W. Stams · 1963
This article critically reviews the Atlas of the USSR, compiled by the Soviet Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography and published in 1962. It evaluates the atlas’s organization, cartographic methods, informational value, and broader significance as a model of regional atlas design. The 191-page volume comprises three principal components: geographical reference maps, thematic maps of natural conditions, and economic maps. The geographical section presents the Soviet Union by major administrative units at comparatively large scales, combining layered elevation tints, dense contouring, hydrography, settlements, transport networks, boundaries, and an extensive register of approximately 25,000 place names. These maps provide unusually rich topographic and regional detail, although excessive labeling in densely settled areas sometimes reduces legibility. The natural-environment section contains specialist maps of geology, tectonics, mineral resources, geomorphology, climate, hydrology, glaciation, permafrost, soils, vegetation, forests, and zoogeography. Their nationwide coverage offers effective synoptic views of the USSR’s pronounced zonal diversity, but the high level of abstraction and the termination of thematic information at the state boundary make interpretation difficult, particularly for nonspecialists. The substantially larger economic section includes maps of ethnic groups, population density, transport, aviation, industry, agriculture, and major economic regions, supplemented by numerous statistical diagrams. Industrial, mining, and transport locations are represented with considerable sectoral detail, whereas the size and internal structure of industrial centers remain schematic. Agricultural land use is shown through broad color combinations without explicit thresholds or adequate quantitative data, and symbols for crops often indicate only vague areas of occurrence. The review concludes that the atlas introduces no fundamentally new techniques within individual map categories, but its integration of large-scale geographical reference maps with comprehensive natural and economic thematic coverage constitutes an important new type of regional atlas, distinct from expensive national atlases dominated by thematic series. Its graphic design, color treatment, practical utility, and low price are praised, despite occasional registration errors. Major weaknesses are the absence of an explanatory text discussing representation principles and sources, the resulting difficulty of interpreting complex economic maps, and the limited print run of 25,000 copies. Overall, the atlas is judged a valuable reference work and a useful basis for methodological discussion, with particular relevance as a possible model for a future regional atlas of the German Democratic Republic.
Stanisław Leszczycki · 1963
Stanisław Leszczycki reviews the Atlas of the USSR published in Moscow in 1962 by the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography of the Soviet Ministry of Geology and Mineral Protection. Completely recompiled by a large team, it contains 147 plates, compared with 76 in the 1954 atlas, and has a larger format and richer geographical nomenclature. Its three sections comprise regional physical maps on 55 plates, natural thematic maps on 32 plates, and socioeconomic maps on 18 plates containing 29 systematic and 22 regional-economic maps. Leszczycki regards the physical section as the strongest, praising more precise relief drawing, especially in eastern Siberia, the Far East, and the mountains of Soviet Asia. The natural section combines revised maps previously published elsewhere with original compilations on fauna, flora, seismicity, and other subjects. He criticizes schematic industrial maps for failing to distinguish plant sizes and understating Soviet industrialization. He finds the agricultural maps better, highlights the new dot map of state farms, and notes updated regional-economic maps. Overall, he judges the atlas a substantial achievement, while finding some economic maps weaker than the other sections and methodological progress smaller than technical progress.
Д. Д. Лавров · 1963
D. D. Lavrov reviews the Atlas of the USSR, published in 1962 by the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography of the USSR Ministry of Geology and Mineral Protection. This general reference atlas combines geographical reference, physical and economic maps, compiled through collaboration between subject specialists and cartographers. Lavrov praises the reference maps’ readable settlements and relief, the physical maps’ scientific content and well-chosen colors, and the economic maps’ supplementary growth curves and diagrams. He particularly commends the geological, tectonic, Quaternary deposits, geomorphological and vegetation maps. His criticisms address missing physiographic and economic regionalization maps, the mineral-resources map’s pale-green background and omission of peat workings, and the lack of maps showing human transformation of nature. He also examines the economic maps’ methods: some agricultural maps contain too little information, the state-farm map omits the numerical value of its dots, and regional economic maps lack a scale for quantitative symbols. He recommends dot mapping for crop distributions and finds the map of major Seven-Year Plan construction projects overloaded. Lavrov values the 25,000-entry place-name index, judges the atlas superior in content and quality to the 1954 geographical atlas for secondary-school teachers, and concludes that its shortcomings do not diminish its usefulness to teachers, students, agricultural workers and general readers.
