Papers Presented at the First Meeting of the Commission on National Atlases, International Cartographic Association, Stockholm/Kiruna, Sweden, March 11-15, 1989

Summary

The visible opening and closing materials belong to a collection of papers submitted to the first meeting of the International Cartographic Association’s Commission on National Atlases, held in Stockholm and Kiruna, Sweden, on 11–15 March 1989. The papers were intended to be edited into proceedings supporting further work on databases for atlas production and maintenance, hardware and software for computer-assisted production, atlases as national geographic information systems, electronic atlases, and distributional and educational issues. The opening national report by Bakker and Ormeling describes the publication of the National Atlas of the Netherlands: its first edition was completed in 1979, followed by a supplement in 1982. The second edition began appearing in separate volumes in 1984 and was scheduled for completion in 1989. Its planned 20 thematic volumes each contain approximately 50 maps, explanatory texts, diagrams, and photographs. Independently compiled and sold, they were designed as a coherent whole organized around population and settlements, human welfare, human resources, natural resources and environment, and physical planning. The report emphasizes societal problems, including housing, employment, demographic change, environmental issues, threats from the sea, and conflicts of interest in planning. Sixteen volumes had appeared, with four scheduled for 1989. The second edition targeted a broader readership and was marketed for upper-secondary education. It was then available only in Dutch; a concise, updated English edition was envisaged for 1990. The closing pages list participants, their affiliations in surveying, statistics, universities, publishing, and related organizations, and their contact details.