggest a correction with a source.
Record PH-COL-0042 · English edition · human review not performed