# The Atlas of Uganda By B B Whittaker OBE, MA, FRICS ## Introduction When invited to give an address on the Atlas of Uganda I pointed out that the atlas was published four years ago and that I had already read a paper on it at the Conference of Commonwealth Survey Officers in 1963. However, I was assured that further details of its production would be of interest. In attempting to give these inevitably much of what I wrote in my previous paper must be repeated and to those of you who have read that paper I apologise. In 1961 the Department of Lands and Surveys had five main divisions, Surveys, Lands, Mailo – which was concerned with the survey and registration of land in Buganda – Titles and Valuation. Surveys were located in Entebbe and all other divisions with headquarters administration and accounts in Kampala, 21 miles away. Most of the resources of the department were engaged on land administration in its many forms including cadastral surveys as the root of a modified Torrens system of land registration, land tenure schemes in the change-over from customary tenures to registered titles, maintenance of the land registers, leasing of crown land and administration of extant leases, acquisitions for government and valuations of all urban areas other than Kampala for rating purposes. And so, like most overseas survey departments, only limited resources could be devoted to mapping. The completion of the basic topographical series, very necessary for a young developing country, had been our main objective for a number of years. The production of a national atlas had been wistfully and fleetingly considered and firmly rejected as likely to be a serious interruption to the main programme. Diversions from the monotony of standard series, and I think it important that drawing offices should have some diversion from time to time, had been the compilation of special purpose maps such as tourist maps of the national parks. The constitutional conference in September 1961 set the date for Independence as 9 October 1962. In October 1961 we decided that by the end of the year we could reasonably reduce effort on the standard series and start the compilation of an atlas in January 1962. We set ourselves the target of publication by Independence Day. The atlas would aim to show in attractive cartographical form the physical structure of Uganda, its climate, its flora and fauna, its resources and its peoples, and what those peoples have so far achieved in developing the country and its resources. It would be a detailed study. Contained in one volume for the first time would be detailed information on a variety of subjects which should be of value to government ministries and departments, university students, senior schools and to commercial enterprises which had invested or might invest capital in Uganda. With these considerations in mind a list of some 40 maps which might suitably have been included was compiled. An atlas with maps on the right-hand page and with texts, statistics and photographs opposite to supplement the cartographical portrayal, was planned. It seemed that the target could just be met if most of the map data and texts were assembled before 31 March and scribing, proofing and proof corrections had been completed for most of the maps by 30 June. This would leave three months for a 3000 press order involving about 1 000 000 impressions on our two single colour, double demy, Crabtree presses. A number of single copies of some maps would be issued, and had it been possible it would have been economical to increase the press order for selected maps to provide for this. But the schedule was already very tight and it was decided to reprint for single copy issue after printing the atlas. ## Format Uganda extends over approximately $5\frac{1}{2}$ deg of longitude and $5\frac{1}{2}$ deg of latitude. We considered positioning references and part of the text below the maps in order to achieve a more pleasingly rectangular shape for the atlas, but text on the left-hand page and maps with inset references filling the right-hand page and an acceptance of a square format were preferred. A 1/2 000 000 base map had been in use for a number of years. It had been overprinted for reports and a variety of other purposes. Experience indicated that a larger scale would be preferable for the atlas if a larger scale would be practicable. Mean annual rainfall and population density maps had been published on 1/1 250 000. These were too large for an atlas. So to display the available data attractively and without having to generalise too much the scale chosen for the majority of maps was 1/1 500 000. The projection was transverse mercator. This gave 16·9 in. by 16·7 in. between neat lines and the bound atlas 20·7 by 19·6 in. The atlas is rather large. At the same scale it could have been reduced in size if the maps had been bled at the edges. Narrow margins with sheets trimmed reasonably small are, in my opinion, much more attractive. It is possible that a scale somewhere between 1/1 500 000 and 1/2 000 000 would have been satisfactory. This would require investigation for the more detailed maps and for half reductions four to a page. ## Choice of maps The project was discussed with the Professor of Geography, Makerere University College, who was most anxious to help. Under his chairmanship he formed a small committee from his staff, with one member as secretary and to act as liaison officer between the Department of Geography and ourselves, to discuss in what respects the department could assist during January and February, the department having other commitments thereafter. The proposed map subjects were discussed. There was general agreement over most subjects; naturally opinions differed over a few. To the original list four were added and two omitted. The titles of proposed maps, their general content, and order in which they should appear in the atlas were freely and stimulatingly discussed. The Department of Geography were asked to provide the data for eight maps and the