An attempt at describing the cadastral records that Austrian authorities made. The presentation will start with the times of early land surveying (pre1785), move on to Josephinian and Franciscan land surveys (1785 – 1789 and 18191820, respectively) and, last but not least, include the information about Galician landowner census (1844 – 1854), the results of which are particularly helpful in tracing one's ancestors.