The national atlas of the Netherlands in its second edition

This article reviews the historical development, conceptual reorientation, and cartographic design of the second edition of the National Atlas of the Netherlands. Drawing on experience from the Atlas of Tropical Netherlands and the first national edition published between 1963 and 1977, it identifies several shortcomings of the earlier work: uneven thematic integration, academically demanding language, complex visual representation, limited explanatory guidance, and declining availability of municipal-level census data. In response, the second edition adopts a unified, problem-oriented social-geographical perspective centered on the well-being of the Netherlands’ highly urbanized population, environmental pressures, and the human use of natural and socioeconomic resources. Rather than producing a separate environmental atlas, the project integrates environmental issues into a broader national atlas, partly because of financial constraints. The new edition is organized into twenty separately issued booklets grouped under population and settlements, human well-being, human resources, natural resources, and spatial planning. Each booklet combines maps, diagrams, photographs, and interpretive text, with standardized base maps, place-name spelling, layouts, and color schemes intended to ensure visual coherence and accessibility. An assessment of the first six booklets shows that relatively simple analytical maps predominate, while synthesis and typological maps remain limited. Choropleth maps are balanced by absolute-value techniques, cartograms, mental maps, historical maps, planning maps, and detailed examples. Nevertheless, inconsistent author participation and classification methods restrict comparability among maps, while contributors’ preference for textual rather than visual organization increases editorial workloads and delays production. The article concludes that the second edition substantially improves public accessibility by explaining geographical patterns, structures, and processes and by linking even physical themes, such as geology, to present-day social and economic use. Despite unresolved issues concerning international accessibility, editorial consistency, and the primacy of maps over text, the atlas serves as an integrative national project connecting geographers and cartographers and enabling a broad readership to understand the spatial organization and environmental challenges of the Netherlands.