Every claim needs a source.

These are the editorial standards for the atlas. Publication means a record has been researched and every claim on it carries a source. It does not mean every detail has been confirmed, and each record says how well it is known.

What counts as a location?

A record may describe a surviving section in its original position, a relocated segment, a smaller fragment, or a museum display. Reconstructed sections, memorials, and artworks are classified explicitly. We do not imply that a memorial contains original material.

Kinds of source

Every source is classified by what its publisher is, not by how useful the page was:

• Institutional — the holder’s own account, or a public authority on the object: the museum, city, university, foundation or company that holds or installed the piece; the Berlin heritage office; the Berlin Wall Foundation and its MAUERSPUREN directory. Strongest for provenance.
• Press — reporting at the time or later. Good for dates and names, and the only record of much of the 1990 trade.
• General reference — Wikipedia, the-wall-net.org, travel and tourism guides, blogs and directories. Useful for finding a site at all; never sufficient on its own.
• Inventory listing — the Federal Foundation’s worldwide listing and the Berlin Wall Archive, the two inventories the catalogue was built from. A listing says that someone reported a piece there, and little more.
• Photograph — a freely licensed photograph showing the piece where the record puts it, dated where its photographer recorded the date.

Sources count by publisher: three pages from one museum are one institutional source, not three. Where sources conflict, both readings are given.

Evidence levels

Each record opens with its evidence level and the profile it rests on — for example 1 institutional source · 1 press report · Listed in both inventories · Photographed 2019 · Position corrected by research. The level is worked out from what the record holds, the same way for every record:

• Listed — inventory listings and general references only, perhaps with a photograph. No account by the holder or any other institution, and no press report, has been found yet.
• Documented — at least one institutional source or press report supports the record.
• Corroborated — an institutional source, a second source of another kind from a different publisher, and a position that research has corrected or set, or that OpenStreetMap corroborates.
• Confirmed — the holder has confirmed the record’s facts in reply to us, or someone has recorded a visit to the site. Nothing else reaches this level, and a confirmed record names who confirmed it, how and when.

Listed records are published deliberately. Most of what is known about where the Wall went sits in the two inventories and in general references, and a record that says plainly what it rests on is how a piece gets found and checked — often by someone who lives near it. Retrieving a source is not confirmation, so only a Confirmed record says the piece was there on a given date.

Can I see it today?

Each record’s visiting panel answers this in one of six words, derived from its current status and access, with the record’s own wording kept underneath. The map’s filters use the same words.

• On display — The piece is here and can be seen by the public.
• Restricted access — The piece is here, but seeing it depends on permission.
• In storage — The piece survives but is not on show anywhere.
• Moved — The piece has left this site for a known place.
• Gone — Nothing of the piece is to be seen here any more.
• Unknown — The sources do not establish whether it can be seen today.

“Restricted access” covers a campus, base, embassy, works or private estate: the piece is there, but seeing it depends on permission. “Public” describes access, not ownership or a guarantee of opening hours. Check the holder’s own information before visiting.

Positions

Every pin says where it came from: as an inventory reported it, corrected by research, set by research for a site the inventories missed, or withheld because the reported position was wrong. Coordinates are shown to five decimal places, about a metre; the sources rarely support more, and the stored value keeps whatever precision they gave. Directions are offered for a checked position. For an inventory’s position the record offers the map instead, because a pin that marks a town centre should not send anyone to a doorstep.

Follow provenance

We seek a documented chain from an original Berlin location to the current site. Installation dates, ownership, movement, and removal are recorded only where supported. Unknowns remain unknown. A photograph of concrete alone is not evidence of authenticity.

Sources and images

Prefer institutional archives, official collection records, scholarly research, and first-hand documentation. Each source records the assertion it supports and an access date. Each image needs a creator, copyright holder, licence, original source, caption, and alternative text before publication.

Corrections and moderation

All contributions are private and pending until reviewed by an administrator. Corrections should identify the record and provide supporting evidence through the contribution form. Verification changes are recorded with evidence and a date; earlier uncertainties should not silently disappear.

Imported catalogue records

Public source listings stay marked Reported until the holder confirms them or a visit is recorded; their evidence level says what they rest on in the meantime. A retrieval date is not a verification date. Missing or geographically conflicting positions are withheld from the map while the record remains searchable. Catalogue listings can overlap; they are not summed as unique physical segments. Where research shows two listings describe one place, they are merged into a single site page that names and cites both, and the old address redirects to it. The number of sites and the number of listings are reported separately. See sources and coverage for the import audit.

Development data

Synthetic development records are clearly labeled, excluded from public production queries, excluded from sitemaps, and marked noindex on permanent pages. Their coordinates must never be used as historical evidence or visitor guidance.