Walter Sperling · 1980
This report gives an information on a new Atlas of the Slovakian Socialist Republic. The atlas has been prepared by the Geographical Institute of the Slovakian Academy of Sciences in Bratislava and is to be printed by the Slovac Office of Geodesy and Cartography. Head of the editorial board is Professor Dr. Emil Mazúr. 150 authors out of 32 institutions have given their contributions to this project. The extent of the atlas is supported for 633 maps of Slovakia and many other maps and figures. The maps have been classified into 15 topical chapters; some of them have been published in 1979, the other chapters will follow in 1980. The basic scale used in the atlas is 1:500 000. The progress of this atlas is to be seen in the presentation of problems of human environment, landscape potential, using natural ressources and geographical regionalization. A text annex in Slovakian, English and Russian will be a constituent part of the atlas. The Atlas of the SSR will be of a nature of national and simultaneously regional atlas.
В. С. Преображенский; Л. Н. Ильина; Ю. Л. Пивоваров; Г. А. Правоторова · 1983
This article critically reviews the Atlas of the Slovak Socialist Republic, a major national cartographic work designed by the Geographical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and produced by the Slovak geodetic and cartographic authorities. Covering a territory of approximately 48,000 km², the Atlas seeks to integrate analytical and synthetic perspectives, fundamental and applied knowledge, and historical analysis in order to represent interactions among nature, population, and the economy. Its fifteen sections contain 866 principal maps and 270 supplementary maps, together with numerous graphs, diagrams, and tables. Three sections perform an explicitly synthetic function: physical-geographical and geoecological landscape units, economic-geographical regions, and the environment and landscape potential. The review examines the Atlas section by section, highlighting its detailed treatment of geology, relief, climate, hydrology, soils, biota, settlement history, population, agriculture, industry, transport, services, tourism, and regional development. Approximately two-thirds of the maps address socioeconomic topics, frequently using census data at the commune level to demonstrate changes associated with socialist industrialization, urbanization, migration, settlement concentration, and industrial restructuring. Particularly innovative contributions include classifications of natural and contemporary landscapes, growth-region typologies, analyses of industrial linkages, tourism geography, and integrated assessments of environmental quality and landscape potential. The final section is praised for synthesizing heterogeneous natural and socioeconomic data into practically oriented evaluations relevant to construction, transport, recreation, water quality, public health, and spatial planning. Methodologically, the Atlas combines multiple cartographic techniques, standardized scales, varied base maps, transparent reference overlays, and carefully designed visual conventions, thereby achieving high information density without sacrificing legibility. Its trilingual textual companion further explains methods, sources, legends, and updated information. The article nevertheless identifies limitations, especially the near absence of medical-geographical maps and the unresolved conceptual question of how a comprehensive atlas should ultimately synthesize society–nature relations. Overall, the Atlas is judged a fundamental achievement that documents Slovakia’s social and economic transformation, demonstrates advances in Slovak geography and cartography, supports applied planning, and makes a significant contribution to international theory and practice in comprehensive national and regional atlas mapping.
Pierre-Yves Péchoux · 1984
Pierre-Yves Péchoux reviews the Atlas of the Slovak Socialist Republic, edited by Emil Mazur and Daniel Lenko and published in Bratislava in 1980. He praises its precise drawing, careful printing, varied scales, and use of symbols, areas, lines, and colour, presenting it as a useful introduction to cartographic techniques despite its exclusively Slovak legends. He connects the large team’s work to a technical tradition illustrated by historical maps extending from sixteenth-century Hungary to modern cadastral and topographic mapping. Its twelve thematic sections offer broad national coverage, with population receiving the most extensive treatment; Péchoux also highlights vegetation, fauna, crop calendars, and maps combining urban, land-use, industrial, and agricultural patterns. Regional contrasts and detailed local examples address ecological conditions, avalanches, forest limits, and industrial pollution. His principal criticism concerns missing cross-border and historical connections, including labour exchanges with Hungary and Poland, Slovak minorities abroad, and territorial changes through 1945. He finds the silence about the post-1945 annexation of Subcarpathian territories by a large neighbouring state difficult to excuse in an otherwise fine atlas.
