A National Atlas for Britain ?

Summary

This article argues for the creation of a British National Atlas and outlines its scope, intellectual rationale, and value for planning and research. Unlike a collection of specialized maps, a national atlas should provide a balanced and comprehensive representation of the country through maps prepared with consistent scales, projections, and styles. It should begin by locating Britain within its European and Atlantic setting, then integrate relief and drainage, land cover, geology, climate and climatic variability, soils, agriculture, industry, energy, transport flows, workplaces, population distribution, and migration trends. Historical maps should explain the emergence of towns, ports, industries, and transport systems while revealing how inherited structures may lose their original functions. A modern social and political section should map administrative boundaries, natural regions, public services, amenities, health conditions, and political distributions. The author stresses that statistical tables are useful for investigating individual places, whereas maps permit comparison across regions and expose spatial combinations, interdependencies, and causal relationships among physical and human phenomena. As Britain moves toward national, regional, and local planning—particularly the redistribution of population and industry—personal observation and compartmentalized administration are no longer adequate. A National Atlas would offer a uniform, scientific, and holistic evidential base for planners, geographers, ecologists, economic historians, economists, and the wider public. Although a detailed scheme had been formulated before the war, institutional disregard for geography and lack of research funding prevented its realization. The article therefore calls for sustained public demand, concluding that maps may not necessarily enlarge factual knowledge, but they improve comparative judgment and advance practical wisdom.