Electronic Atlases: National and Regional Applications

Summary

The digital revolution will impose considerable change on atlas cartography. Traditional paper atlases will be produced and marketed for quite some time to come. However, their merit and viability will be increasingly challenged by innovative digital atlas products. These new atlas products will change the image of the atlas as we know it today. In fact, they may well advance the concept of "an atlas" towards that of a sophisticated atlas-based, integrated information system. Today, we can only speculate what exact shape these new atlas information products will take; the digital technology revolution and the information revolution are still too young to forecast their exact impacts. A point made in this paper is that, in the process of visualizing innovative atlas products, it is not appropriate for atlas makers and cartographers to be guided by and drift with technology trends, adopting and adapting technology. We need to visualize the next generation of atlas products by looking beyond the limitations of today's technology capabilities. Instead of following technological innovations, we should identify what technological capabilities we need and direct the computing industry to deliver on our needs. A second point elaborated in this paper is that we should start seriously to consult the atlas user community when visualizing the next generation of atlas products. We should ask the atlas readership to tell us what information contents and what query and analytical capabilities we should be adding to the future atlas, and we should give the users a chance to tell us their preferred methods of information access and retrieval. A question that this paper has failed to address is: who should conceptualize, operationalize and maintain the next generation of digital atlases? It is anticipated that the future digital atlas information systems will be beyond the skills and capabilities of the traditional team of individuals putting together a paper atlas. The know-how, funding, administration, and technological requirements necessary to make the next generation of digital atlas information systems work will exceed the capabilities of any one individual or stakeholder group. These new atlas products will need to be conceptualized, developed, and administered by a consortium of experts from universities and research institutes, industry and government. The biggest challenge facing any new atlas initiative in the 1990s is to secure the considerable financial support required to make it all work. The atlas research community needs to share information about how to politic and bid successfully to secure the necessary funds. One thing is for sure: having a well-defined and exciting product vision that has received endorsement from the atlas user community will lend credibility and weight to an effort to secure atlas funding.