French cartography underwent a major transformation with the introduction of the Ministry of the Interior map, often referred to as the Vicinal Service map. Succeeding the famous Cassini maps and the General Staff Map, it represents a crucial turning point in French cartographic production. Launched at the end of the 19th century, this map is distinguished by its aesthetics, practicality and modernity, meeting the civil and administrative needs of the time.
The Vicinal Service map, a response to the limits of the General Staff map
Historically, cartographic production in France was the preserve of the Dépôt de la Guerre, and therefore focused on military needs. However, towards the end of the 1870s, the deficiencies of the General Staff Map became apparent, particularly criticized for its excessively large scale and its hatching, which made it difficult to read.
After the failure of the Franco-Prussian War and the resulting decline in the influence of the Ministry of War, the Ministries of the Interior and Public Works took the initiative in 1878 to create a new map, better suited to civilian use: the Vicinal Service map.
Cherbourg Vicinal Service Map (IX-10)
The creation of the Vicinal Service map
The creation of this map was placed under the direction of Édouard Antoine, Chief Engineer at the Ministry of the Interior. With a team dedicated to this project, they used the most precise information at their disposal, drawing a large part of the data from the General Staff Map. The municipal agents attached to the Ministry of the Interior were responsible for collecting data on the ground, particularly concerning the status of the roads, which justifies the name "Vicinal Service map".
Each map bore the name of the most important locality it represented and was numbered according to its position on the assembly table by the number of its column (from II to XXXI) and its row (from 4 to 43).
A notable innovation was the use of four different colours to improve clarity: green for forests, blue for hydrography, red for populated areas and communication routes, and black for other details.
The Vicinal Service map in a few figures
- Scale 1:100,000 : Simplifying the representation, 1 cm on the map is equivalent to 1 km on the ground.
- 587 sheets : The total number of sheets needed to cover the whole of France.
- 28 x 45 km : Each sheet covers an area of 28 x 45 km, allowing a detailed and exhaustive view of the territory.