Atlas of Poland

Summary

Felicjan Piątkowski reports on the aims, contents and compilation of Atlas Polski. Intended to make statistical information comparable and document conditions of postwar reconstruction, the atlas is planned to contain 55 main sheets across eight listed sections, covering history, physical geography, population, agriculture and forestry, industry, transport and administration. Main maps use a scale of 1:2,000,000 and the Albers projection, supplemented by smaller maps, diagrams and explanatory texts. At the time of the report, three sheets—History, Railway Network and Morphology—had been printed; five were being prepared for printing, four were undergoing cartographic preparation and four were being developed by subject specialists. Piątkowski gives particular attention to Kondracki and Czaplicka’s geomorphological map, praising its consistent classification of landforms by accumulation and erosion, and describes Romer’s climatic regionalization using climatic isogradients alongside other thematic work. Wartime destruction of source materials and the lack of census data hinder compilation; further sections await the planned 1950 census, and work is expected to take about five years. The Cartographic Bureau of the national surveying office directs production, while an editorial committee selects specialists and assesses their contributions before sketches are standardized, graphically tested and reproduced. Brief comparisons with European national atlases place the project within a tradition of specialist research and long-term statistical compilation.