Canada in six atlases

In this comparison of six Canadian atlases, N. L. Nicholson describes the Atlas of Canada as a ten-year undertaking intended to show the nation's mid-century physical background, economic development and their interrelationships. Its page size accommodated a national map at 1:10,000,000, using a Lambert conformal conic projection with a polyconic projection above 80°N; other map scales were simple multiples of the base scale. Nicholson explains that its predominantly topical organization reflected its national purpose and the expectation that provinces would produce their own regional atlases. He regards its contents as complementary to those of the Economic Atlas of Ontario. Citing L. D. Stamp's review, he also notes its attention to specifically Canadian subjects, including large-mammal distributions and the Sudbury ore-field.