Reviews: The National Atlas of Korea, Volume I: National Territory

Summary

Aimée C. Quinn reviews the 2014 National Atlas of Korea I: National Territory, produced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport and the National Geographic Information Institute. The volume introduces a three-year, five-volume project that thoroughly revises the 2007 atlas, itself a revision of the 1989 edition. Using GIS, data mining, maps, photographs, and charts, it presents Korea’s history, government, culture, and socioeconomic and territorial changes. Quinn surveys its four sections: “Territory,” “Government and Local Autonomy,” “Transformation and Development of the Land,” and “Korea in the World.” She identifies territorial defense, resistance, and resilience as central themes. Coverage includes urbanization and infrastructure, civic administration, national and regional development planning, quality of life, international relations, and cultural heritage. Quinn praises the production and the combination of visual materials, particularly the population, settlement, and quality-of-life illustrations. She also describes the development section as eclectic and argues that GIS could have been used more fully to intersect data layers, instead of leaving readers to compare information across pages. The atlas offers the governmental perspective she sought to examine and is available free online.