Mapy, Atlasy a Kartografická Literatura: The Atlas of Britain and Northern Ireland

Summary

This article reviews "The Atlas of Britain and Northern Ireland," published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1963. The atlas, prepared over a long period, contains 236 maps across 200 pages, predominantly at scales of 1:2,000,000 and 1:1,000,000, all using the Transverse Mercator projection. Its content spans physical geography (geology, climate, hydrology, vegetation), agriculture, industry, population, transport, and trade, with notable sections of 1:1,000,000 maps designed for comparative analysis. The reviewer praises the atlas's simple, effective graphic design, particularly its use of hill shading instead of traditional base map details, viewing this as a potentially revolutionary approach in cartography. However, the review also notes shortcomings, such as the lack of synthetic, geophysical, and mineral resource maps. Despite these flaws, the atlas is deemed a reliable source of information and a strong competitor to the Finnish National Atlas.