Atlas of Australian Resources: Aims, planning and progress

This paper describes the aims, revision programme and compilation principles of the Atlas of Australian Resources. Its thirty first-series sheets appeared between 1953 and 1960, and sheet-by-sheet replacement began in 1961. By November 1966, five second-series sheets had been published, five were in press or advanced preparation, and four had been started. Maps and accompanying commentaries provide a compact reference to Australia’s physical environment, economic activities and population for diverse readers. Topic selection considers national relevance, data availability and comparability, scale constraints, and an approximately ten-year replacement cycle. The second series introduces revised base maps and projection, using national maps, groups of smaller-scale maps or sectional layouts as appropriate. Examples concerning minerals, population and crop production illustrate decisions about positional accuracy, symbol complexity, the combination of absolute quantities and ratios, and visual hierarchy between principal and supporting information. The author anticipates that expanding larger-scale thematic mapping and regional atlases will strengthen the evidence underlying subsequent revisions.