The New Atlas of Israel

Summary

The fourth edition of the National Atlas of Israel, published in 1995 as The New Atlas of Israel, represents a deliberate departure from the three preceding scholarly atlas editions. Whereas earlier national atlases prioritized comprehensiveness, detail, and scientific precision, the new edition was redesigned as a user-oriented educational publication with a compact soft-cover format. Its main objective was to make geographical information about Israel accessible to students and the wider public, while maintaining scientific reliability. The editorial strategy involved three principles: careful selection of topics, presentation clarity, and ease of interpretation. Topics were chosen as representative samples of the national atlas content and aligned with the school geography curriculum, such as water resources and urban/economic geography. Mapping methods were simplified by devoting one map to one subject, applying consistent projections, formats, and scales for comparative study, and generalizing complex maps from the earlier editions—for example, the geological map and the water-pipeline network. Cartographic design made use of easily distinguished colors, symbols, and structured legends, and extensive labelling, in order to work above the threshold of visual perception. This explicit trade-off between cartographic refinement and educational legibility was considered necessary for effective learning. The New Atlas of Israel thus transformed a national research instrument into a daily information resource and educational tool, and was regarded as a preparatory step toward the electronic atlas, which may be the next edition.