R. Gerard Ward · 1977
R. Gerard Ward reviews the 1976 New Zealand Atlas edited by Ian Wards, praising its careful printing and binding, striking photographs and informative maps, especially the landforms map. He finds the volume disappointing in its cartographic detail, editorial consistency and coverage. Compared with the 1959 atlas, it offers more colour maps but fewer maps overall, less detailed town plans and colour choices that sometimes misrepresent the relative density of vegetation. Ward criticizes factual and place-name errors, inconsistent mapping categories and boundaries, and a settlement map that confuses Pacific Islander residents with migrants. He describes some texts as uncritical government publicity, particularly in their treatment of Māori history and race relations. He also questions the atlas’s intended audience: its price limits textbook use, while its small scales and sparse agricultural mapping fall short of its stated aim to provide a national inventory.
John P. Bertocco · 1980
The review describes I. Wards's 1976 New Zealand Atlas as the second edition of the Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand, with completely revised text and newly prepared maps except for two retained maps. It highlights maps drawn by the Department of Crown Lands and Survey's Cartographic Branch through multidisciplinary research, expert-written texts, photographs of landforms, flora and fauna, and a binding technique that allows double-page maps to lie flat. The reviewer praises the generally high cartographic standard and balance of maps, text and photographs, while criticizing discontinuous topographic tints, inconsistent hydrographic colours and dark climatic-map colours that impede interpretation or obscure detail. The atlas is recommended for geography teaching and libraries.
