[1] It was undertaken by Charles William Wilson, a 28-year-old officer in the Royal Engineers corps of the British Army, under the authority of Sir Henry James, as Superintendent of the Ordnance Survey, and with the sanction of George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon as Secretary of State for War.

[2] During the resulting search, he produced "the first perfectly accurate map [of Jerusalem], even in the eyes of modern cartography",[3] and identified the eponymous Wilson's Arch.

[10] The catalyst for the survey was an 1864 petition from Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (the Dean of Westminster), representing a committee which included the Bishop of London Archibald Campbell Tait, to George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon (the Secretary of State for War).

[11] The cost of providing the Royal Engineers surveyors (Wilson and his team) was covered by the British Government's War Office.

The names of streets, buildings and points of interest were collected by Carl Sandreczki of the Church Mission Society and two assistants.