Richard Groot · 1979
Groot, director of the Geographical Services Directorate in the Surveys and Mapping Branch, sets out the federal National Atlas program: a Canada Gazetteer Atlas (1980, from the 1976 census) and a thematic atlas built of data base sheets at 1:7.5M and 1:2M, each subject realm accompanied by an overview sheet, issued as loose-leaf sheets (91.44 × 116.84 cm) sold by subscription, as folios or as single sheets. For the 5th edition he announces continuous revision in place of a finite 6th edition, and notes that one private publisher planned to reuse all 46 gazetteer maps in its own Atlas of Canada. He records the criticism the format drew — librarians' handling and storage problems, and the view that loose sheets will never amount to a complete atlas — and argues that digital technology pays off only if it yields a data base serving many users on demand, estimating roughly $300,000 a year amortized, a 35 per cent rise in the annual budget, with a federal task force setting 1983 as the target for substantial computer application.
Claire Gosson · 2006
In her account of the fifth edition of The National Atlas of Canada (1978–1995), Claire Gosson explains how consultations with advisory committees and publishing and educational specialists informed plans for a computerized geographic information system and a national database. Data were compiled at 1:2,000,000, with maps published primarily at 1:7,500,000; the publication scale prevented production as a bound volume. Three standard base maps offered different densities of place names and hydrological detail, and thematic maps were organized under subject groupings. Planned as a continuing series of separate maps covering about 200 subjects, the edition closed in 1995 with 93 maps completed. Gosson reports that this was the first edition to use digital cartography and satellite-derived remotely sensed data, and emphasizes its reliance on cooperation among government agencies, experts, academia and the private sector.
