National atlases: concept, content, development experience

Summary

This article summarizes the experience of cooperation between the Institute of Geography of the USSR Academy of Sciences and geographers and cartographers of Cuba, Mongolia, and Vietnam in creating national atlases of these countries. It analyzes the scientific concept of the atlases, the integrity and coverage of their subject matter, the combination of fundamental character and practical orientation, structural features, and integration potential. The article proposes a working definition of a national atlas: a fundamental comprehensive cartographic work reflecting a special object of mapping—the nation-state as an integral entity in the full systemic complexity of internal and external factors and historical preconditions of its existence and development. It elaborates principles for developing national atlases for countries with limited geographic and cartographic knowledge, including: broad thematic coverage oriented toward national economic and social planning practice; clear expression of resource-ecological, socio-economic, and ethno-cultural specificity; a flexible structure; and organization as a special target program coordinating interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, and often international efforts. The article examines the thematic structure of the national atlases of Cuba (1970), Mongolia (1989), and Vietnam, comprising introductory sections, general geographic maps, historical-revolutionary maps, nature and natural resources, population and settlement, economy, socio-economic development, and social infrastructure. It also discusses scale series, the role of general economic maps, legend capacity, and the integration potential of national atlases as embodiments of systemic mapping that realize direct and feedback links between geography and cartography. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of such atlases for poorly studied countries as effective tools for planning and scientific acceleration, and outlines prospects for further improvement of national atlases, maintaining the priority of Soviet geographic cartography, and international scientific-technical cooperation.