texts for six maps. ## Base maps At 1/1 500 000. For the line plate several colours were tried including a blue-grey, greengrey and an olive green of various strengths. We settled for a standard dark grey, reducing considerably where the overprint data consisted of line symbols in order to give the data the maximum chance. Where the overprint data consisted of overall tints the base was printed darker. There are considerable areas of water in Uganda which called for a monastral blue tint. It was also thought desirable to add a neutral-toned, tint surround to the country. Again various colours were tried. A black reduced 1:6 was preferred as setting off the tints over Uganda without competing with them or detracting from them. It was not easy to decide, if a map were proofed without the water tint and grey surround, whether the addition of one or both would improve its appearance. A cut out of the water tint and the grey surround which could be slipped over any proof proved useful. At 1/3 000 000. A photographic reduction of the 1/1 500 000 base without rescribing or without adding new letterpress was considered adequate for the few maps at this scale. For particular place names reference could be made to the larger scale. A water tint and grey surround were again added where they improved the appearance. ## Scribing and masking It was essential that materials and techniques well known to the cartographic draughtsmen should be used throughout. With a very tight schedule it was no time to try out new methods or new materials. The production had to be geared to the known capabilities of the staff and to the materials, equipment and plant that we had at our disposal. For example a good, hill-shaded map would have added something to the atlas but hill shading had not been attempted in the department. Scribing for reduction might have improved the finished appearance but almost all our previous production had been by drawing or scribing at production scale and our printing sections were geared to positive rather than negative printing. Most line plates were scribed. Apart from the base map scribed at 1/1 250 000 and Kampala and Jinja town maps scribed at 1/8000, all were scribed at production scale. Astrastrip was extensively used for masks although some were painted. On some maps Zip-a-Tone screens, and screens we made ourselves, were used, thus making checking quicker and more foolproof than when combinations of mechanical screens are used involving complicated masking. The number of printing plates might have been reduced, but certain considerations suggested that we should not attempt too much in this direction. Firstly we had only a limited range of line screens; secondly any bottleneck which might occur would be much more likely to be in the cartographic section than in the machine room, and more complicated masking to combine colours would be slower than direct masking; and lastly colour control to obtain pleasing tones and combinations of tones is much easier if time is short when colours are not combined (see appendix for details of plates). It is important to consider total production time. A saving in printing machine time may be of no benefit if to achieve the saving additional time would be required in the drawing office and in printing down to metal. ## Letterpress Letterpress for maps was hand set and clarifoil pulls taken on a Littlejohn press. Throughout, the production of letterpress was something of a bottleneck, at times acute. Little could be done to remedy this for the number of compositors was governed by the amount of type we had. Our weakness here was highlighted and new equipment was ordered afterwards. ## Texts To avoid unattractive large areas of blank paper the choice lay between printing maps on every page, or printing opposite each map texts, statistics and photographs to provide information which could not be shown cartographically. We chose the latter. Cartographic representation is sometimes, I feel, unnecessarily strained and block graphs, pie diagrams, and other devices are splattered over a map in an attempt to portray cartographically data which could be better displayed in tables or graphs. Experts in each subject were invited to contribute texts. For government departments it was a difficult time. Many were involved with new legislation which had to be enacted before March, the date of internal self-government; establishments were being upset by the impending retirement of many expatriates before independence, necessitating reorganisation and redispositions within departments; and new demands were being made on departments as independence drew nearer. So requests for contributions were made by myself and another senior officer by direct contact with heads of departments and permanent secretaries. We explained the objective, what we proposed to show on the maps, that texts should not repeat in words what we hoped would be cartographically apparent, and the urgency if we were to meet our target date. Despite this being yet another demand in a busy period of change almost without exception the response was enthusiastic. After editing, texts were passed to the Government Printer who set them in 12-point Period Old Style and the statistics in Imprint. Galley proofs were checked and he supplied pulls on art paper. These were photographed, usually reducing, and composed with the halftone photographs to the same size as the map with border for the sake of balance. ## Photographs Photographs were included with the texts as supplementary information and for ornamentation. Although it may be arguable whether photos are appropriate in a national atlas such as this I have heard only a few adverse criticisms of their inclusion. For each map three or four photo subjects were listed, divided into those which it was thought would provide useful additional information and which should be included if space permitted, and those which were less important but which could appropriately be used as space fillers when composing the page. An attempt was