S. P. Chatterjee · 1958
S. P. Chatterjee describes the English National Atlas of India while it was still in preparation. The plan envisaged about 180 plates by 1961, issued in loose-leaf fascicules of roughly 16 plates, covering general, physical, economic and social subjects. He explains the division of work between the research office in Calcutta, the drawing office in Dehra Dun and the Survey of India, which supplied mapping materials and printed the sheets. For maps smaller than 1:1,000,000, the organization selected the Albers equal-area projection after comparative tests.
Chatterjee gives particular attention to the population maps: rural population was to be plotted at settlement locations using dots representing 100, 500 and 1,000 people, with agricultural and non-agricultural populations distinguished by colour. Urban circles and rural dots were designed on a common population-symbol scale. He also outlines physical, political, land-use and communications maps under preparation or planned, and identifies continuing shortages of equipment, trained staff and sufficiently detailed mapping data.
S. P. Chatterjee · 1964
In this account of atlas preparation in 1960–64, S. P. Chatterjee reports that some 175 National Atlas Organization staff were collecting and processing data and preparing maps for the English main edition of the National Atlas of India. Sixteen maps in the population, physical, administrative and transport series had been printed; 55 were at various stages in the press and 75 were being compiled. The planned 300 maps were being designed largely according to recommendations of the IGU Commission on National Atlases. Wherever possible, detailed village data were first plotted on one-inch maps and then reduced to smaller scales for printing.
G. K. Dutt · 1968
This study examines the cartographic techniques employed in the preparation of socio-economic maps at a scale of 1:6,000,000 for the National Atlas of India. It finds that traditional dot symbols of varying sizes and colors remain effective for depicting agricultural product distribution, while proportional circles were replaced by proportional squares, as seen in urban population maps. The combination of circles and squares proved effective for representing two related types of information, such as on livestock markets and fairs. For manufacturing production concentrated in specific belts, proportional sectors of circles with distinctive colors were used to depict multiple industrial commodities. When production data were available in multiple units, proportional squares and circles were used concurrently with sectors. If the variety of production at a location did not exceed two, semicircles with suitable colors were more effective. For maps depicting occurrence rather than production, pictorial symbols resembling the represented articles were adopted, arranged in a line when multiple were needed. A critical analysis of the overall effectiveness of these techniques in information representation is also attempted.
