Neue Formen, Konzepte und Strukturen von Nationalatlanten

Summary

This article examines the current state and future prospects of modern national atlases in Europe. It begins by reviewing the publication status of national atlases between 1988 and 1993, noting that some were still completed through conventional manual methods, others were produced as paper atlases with computer-assisted interactive techniques, and a few countries also produced electronic atlases on diskette or CD-ROM alongside classic paper versions. No country has yet realized or planned a purely digital national atlas. The coexistence of conventional paper and electronic atlases does not imply identical content; rather, they complement each other and may lead to entirely new forms of atlas usage. The article references the model developed by Salishchev and Lehmann within the International Geographical Union's Commission on National Atlases (1956-1976) as a conceptual baseline, analyzing continuities and changes in thematic organization in atlases from Switzerland, Belgium, Hungary, and Italy. For instance, the Hungarian atlas includes extensive textual explanations, while the Belgian atlas introduces application-oriented thematic maps such as soil suitability and depicts problematic aspects like crime rates and unemployment. The article also addresses shifts in production methods, citing the Swiss national atlas, which is processed on an Intergraph Microstation system and thus offers the possibility of producing a digital version. Regarding electronic atlases, the article distinguishes three basic structural types: view-only atlases, interactive atlases, and analysis atlases. It argues that in digital atlases, a fixed sequence of maps is no longer meaningful; instead, organization can be based on scale or theme, as exemplified by the Dutch atlas's alternation between small-scale analytical maps and larger-scale synthetic maps, and the Swedish PC atlas's partial zoom functionality. Finally, the article emphasizes that an atlas, whether traditional or digital, remains a systematic, intentional, and ordered combination of maps, and this narrative structure constitutes the decisive difference between an electronic atlas and a GIS. Given the visual competition from television, video, and video games, cartographers need narrative presentation more than ever to structure and captivate users' attention. Delays in some national atlas projects should be viewed positively, as they provide time and opportunity to develop concepts, scenarios, and scripts for a new generation of atlases that meet the challenges and opportunities of the electronic age.