National atlases in the Nordic countries
Nationalatlanten in den Nordischen Ländern
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Norway · Version 2
1998In this 1995 account, Helmfried describes the Norwegian national atlas project taken over by Statens Kartverk in 1979. Publication of thematic maps with explanatory booklets began in 1983; the atlas was organized into 21 thematic groups, with geographers serving on an advisory board, but funding constraints prevented a fixed publication schedule. He reports that the original arrangement of separate maps and booklets in folders proved impractical, including for marketing, prompting a change of format following the Swedish example. The first volume in the new format was still in preparation. Maps were being produced using modern, especially digital, techniques at scales from 1:1 million to 1:25 million. Helmfried identifies Norway's extensive maritime and island landscapes and the country's shape as particular cartographic challenges.
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This article reviews the historical development, institutional organization, production models, and cartographic concepts of national atlases in the Nordic countries, with particular attention to Finland and Sweden. Finland’s 1899 atlas is widely regarded as the first national atlas in the modern sense. Conceived partly to present a nation striving for independence under Russian rule, it was followed by four editions that documented Finland’s rapid transformation. The fifth edition, completed in 1993 after fifteen years of work, retained the traditional scholarly atlas model while expanding social and cultural coverage, employing diverse cartographic forms, and providing parallel texts in three languages. Elsewhere, Iceland had not yet realized its atlas plans, largely because of its small population and limited market. Norway developed a state-led series of thematic maps and explanatory volumes, but financial constraints prevented a fixed publication schedule and prompted a shift toward a more practical book format. Denmark adopted a flexible, society-led model in which independent thematic studies were gradually incorporated into an overarching national-atlas program without regular state funding. The main case study is the new Swedish National Atlas (SNA), approved by parliament in 1987 as a ten-year project involving the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, the national mapping authority, and Statistics Sweden. Its seventeen autonomous thematic volumes were designed for schools, adult education, public authorities, and a general readership. Production was fully digital and relied where possible on public databases. Each volume combined maps, explanatory text, photographs, diagrams, and tables and appeared in separate Swedish and English editions. The atlas sought a geographically balanced, explanatory, and problem-oriented representation of Sweden rather than allowing available data or conventional cartographic practices to determine content. Accordingly, agriculture and geology received less emphasis than in earlier atlases, while services, cultural life, heritage, environmental issues, international integration, population processes, and the history of Swedish cartography received greater attention. The project demonstrated both the opportunities and limitations of computer-assisted thematic cartography. Digital production was not initially cheaper, and complex spatial processes remained difficult to represent; moreover, effective production required personnel trained in both geography and cartography. Nevertheless, standardized workflows, decentralized institutional participation, regular publication, accessible design, and professional marketing produced an exceptional public response. Individual Swedish volumes sold between approximately 15,000 and 20,000 copies, while the introductory mapping volume reached about 80,000 copies. A PC version, conceived as an affordable GIS for schools and the public, further broadened access to spatial analysis. The Nordic experience shows that national atlases function not merely as cartographic inventories but as instruments of national representation, geographic education, public information, and technological innovation. Their sustainability depends on balancing scholarly quality, institutional cooperation, financing, usability, and market appeal.
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