Об унификации национальных атласов

Summary

This article examines the issue of the unification of national atlases. It begins by reviewing the history of national atlases, noting that after World War II, particularly since the 18th International Geographical Congress in Rio de Janeiro in 1956, the compilation of national atlases was recognized as a major task of modern geography, leading to the establishment of a commission to promote their creation and unification. The initial goal of unification was to enable national atlases to serve as reliable sources for compiling international thematic maps and to facilitate comparative analysis in geographical research. However, due to the diversity of natural, social, and economic conditions across countries, as well as differences in the level of geographical study and national territory sizes, significant variations exist in atlas content, scales, legends, and representation methods. The article analyzes key aspects of unification, including the mathematical basis, formats, representation methods, thematic structure (such as nature, population, economy, culture, and political-administrative divisions), and the standardization of legends and cartographic indicators. Drawing on the experience of compiling the National Atlas of Cuba, the author argues that the culture section should be considered a fundamental component and discusses in detail the difficulties of unification in soil mapping, particularly the challenge of integrating different scientific schools (e.g., Russian genetic soil science and American soil series concepts) in classification and legends. The article also points out that the unification of indicators for socio-economic maps is even more complex, as countries employ different classification criteria and indicators, and data are not temporally consistent. Finally, the author proposes that under current conditions, the compilation of international thematic maps is the realistic path toward achieving more comprehensive unification of legends and cartographic indicators, rather than the reverse. International atlases should serve as a potential source for unifying the content of national atlases, but whether countries adopt these unified indicators is a purely national matter. Socio-economic phenomena are least amenable to unification, as national atlases should reflect each country's unique characteristics. International cooperation and exchange of experience can enhance scientific standards, but their role in promoting unification is limited.