A. A. 格里戈里耶夫; Н. Ф. 列昂節夫 · 1955
This review examines the Atlas Mira, edited by A. N. Baranov and published in Moscow in 1954, describing its organization, allocation of map scales, and cartographic representation. A. A. Grigoryev and N. F. Leontyev endorse the organization of regional general-reference maps around physical regions and the provision of larger-scale maps for important areas. They praise its detailed depiction of relief, hydrography, settlements, transport routes, and administrative boundaries. Particular attention is given to the incorporation of recent mapping and survey data and to bathymetric contours informed by seafloor geomorphology, which clearly depict continental shelves, slopes, submarine ranges, and basins. The reviewers observe that the maps reveal relationships between terrestrial and submarine relief, while interpretations of landform development require additional evidence. Shortcomings include small gaps in regional coverage, reduced readability on a few maps, and outdated political and administrative information resulting from prolonged printing. They recommend update inserts accompanying the separately planned place-name index. Overall, they highly value the atlas as a geographical reference and a resource for scientific and practical geographical problems.
Ian Mumford · 1956
Ian Mumford reviews Atlas Mira, published in 1954 by the Soviet Chief Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography, describing its compilation, map organization, relief representation, and place-name index. Arranged by continent, the atlas contains 261 maps, including 57 covering the Soviet Union; its separate index lists approximately 205,000 names. Mumford praises the clarity of its layer colours, hill shading, and small lettering, comparing its maps of Iceland and Denmark with those in the Times and Touring Club Italiano atlases. He argues that road classifications reflect cartographers’ domestic experience and that universal categories can misrepresent roads’ local importance. He interprets changes from the 1939 Great Soviet Atlas as evidence of new surveys, wartime destruction, and postwar construction, while acknowledging possible security-related omissions, and recommends acquisition by Western libraries.
Theodore Shabad · 1956
Theodore Shabad reviews the Soviet Atlas Mira (1954), examining its regional coverage, scales, place-name treatment, and representation of disputed boundaries. The atlas depicts political-administrative boundaries, settlements, and transport routes on a hypsometric base, with information substantially current to mid-1953. Most of the Soviet Union and Europe appear at 1:2,500,000, while China, the United States, and selected strategic areas receive detailed coverage. Shabad praises the extent of coverage, legibility, color printing, and movable legend sheet. He notes the omission of detailed Soviet city maps and attributes it tentatively to stricter security regulations. Examples involving Kashmir, Israel, Korea, and the Sino-Indian boundary illustrate the atlas’s use of formal territorial claims or historical boundaries in some areas without representing de facto armistice lines.
