Der "Atlas der Schweiz"

Summary

This article describes the contents, characteristics, and the editorial and technical production of the Swiss National Atlas, the so-called “Atlas of Switzerland.” This voluminous geographic-cartographic standard work is currently being produced by the Swiss Government at the suggestion of the Union of Swiss Geographical Societies. The Government entrusted the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich with the scientific-cartographic preparation of the work, the author of this article with the guidance of the Editorial Committee, and the Topographical Survey of Switzerland in Wabern-Bern with the reproduction and publication. Section 1 contains a brief outline of the peculiarities and the current state of “national atlases” in other countries. Section 2 describes the most important stages in the cartographic coverage of the earth, with special emphasis on former thematic atlases of other countries and Switzerland, as well as the steadily increasing production of maps worldwide. Section 3 explains the organizational setup for the production of the Atlas of Switzerland and provides the names of some co-operators. Section 4 informs on the contents and form of the Atlas: approximately 90 large multicolored map plates are planned, with a total of approximately 100 maps, supplemented by comments in German, French, and Italian; by 1961 and 1966, 21 map plates with approximately 80 maps had been published. The Atlas is intended to serve as a basis for national planning and contains selected maps of former situations, with special attention to the representation of geographical “composition.” Map scales are carefully adapted to subjects, with many plates containing principal maps at 1:100,000, along with numerous regional maps. Section 5 contains a short review of the represented subjects. Section 6 compares the Swiss National Atlas with those of other countries, noting that due to the small size of the country, many subjects can be represented at relatively large scales, making it both a geographic-thematic national atlas and a landscape atlas, with trilingual publication. Section 7 deals with cartographic forms of representation, discussing various methods such as area mosaics, dot distributions, diagrams, isolines, and transportation lines, often combined, with accentuated colored thematic elements on a neutral light gray background. Section 8 orientates users about technical production (coat scribing on glass, offset printing) and the creation of basic maps and colored sample sheets. The author concludes by emphasizing the importance of national atlases for research, education, administration, planning, and tourism.