made to collect the complete list to have available at compilation stage. Collection of map data and texts came first and photos, of lesser importance, later. Perhaps we should have anticipated some of the difficulties we were to encounter, and we might have advertised. Official sources such as the Department of Information which supplied 23 of the 66 photos, had a smaller choice in the subjects which we sought than expected. Photos of state occasions, parades, opening ceremonies abounded. The Department of Agriculture were able to produce countless photos on every facet of cash crops and, surprisingly, practically none of food crops. So we were hard pressed to get what we wanted and some of us tried to fill the odd gap at the eleventh hour. ## Proofing Twelve copies of the first proof of each map were made and distributed to the cartographic section, map examiner, computing office, the person who had supplied data, Department of Geography and senior officers in the department in Entebbe and Kampala. Three to five days were allowed for examination and after all proofs had been collected comments and corrections were discussed and another proof marked with agreed alterations. Unquestionably the map benefited by spreading proofs as widely as practicable. Dyed astrafoil proofs would have been expensive where a number were wanted. There was no time to pass round a single proof. Nor would they have been suitable when deciding what colours and tones would finally be used. Our proofing press was a museum piece and had not been used for many years. A hand-fed, Deffa flatbed was sometimes used for proofing although the washing up time was long. So, a little unorthodox perhaps, we proofed on a Crabteee press. A pre-register table and quick washing up made the production of a dozen proofs economical. ## Printing Good quality paper which gave little show through ordered in January arrived on 22 June and printing began to schedule. Phasing of work to machines went according to plan except for a short period in the middle when machines were not running to capacity. The printing sections were not staffed for shift work and in order to complete on time much willing overtime was put in especially during September. ## Publication A looseleaf binder was considered. It would have been an advantage had we been able to bind the atlas in the department. However we found no binder which protected the head of the binding screws and exposed screws all too easily score desks and tables. A sprung plastic screw was tested but failed after a mock-up atlas was opened and closed 200 times. Little would be gained by having a looseleaf binder merely with a view to being able to replace maps with revised editions from time to time. It would be impossible to reach all atlas holders with revised sheets, and a complete new edition would be preferable. So we agreed on full bound rexine hard covers, gold blocked by the Government Printer. Printing was finished on 4 October, two presentation copies only were ready by Independence Day, but it was on sale shortly afterwards. Now a look through the atlas. A dust jacket would have been very desirable for finished appearance and sales appeal. Unfortunately we had no machine large enough to print one. ## Frontispiece At an early date all draughtsmen whether or not engaged on the atlas, and many other members of the staff, were asked for a rough sketch idea for a frontispiece. Few suggestions were made. It was rather like trying to plan a departmental Christmas card when talents remained dormant until after a card was printed. We finally took some 16-mm kodachrome ciné film of crested cranes in flight. The crested crane is the national emblem. From these bromide enlargements with different enlargement factors were made. We inked around a number of birds with varying wing positions, and bleached out the continuous tone background. It was proposed to design the frontispiece with a flight silhouetted against an evening sky. Although we had an air brush no one was very conversant with its use. After a few attempts good copy was made which, when half-toned, should have given the desired vignette, deep blue at the top of the page shading off to almost white at the bottom. And indeed a first-class negative was made. The process photographer went on retirement leave and when we came to print to our consternation the negative could not be found, and to a contact positive which he had made from it, a border the same size as the map borders had been added through a misunderstanding and the positive had been cleaned off outside the border. Much of the effectiveness would have been lost if it had not been bled at the edges. So after two or three attempts using what few glass plates we had, a locally trained and still rather inexperienced photographer saved the day with quite a creditable result. Since draft compilations of many of the maps were contributed, I felt that we could not add the usual credit note 'compiled, drawn and printed' by the department, and that 'published' would be adequate. A number of people in complimenting us on the atlas said 'It's very well printed. Who did it for you?' So I think in a second edition it would be better to revert to the established credit note and if anyone thought that 'compiled' was not strictly honest as far as some of the maps are concerned it could at least be accepted as being true of the atlas as a whole. ## External communications Designed primarily to show Uganda in the African setting with all other countries and their capitals, it seemed that the external communications could well be added and make the map much more useful. ## Physical Conventionally layered in greens and browns, the pleasing effect of omitting contour lines was suggested by an Ordnance Survey physical map of Great Britain. Although we subsequently compiled a 1/1 000 000 sheet to the IMW specifications as we knew them, apart from layer colours, we felt that metre intervals would be premature for the atlas. It also happens that foot intervals are more