Alois Mayr · 2001
The author describes the Nationalatlas Bundesrepublik Deutschland as the largest project of Leipzig's Institut für Länderkunde (IfL), placing it within the international development of national atlases and the history of German predecessors. The initiative began in 1989/90; an ambitious, centrally funded proposal proved unworkable, and responsibility passed to the IfL in 1995. The revised twelve-volume plan depended on centralized editing, unpaid contributors, public and foundation funding, publisher participation and sales revenue. Intended chiefly for citizens, families and schools, it combined short contributions with maps, illustrations and explanatory texts; a smaller scale and book format reduced costs, and the planned bilingual legends were dropped. The 96-page pilot volume presented in 1997 contained 25 contributions and a sample CD-ROM demonstrating view-only and interactive approaches. The article records completion of Society and State in October 1999 and its digital release in February 2000, completion of Leisure and Tourism and Transport and Communication in June and November 2000, and the impending delivery of Population to the publisher in April 2001. It explains how volume coordinators, roughly 500 scholars, federal agencies and cartographic advisers supported thematic selection, data acquisition and production. The author emphasizes current, question-oriented coverage of Germany's regional differences and post-unification integration. Electronic editions allow viewing and, in their interactive sections, changes to map classification and design; dataset updating is also envisaged. The account reports positive press reception, recognition by the Wissenschaftsrat and the project's 2001 Leipzig Science Prize.
Konrad Großer; Christian Hanewinkel; Sabine Tzschaschel · 2007
Großer, Hanewinkel and Tzschaschel describe the compilation of the twelve-volume Nationalatlas Bundesrepublik Deutschland, published between January 2000 and August 2006. More than 600 unpaid authors contributed, with volume coordinators developing thematic plans and the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig managing editing and production. Base maps were generalized from DLM 1000 data, principally at 1:2,750,000, and progressively supplemented for individual volumes. The account details the conversion of heterogeneous submissions into standardized maps, repeated corrections, coordination of maps and text, layout, and documentation of original data sources. Funding and contributors’ schedules determined publication order. The authors report broad library availability but modest sales and limited awareness and use, particularly among teachers; they describe a planned online portal while noting that a new edition of the twelve-volume work was not then envisaged.
Sabine Tzschaschel · 2007
This article reviews the "National Atlas of the Federal Republic of Germany," which was completed in spring 2007. In a concluding overall assessment, it reflects on the conceptual design and the form in which it was realized. To enable an evaluation, the work is compared with other recent national atlases. Before a final section addresses the various options for keeping the atlas current and updating it, some thoughts are expressed on how relevant national atlases still are today and what their societal role and future entail.
