Design and compilation features of the district and county maps in the ’97 edition of the Shanghai atlas

Summary

This article describes the design and compilation of the district and county maps in the 1997 edition of the Shanghai Municipal Atlas. Covering 14 urban districts and six counties, the section organizes maps by administrative unit and combines island-form main maps with adjacent-area information, enlargements, photographs, explanatory text, and a gazetteer index. The maps depict physical geography, administrative divisions, settlements, transportation, green spaces, tourist sites, and socioeconomic facilities, while emphasizing the functions and characteristics of each locality. Source materials included 1995 topographic and suburban county maps, supplemented by field revision and verification by district and county authorities; administrative boundaries were current to the end of June 1997. Visual hierarchy was created through zonal coloring, graduated fading of neighboring areas, colored transport networks, and pictorial symbols. Production used AutoCAD, Photoshop, and an in-house computer-assisted cartographic publishing system, supported by standardized symbol, line-style, and color libraries, operating specifications, and layered data-management rules designed for batch production, data reuse, updating, and future electronic atlas development.