The new atlas of Belgium

Summary

Atlas Commission chair Etienne Van Hecke explains the compilation and contents of the six-volume Third Atlas of Belgium, published as Atlas van België / Atlas de Belgique. He traces its background through the first national atlas (1950–1972), the Second Atlas's stalled production, costly printing and outdated data, and the 1997 collection België ruimtelijk doorgelicht. Federal Science Policy's ATLAS programme, launched in 2000, provided the framework for the new atlas. Its analyses combine the 2001 Socio-Economic Survey with earlier censuses, agricultural, employment, electoral and other databases to examine spatial patterns and historical change. University teams compiled the volumes, with Philippe De Maeyer and Jean-Paul Donnay coordinating cartographic editing. Maps generally use scales of 1:1,000,000 or 1:2,000,000 and accompany substantial explanatory text. The volumes address political territories and voting patterns; landscape formation, rural life and agriculture; urban networks and internal segregation; housing conditions, residents and markets; economic locations and labour markets; and population change, socioeconomic characteristics and health. A separate reading guide introduces the atlas and cartographic principles. Van Hecke acknowledges that the Third Atlas also suffered production delays and ageing data. He describes a provisional French-language GEOCLIP web atlas available in 2011, with a fuller bilingual version planned to update maps and add material. The printed volumes retain the explanatory analyses absent from the web atlas. The article also reports which volumes were available and which were still scheduled for publication.