Henning Mørch · 1977
This review describes H. Schamp’s Atlas zur Raumentwicklung, population fascicle (1976), covering regional population change in West Germany during 1960–1970, conditions in 1970, and an update for 1974, with comparisons within the EEC. Topics include natural increase, net migration, total growth, and age structure. The reviewer praises its concise, informative text and the quality of its editing and production.
Werner Witt · 1978
This review evaluates the first published sections of the 1976–1977 Atlas zur Raumentwicklung, devoted to employment and population. Although presented as a continuation of an earlier geographical atlas of West Germany, the new work differs fundamentally in its policy-oriented organization, spatial units, scales, and interpretive ambitions. The reviewer compares both projects and critically examines the atlas’s cartographic methods. Most maps use relative values, changing reference units, and six to eight color classes, making cross-map comparison difficult and increasing the risk of visual misinterpretation. Combining absolute and relative representations could have reduced these problems. Moreover, the maps function chiefly as illustrations rather than independent tools for regional analysis, while accompanying texts emphasize spatial-planning evaluations. The review therefore questions whether the atlas genuinely supports analysis and forecasting or merely visualizes predetermined planning perspectives, highlighting the susceptibility of thematic maps to methodological manipulation.
Leszek A. Kosiński · 1980
Leszek A. Kosiński reviews the 1976 Atlas zur Raumentwicklung 4: Bevölkerung, published by the Bundesforschungsanstalt für Landeskunde und Raumordnung, and regards the series as a continuation of Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Karten. The population volume contains 64 maps in twelve sections, supported by analytical text, graphs, source lists, and data descriptions. Most maps use county-level data and all include West Berlin. Kosiński surveys population trends and projections for 1960–1985, fertility and natural increase, migration, the foreign population, age structure, selected areas, and European comparisons. He gives particular attention to comparisons of migration during the 1966–67 recession and 1970–71 prosperity, contrasting patterns among Germans and foreigners and among age groups. He praises the detailed, spatially disaggregated data and clear multicolor maps, while noting the limited long-term perspective and scarcity of synthetic or multivariable maps. He explains that the volume was conceived as one stage in periodically updated cartographic coverage.
