С. Кумадьев · 1938
S. Kutafyev describes the compilation programme and mapping methods of the Great Soviet World Atlas, treating volume I as published and volume II as prepared for printing. Volume I combines world maps with more detailed maps of the USSR, covering physical geography, population, production, transport, trade, and political and economic relations. Volume II is to provide an overview map and an economic map for each Soviet republic, territory and region, supplemented by maps of major economic areas and historical appendices. Kutafyev explains the common elevation colours used across overview maps, with 8, 11 or 16 height intervals according to scale. Regional economic maps use proportional circles for industrial output, colours for industrial sectors, background colouring for agriculture, and lines and labels for transport. He presents these methods as supporting comparison and an integrated depiction of the distribution of production. His praise of the atlas's scientific authority rests explicitly on its Leninist–Stalinist framework and its intended demonstration of socialist economic superiority.
F. D. · 1939
F.D. reviews the polar coverage of the 1937 first volume of the Great Soviet Atlas of the World. The reviewer praises the printing of the circumpolar maps, the Severnaya Zemlya inset with relief and soundings, and the detailed Arctic Ocean map extending from Spitsbergen to the Lena Delta. Weather and ice-drift charts also receive attention. The Antarctic sheet includes Ellsworth’s flight route but omits the Graham Land expedition’s discoveries, leaving the peninsula depicted as an archipelago. The reviewer considers the maps of Soviet territory valuable for polar studies, while warning that data for parts of the Arctic coast must be sparse. The conical projection used for most maps is judged well suited to the area.
М. А. Сергеев · 1940
M. A. Sergeev reviews the representation of the Soviet North in volume II of the Great Soviet World Atlas. He praises the general and regional maps for clearly showing the distribution of economic activities, industrial centres, transport and trade networks, and the coexistence of industrial and traditional resource-based economies. He finds the comparison of pre-revolutionary and Soviet economic conditions particularly effective. Examples from Krasnoyarsk, Arkhangelsk, Omsk and the Far East illustrate how supplementary maps and insets clarify regional economic patterns without overcrowding the main maps. His criticisms include misplaced settlements, weak representation of population density in Yakutia, insufficient coverage of reindeer herding, and omissions in fishing, marine hunting and industrial activities. He also objects to combining fishing and marine hunting under one symbol in the historical inset. Sergeev judges the volume exceptionally useful for teaching and economic research, crediting its current information to careful processing of departmental manuscript materials in a field with few published economic sources.
