GeoPortOst

Thematic and Hidden Maps of Eastern and Southeastern Europe

GeoPortOst is the specialist portal of the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) for cartographic materials on Eastern Europe. It offers online access to digitised and geolocated maps from the IOS library and partner institutions.

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Technology

The digitised maps are available as high-resolution TIFFs and GeoTIFFs. They can be downloaded free of charge and annotated collaboratively using Recogito. Most of the maps were georeferenced using Klokan Technologies' Georeferencer. The geoportal was developed at the IOS as a discovery system based on Django.

Over 3400 Maps

About the map collection

GeoPortOst contains more than 3400 maps, primarily from 19th and 20th century works on Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

The collection focuses on hidden thematic maps, i.e. maps printed in research literature, on the history, ethnography and economic and social conditions of the region. The portal also includes historical maps from the Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG) and the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | Georg Eckert Institute (GEI). GeoPortOst was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2014 to 2019.

Advanced Search

There are numerous filter options offering a variety of different ways to access the maps. You can search not only by bibliographic details, but also by place name, keyword, time period or map type.

Search by Bounding Box

On the map displayed in the Geoportal, you can navigate directly to the region of interest. You can zoom in on the map using "-/+" or the mouse wheel. Select the relevant area by holding down the right mouse button and marking a rectangle. You can narrow down the results according to the following criteria:

Map must be fully inside the search area.
Map must be partially inside the search area.
Map can contain the search area inside it.

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