Topographic Map Singapore

[Jovanna Ponder]

Themore expansive definition may well inform future archival collection and appraisal policies, but the some 10,000 maps currently under the care of the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) fall clearly into the traditional category. This is no surprise as these maps were created to serve highly pragmatic ends such as land and sea navigation, establishing property boundaries, tax assessments, urban and transportation planning, and military defence. Thus precision and accuracy, in other words, correspondence with physical reality, was of paramount concern to both the users and makers of the maps. In addition, the earliest maps archived at NAS are mostly of early 19th century British origin, by which time the ideas and methods of rational empirical science, upon which the correspondence theory of maps rested, were plainly in the ascendancy especially in Britain.[5]

By the time the British came to Singapore in 1819, they were using geometric mapping techniques developed from the empirical sciences. This trend would continue and indeed accelerate through the rest of the 19th and much of the 20th century as western science gradually displaced many traditional non-scientific modes of understanding. As the British colonial authorities drafted and approved maps of Singapore up into the 1960s, and trained the local cartographers who inherited their work in the western empirical cartographic tradition, virtually all maps with NAS have emerged from that milieu.

General Reference Maps: These are maps which show a variety of different physical features at a given location, such as coastlines, water bodies, vegetation, hills and mountains, roads, commercial, industrial, residential and recreational areas. These maps are produced either in small-scale covering large geographical areas such as whole countries or regions or in large-scale covering a small geographical area but providing much more detail on local physical features.[6] Examples of small-scale general reference maps in the NAS collection include maps of Asia and Southeast Asia, and maps of Malaysia. Examples of large-scale general reference maps include maps of Singapore town, various street maps and district/precinct maps. There are presently around 3,800 general reference maps in the NAS collection.

Topographic Maps: Topographic maps are a particular kind of small-scale general reference map which include contour and relief details providing users with a three-dimensional sense of the space mapped. They typically provide highly detailed information of the local environment and are generally the most comprehensive type of small-scale general reference map. The first complete set of topographic map of Singapore was published in 1924 and many subsequent small-scale general reference maps of Singapore included topographic detail. There are presently around 1,300 topographic maps in the NAS collection.

Modern hydrographic chart for small-craft navigating the waters around Singapore, Batam and Bintan islands. 1993 Source: Port of Singapore Authority, Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Ref: HC000528

Aviation Charts: There is also a handful of less than 10 aviation charts kept in the NAS collection. They function as navigation charts for pilots and contain vital information such as on flight paths, runways, layouts and approaches at airports, and potentially hazardous obstructions.

Aviation obstruction chart of Changi Airport, showing among other things the location of potentially hazardous obstructions around the aerodrome. This chart was published on 1 July 1981, the day the airport turned operational. Source: Survey Department, Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Ref: AC000001

Thematic Maps: These are special purpose made maps typically overlaid with details specific to the concerns of the user, e.g. mining, urban and transportation planning, soil and environmental information, flood and disease control, and military planning. NAS has a small collection of under 100 of such maps. However many more thematic maps can be found embedded within government reports, files and publications where they are frequently used as supporting and illustrative documents.

Of the maps in the NAS collection, the vast majority numbering over 8,000 are geographic maps of Singapore. This includes maps of the whole Singapore island and its surrounding waters and maps of particular areas and districts of the island, notably of the heavily populated town centre as well as outlying precincts like Katong, Jurong and Changi, among other areas. Maps of the larger islands surrounding Singapore such as Pulau Tekong and Sentosa (known as Pulau Blakang Mati before 1972[8]) are also available. In addition, the collection contains a significant number of maps of Malaya, numbering around 900, of both the Malayan peninsular, the seas around it and of particular places such as the capital Kuala Lumpur, major towns such as Penang, Malacca and Johor Bahru as well as maps of British Borneo. The sizable number of Malaya maps in the collection reflects historical circumstances. Penang, Malacca and Singapore were, of course, once administered by the British collectively as the Straits Settlements for almost 120 years between 1826 and 1945. A less known fact is that the surveying authorities in Malaya and Singapore were amalgamated for long periods between 1920 and 1965.[9] In addition there are a small number of maps of Southeast Asia and wider Asia in the collection. The total number is negligible, around 10 in total, though this includes a digital copy of a 16th century map of Asia by the famed Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius who published what was likely the first world atlas, as well as a copy of a 16th century Portuguese map of Southeast Asia.[10] The copy of the Ortelius map was obtained from the former Singapore Maritime Museum, while the copy of the Portuguese map was acquired from a private collector.[11]

