El levantamiento del Mapa de Españatrabajos geodésicos, topográficos y catastrales (1853-1883). Análisis actuales aplicando Tecnologías de la Información Geográfica

Abstract

This Ph.D. Thesis called Mapping Spain: geodetic, topographic and cadastral surveys (1853-1883); Current usages in combination with Geographic Information Technologies is approached from the perspectives of Geography and Geodetic & Cartographic Engineering. On the one hand, many documents from the 19th century found at the Topographic Archive of the National Geographic Institute of Spain are disclosed and examined for the first time. They are related to the geodetic, topographic and cadastral surveys accomplished in the mid-19th century by the various predecessor institutions of the current Geographic Institute. On the other hand, these old maps are used in combination with modern Geographic Information Technologies to perform quantitative analyses that leverage the accuracy of these old surveys and point out some patterns followed by territorial evolution.The Industrial Revolution, Capitalism and the Liberal State gradually settled in Spain during the mid-19th century. Precise geographic information was required for laying solid quantitative foundations that could help develop the country and exploit its natural resources. The interest in knowing the size of the country by fixing a geodetic grid and drawing up a topographic map, the need to inventory the Spanish economic resources by drawing up a rustic and urban cadastre that could be used for tax collection, the aim of cataloguing the mining and forest raw materials as well as the water sources in the country, and the will to count the inhabitants by setting up a periodic population census led the Spanish Government to set up various Commissions that worked in parallel from 1849 to 1859 and carried out several geodetic, topographic and cadastral surveys. These Commissions merged in 1859 giving rise to the General Board of Statistics that turned into Geographic Institute in 1870.