Reviews: Antarctic Map Folio Series. Folio 2: Antarctic Maps and Surveys 1900-1964

Summary

D. H. Maling reviews the American Geographical Society’s Antarctic Maps and Surveys 1900–1964, with text by G. D. Whitmore. Its eleven loose plates document map and chart coverage of Antarctica and adjacent islands from 1900 to mid-1964, together with aerial photographic coverage and ground control, including some unpublished material. Maling regards it as a useful guide to available sources and finds its coverage maps clearer than the corresponding maps in Atlas Antarktiki, whose equivalent coverage pages concern material collected or published after 1957. He argues that loose-leaf, serial publication permits changes to the production programme, possible revision and additions as knowledge develops, while allowing individual maps to be removed for use. He relates this format to cartographic monographs, journals and the definition of an atlas, while noting substantial unexplored areas, including southern Dronning Maud Land. His praise is qualified by the omission of his 1:12,500 Signy Island map and questions about the absence of manuscript maps held by the Scott Polar Research Institute.