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Conference Paper

Atlas of Finland - Past and Present

By S. Jaatinen
Publication
Mapping the Nations: Proceedings
Volume
1
Pages
325-333

Finland · Version 5

1977–1994

In his account of the fifth edition of the Atlas of Finland, Stig Jaatinen describes preparations beginning in 1970 and the establishment in 1974 of joint publishing arrangements between the Geographical Society of Finland and the National Board of Survey, with a state-funded editorial unit. He credits the Board’s MAAGIS system with helping sustain the planned thematic and cartographic programme. Approximately 600 contributors worked through institutions, teams and individual commissions, with the editorial office coordinating and finishing their material. The thematic folios combine Finnish text with multilingual graphic explanations and separate Swedish and English text appendices. Jaatinen acknowledges overloaded graphics, difficult prose and uneven layout, and notes that readers must actively assemble information across themes. He treats each folio as current at its own publication date; completion of the edition was then expected in 1992.

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Since 1899, Finland has published five national atlas editions. As they were all scholarly conceived, they are like mirrors of the nation and its changes since the end of the 19th Century. In addition, they display methods, themes and composition of atlas cartography in a unique sequence. The fifth edition (1977-1992) substantially expands traditional frames, it is in fact a comprehensive geographical information system. It is published (in Finnish, Swedish and English) in 26 folios and contains 46 subject areas.

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