Reports: Atlas of the Slovak Socialist Republic

The report describes preparations for the Atlas of the Slovak Socialist Republic, jointly undertaken by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, represented by its Institute of Geography, and the Slovak Office of Geodesy and Cartography. Work began in 1971 with a co-publishing agreement and an editorial board. The Institute of Geography developed the conceptual project; the Research Institute of Geodesy and Cartography prepared the preliminary project under editorial guidance; and the technical project, including a mock-up, was completed and reviewed in 1973. Content preparation involved 150 authors and five teams from twenty institutions, with completion of the content planned for 1975. The atlas was to contain over 800 maps on more than ninety printed sheets, chiefly at 1:500,000 and 1:750,000. Its fifteen chapters would cover natural conditions, settlement history, population, economic activities, regional divisions, landscape potential and the environment. Analytical maps were to be combined with synthetic regionalization and assessments of landscape use, presenting material in forms suitable for spatial planning. Examples singled out as unusual in traditional atlas production include landslide susceptibility, pollution, groundwater resources, commuting regions, settlement hierarchy, industrial concentration, tourism and environmental health. The report emphasizes scientific content, cartographic standards and technical and aesthetic requirements, alongside uses in research, education, planning and landscape protection. It also assigns the atlas an ideological and political purpose: historical comparisons were intended to demonstrate post-liberation economic, social and cultural growth under socialism and support education across society.