Die Verhandlungen der Kommission fur Nationalatlanten

Summary

This article reports on the academic discussions and exhibitions in the field of cartography at the International Geographical Congress held in Stockholm in 1960. It begins by outlining reports on historical cartographic relations between the Scandinavian countries and Poland, as well as quantitative studies on the accuracy of old maps. The article then focuses on several methodologically oriented presentations from the afternoon session of August 10, covering the scientific treatment of cartographic generalization in Soviet cartography, the origin of the conformal projection concept, the need for revision of the International Map of the World at 1:1 million scale, and its coordination with the International Aeronautical Chart. Regarding exhibitions, the article describes multiple cartographic displays held in conjunction with the congress. The largest and most important was the exhibition of national atlases, featuring completed works, partially published ones, and projects still in early stages. Other exhibitions included thematic maps, cartographic products from Nordic countries (especially Sweden), results from the World Population Map Commission, urban planning maps of Stockholm, and historical maps and literature at the Swedish Land Survey and the Royal Library. The latter half of the article focuses on the proceedings of the Commission on National Atlases, authored by Prof. Edgar Lehmann from Leipzig. Under the leadership of Chairman Prof. K. A. Salishchev, the commission aimed to promote comparability among national atlases through unified principles—such as scale, projection, generalization, color symbolism, and index systems—while respecting the diverse geographical and social conditions of each country. Reports were grouped according to whether the atlases leaned toward analytical or synthetic approaches, covering projects from India, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Spain, Czechoslovakia, and Sweden, including their design concepts, content structures, and technical innovations. Finally, the article briefly reports on a geographical colloquium held at Humboldt University Berlin in November as part of the university's 150th anniversary, themed "History of Geography at Berlin University and the Teaching Views of Distinguished Geographers," which honored scholars such as Carl Ritter, Ferdinand von Richthofen, and Albrecht Penck, and included several physical geography presentations.