Neuere Arbeiten an National- und Regionalatlanten in Rußland

Summary

This article examines the development, current status, and future plans of national atlases in Poland and Russia. It first reviews the history of Polish national atlases, from Romer's 1916 'Geographic-Statistical Atlas of Poland' to the 'National Atlas of Poland' published in 1973-1978, which included 12 plates on population distribution, 56 plates on economic sector structures, and 9 plates on services and socio-cultural structures, employing quantitative methods such as choropleths, cartodiagrams, value-unit signatures, and isolines, while serving both scientific research and public information needs. Due to rapid map obsolescence and high public interest (46,000 subscriptions), the Institute of Geography of the Polish Academy of Sciences initiated work on a new national atlas, which was delayed by fundamental political, economic, and social changes in 1989-1992 but resumed in 1992 under editor-in-chief M. Najgrakowski, with about 50% completion. The article then details the Russian national atlas project. In 1994, the Russian government approved a national scientific-technical program to create a new national atlas, jointly developed by the Main Administration for Geodesy and Cartography, the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences, and Moscow State University. The project considers either a multi-volume atlas (at least seven volumes) or a series of relatively independent basic atlases, covering themes such as general geographic foundations, natural conditions and resources, population and economy, and environment. All atlases will share a uniform format (double-page 86×55.5 cm), using Kavraisky's equidistant conic projection, with scales ranging from 1:10 million for double-page maps to 1:15 million for single-page maps, and various combinations for European and Asian parts of Russia. The atlases will feature multiple representation levels (global, national, regional), and innovative map groups on rural culture and urban folk culture, with themes including festivals, folklore, musical instruments, dances, clothing, tools, housing, food, crafts, and remedies. The 'National Heritage' atlas will appear in both printed and electronic versions, supplemented by video films, audio recordings, and facsimile documents. The article also discusses three types of regional atlases in Russia: comprehensive scientific atlases, local history atlases, and economic-social development atlases, noting recent trends toward ecological and environmental themes and modern computer-assisted production techniques. Finally, it highlights progress in cartography, including expanded thematic fields, use of satellite imagery and digital methods, and new organizational and legal structures for atlas publication.