The map depicts Shanghai city in 1928, with the French Settlements and Shanghai International Settlements hand-coloured in outline in brown and pink. Two lines noted below the title:
1. The Pootung shore is taken from surveys by the Whangpoo Conservancy Board.
2. The French settlement is taken from surveys by the French Municipal Council.

The current example was owned by Noel Bailey Clarke a civil engineer who worked on the engineering staff of the Public Works Department of the Shanghai Municipal Council. He was particularly responsible for wharves, river walls, underground sewage pumping stations, sewage purification plants, incinerators and public swimming baths. He rose to become the President of the Engineering Society of China and served as Vice-Chairman of the Shanghai Association of the (British) Institution of Civil Engineers.

The two-line key printed in the bottom right corner of the plan relates to drainage and canals and is hand-coloured on the main plan in green and dark blue. This would only be of use to an engineer responsible for drainage and sewage and is indicative that this map is a personalised and possibly unique variant made for Noel Bailey Clarke's sole use. This hypothesis is strengthened by Noel William Bailey Clarke's most comprehensive publication being entitled 'Buried Pipelined: A Manual of Structural Design and Installation'. It would make sense that, with this being his speciality, his focus in Shanghai would have related to drainage and as such the plan may have been specially customised for his use.

Publisher
Edward Stanford (1827-1904) rose to prominence during the height of the Victorian age a period defined by technological innovation, social upheaval, literary excellence and world exploration. In 1853, Stanford became sole proprietor and expanded his shop to 7 and 8 Charing Cross whilst acquiring premises on Trinity Place for a printing works. This solidified Stanford's as the largest and only map maker and seller in London at a time when British colonialism, the rise of the railways, and the continuing popularity of the Grand Tour.

Edward Stanford II took over in 1882, when Stanford's had become the sole agents for Ordnance Survey Maps in England and Wales, and in 1887 published Stanford's London Atlas Of Universal Geography dedicated to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her Royal Jubilee, and he received his royal warrant as Cartographer to the Queen, in 1893. Edward Stanford II died in 1917 and his son Edward Fraser Stanford assumed control of the business in 1917. This map was made in the succeeding period between the wars, which saw the company continue to innovate and encourage exploration.