As for the chronology of the NAS map collection, just under 40 maps come from the pre-1819 (pre-Raffles) period. Most of these maps are dated from the late 18th century to the early 1800s and are of British as well as Dutch and Portuguese origin. The oldest map of Singapore in the NAS collection is a black and white reproduction of a map by Dutch cartographer Joannes Theodore de Bry dated 1603 depicting a battle between Dutch and Portuguese naval ships in 1602 off the eastern Singapore coastline. This map is one of the oldest known surviving maps on Singapore.[13] Other antique pre-Raffles maps of interest include maps of Malacca from 1604 when the town was under Portuguese rule, as well as the 16th to early 18th century maps of Asia, Southeast Asia and the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

The 1898 Map of the Island of Singapore and Its Dependencies was a highly detailed map showing names of major buildings, districts, hills, islands and other landmarks, in addition to major transportation arteries around the island at the turn of the century Source: Survey Department, Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Ref: TM000012

NAS has a rich collection of about 1,700 maps covering the inter-war period 1919-1938, between the end of the First World War and the outbreak of the Second World War. This was an important period for cartography in Singapore which saw successful efforts to improve the quality of local maps through better funding and staff for the survey department. The survey departments of the British controlled Federated Malay States (F.M.S.) and Straits Settlements (S.S.) were merged allowing for greater flexibility in allocating funding and manpower. In 1920, a decision was made, after decades of delays, by the newly merged F.M.S. & S.S. Survey department to initiate a modern trigonometrical survey of the Straits Settlements that would greatly enhance the accuracy of subsequent maps. One of the results of this effort was a comprehensive 16-part modern, coloured topographic map of Singapore published in 1924. This was the first proper topographical map of Singapore ever made and represented a considerable improvement in accuracy over previous Singapore maps. Other topographical maps of Singapore followed, including the publication of a single-sheet topographical map of Singapore Island in 1932.

This was the first map of Singapore Island produced by the Singapore Armed Forces Mapping Unit. Established in 1970, the unit took over the topographical mapping work previously performed by the British Army stationed in Singapore. Source: Source: Singapore Land Authority, Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Ref: TM001021

Looking to the future where maps are increasingly created using digital techniques, NAS expects a growing proportion of the maps it receives to come in digital rather than physical format. The change in format has important implications for the archivist as advances in digital technology have transformed maps from static physical documents to documents which are increasingly interactive and can be updated in real time. This emerging trend has brought about new challenges in properly archiving digital maps to maintain their provenance and integrity. On other hand, the sheer richness of content that can now be digitally captured in maps has enhanced their value as social and historical records that document the development of a place and society.

This topographical map of Singapore was the first map produced in Singapore using computerised techniques. It was published in 1993.Source: Singapore Land Authority, Courtesy of National Archives of SingaporeRef: TM000987

With around 10,000 maps, the National Archives of Singapore holds possibly the largest collection of Singapore maps publicly available, including an extensive collection of survey and topographic maps produced from the British colonial era into modern times.

Topographical survey does not cover the interiors of a building. If required, these are floor plans and elevations executed under building or measured drawing surveys that can be linked to the topographical survey. Such surveys are usually required for old properties where existing building plans are outdated, not authoritative or not available.

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