International Map of the World

The completed sheets became outdated before the project had produced a full set of maps, and by the 1960s was being dismissed as being of no practical use.

Penck considered it important that the maps that represent an area "...not merely as a piece of land limited by political boundaries, but as a region in the frame of its natural surroundings".

[2] His idea was to produce a set of maps that would include both geophysical and human geographical data, obtained by means of the most precise methods then known.

[4] He expressed the hope that governments would fund what was a non-political mapping project, and suggested that geographical societies, academic institutions, and philanthropic organizations might need to be relied upon in the absence of governments' assistance with the project.

[5] In 1909 the First International Conference in London, which was attended by the representatives of 10 nations, laid down the new project's rules and specifications.

By 1913, the grid reference system had been completed and funding had been promised from government agencies around the world (the United States not included); the process of making the maps then began.

Therefore, the complete map would have divided the world into 2,160 slices, each covering about 236,000 square kilometres (91,000 sq mi).