Searches can be conducted according to the geographic locations recorded on maps, according to archive data (reference) and according to the content of maps and the time of their creation, also according to the title and cartographer who has composed the document.
For input of territorial units – country, province, county, parish and manor – in the Estonian language, one can use the flyout menus in the search window. The method is based on the principle of hierarchy. For example, entering of only the name of a county will produce a display of all maps of parishes, manors and villages located in this county. Since there have occurred considerable changes in the administrative division of Estonia over the centuries, the status in the year 1909 for Livonia and 1913 for Estonia were used as a basis for uniform searches.
Search of archive data enables to check the correctness of references in publications. In this content, data mean the numbers of a fond, an inventory and a unit (of preservation) – in Estonian language respectively "fond", "nimistu", "säilik." The archive reference of Historical Archives cannot be translated into English, and it looks like EAA. F-N-S, where EAA is capitalized abbreviation of the Archives and F-N-S the numbers of a fond, an inventory and a unit. The number of a unit can often consist of a combination of symbols (e.g. 9a or 3/III-a).
The search field "theme" allows selecting thematic and special maps. As a rule, general geographic, topographic and cadastral maps do not belong to the group of thematic and special maps.
Maps can also be searched according to time of their creation. For this, one has to enter the year of the beginning and the end of the period in the field named "year of creation". To find a map compiled within one year, the number of the year must be entered in both fields.
Search "Title" enables documents to be selected according to the phrases present in their original titles, whereby asterisk - * - is used to make the search more flexible. In case * is placed after the phrase, titles beginning with this phrase will be found. In case * is placed before the search word, titles ending with this word will be searched. In case * is placed on both sides of the word, the phrase will be searched by the entire title. * can also replace symbols in the search word. Search is case-insensitive – e.g. no difference is made between capital and lowercase letters. In order to find titles in Cyrillic, one also has to use the search word in Cyrillic.
Search field "Cartographer" enables to search maps according to the names of their composers. The principle of the search is analogous to the search "Title".
To conduct a search, one has to keep in mind that the database does not contain information on all cartographic documents preserved in the Archive. Despite the constant supplementing of data composition, it is recommended that the researcher would use also use the inventories of fonds available in the study hall.