Christopher and John Greenwood state in the title that the plan was made from an "Actual Survey", which had taken three years. Plans at the time were often copied from older surveys, or re-issued with minor updating; so conducting a new survey was indeed something to boast about. The plan, which was finely engraved by James and Josiah Neele, is stylistically similar to the Ordnance Survey maps of the time, although it was engraved on a much larger scale of 8 inches to the mile, compared to the OS one inch to the mile. It includes detailed depictions of streets, houses, public buildings, parks, squares, woods, plantations, rivers, hills, windmills; also the marking of the boundaries of the City of London, Westminster, Southwark, Rules of the King's Bench & Fleet Prison, Clink Liberty, counties and parishes. Below the plan is a dedication to George IV, which is flanked by views of Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral.

The present plan accords with Howgego 309 state (2), and state (4) from Ralph Hyde's detailed description on motco.com.

Hyde states:

"Though this map results from the 1824-1826 survey it is in fact a new publication, having been entirely re-engraved and thus printed from new plates. The map area has been extended south to include Stockwell Park, Camberwell, Denmark Hill, and Peckham. This detail occupies the space devoted on the first state to the explanations, the scale bars, and the dedication. The explanations now feature to the right of the Westminster Abbey view, and the references to 61 parishes to the left of the view of St Paul's. On the map itself the site has been cleared for the building of Trafalgar Square and John Nash's West Strand development. The proposed road to Finchley is no longer shown, though a New Road from Finchley to Marylebone, following a different route, is shown. In Portland Town (i.e. St John's Wood) several new roads and proposed roads are to be seen. Several new streets have also been added in the Neat House Gardens area of Pimlico and to Peckham New Town. Half-penny hatches are shown on the Grand Surrey Canal. The Mill Ponds(s) at Rotherhithe are shown as a rather more complex system, the New London Dock is actually named, and a new dock has been added at the north end of the Surrey Docks. Black Horse Pond in Deptford is no longer shown, and Deptford Lower Road now extends north west to connect up with the road at China Hall. The Phoenix Gasworks at Greenwich are shown. The Collier Docks are still shown on the Isle of Dogs, and rather more buildings are shown north of the East India Dock Road. For this version of the map Greenwood has made more effort to name streets and terraces. The field-pattern is sometimes radically different."

Scale: 8 inches to 1 statute mile.