convenient to portray the topography immediately north of Lake Victoria where the drainage basin is very narrow. In the text, areas of land and of open water and swamp are given by districts. Some of these figures are based on 1/250 000 maps. When 1/50 000 cover is completed for a district, areas are taken out again under three instead of two categories, land, inland swamp which is potentially reclaimable, and open water and papyrus swamp around its edges which could not easily be reclaimed. Some amendments are necessary but could best be published when all districts are completed. ## Geology A 1/1 250 000 had previously been published. Geological Survey took the opportunity to revise and the sheet was rescribed and remasked at 1/1 500 000. ## Geophysics All gravity surveys are undertaken by the Geological Survey Department who provided the gravity contours. Any future edition might well incorporate the primary triangulation and primary level networks. ## Hydrology The Department of Water Development is responsible for exploiting surface water and the Department of Geological Survey for underground water. ## Mean annual rainfall The colours are conventional with the break from greens into blues at 40 in., the critical rainfall for agriculture. Plentiful rainfall over most of the country and the high rainfall from evaporation in Lake Victoria with the prevailing wind east to west across the lake are well demonstrated. ## Mean monthly rainfall Uganda, as well as having abundant rain in most parts, enjoys a well distributed rainfall which is more important. ## Temperatures Maximum and minimum graphs at selected stations show how comparatively little variation there is throughout the year. Colours are again conventional. ## Soils Opinion was divided on the inclusion of this map. The classification follows the CCTA/CSA schematic classification for the Soils Map of Africa 1/5 000 000. Colours were not laid down and the colour scheme was worked out with the Research Division of the Department of Agriculture. ## Vegetation The colour ranges in brown, green and yellow only were chosen for two reasons. Firstly for diversity. Although vegetation is dependent on the soils, two coats of many colours side by side would not be so attractive. Secondly it seemed that browns, greens, and yellows would be suitable colours in which to depict vegetation classifications just as blues and purples are traditionally used for areas of high rainfall on rainfall maps and reds and yellows for high temperatures. Carrying the analogy further, vegetation might have been depicted with greens predominating, for one's first impression of Uganda is how green the country is. However, it is much more difficult to get satisfactory contrasts in greens than in browns. Zip-a-Tone screens combined with solids were extensively used on this sheet. ## Forest reserves ## Game conservation At one time we had considered including a map entitled 'Recreation' or 'Sport and Recreation'. Much of the data which would have been shown on such a map has been included elsewhere. Here are shown the national parks, a great tourist attraction. ## Distribution of main game animals This read in conjunction with the previous map is of interest not only for animal observation and photography but also shooting. In order to maintain a balance in protected areas culling and controlled sporting shooting are matters of policy to-day. ## Political A popular map sold in single copies and used as an appendix to many government publications. ## Population Depiction of densities by tinting sub-counties, the sub-county being the unit for census purposes, was chosen rather than depiction by dots. The difficulty in compiling a dot map arises in areas of sparse population, where the sub-counties are large and the correct positioning for the few dots required is unknown. A tint over the whole area may achieve no more than dots scattered over the area. On the other hand, a tint is less emphatic than dots and should be less misleading in such circumstances. The completed 1/50 000 cover where all habitation is shown will provide an accurate basis on which to work out a dot distribution, except in the north and east where there is still considerable seasonal movement by herdsmen and where depiction by tints may still be preferable. A dot representation would, in my opinion, make no material difference to the general picture. It would be interesting to find out whether differences in detail would be significant. Certainly a dot representation would be much more tedious to compile than a tint. ## Tribal and ethnic groups At first glance this appears to be a complicated map but anyone wishing to study it closely will find it quite clear. The ethnic groups are shown by background tints and the division between Bantu in the south and Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic and Sudanic in the north, a division in some respects similar to that between north and south in Nigeria, can readily be seen. The colours used in the tribal pie diagrams superimposed on the ethnic group background are in the same part of the spectrum, greens, blues and mauves on blue, and reds and yellows on browns for example. It can easily be seen that tribal groups in general are remarkably homogeneous in each district excepting round the lake shore in Buganda and Busoga where the mixture includes non-Ugandans. ## Malaria ## Medical facilities. Education facilities These two distribution maps are not successful. The provision of these facilities in relation to population densities is important. The population densities have been inadequately shown by background tints and the symbolisation could be improved. The idea is, I think, sound but the execution disappointing. Unfortunately we had no time to restyle the sheets. ## Cultivated land by counties. Cotton cultivation. Coffee, tea, sugar and tobacco. Main food crops (1). Main food crops (2) Uganda depends on its agriculture. Cotton and coffee form the main exports and most of the food consumed is home grown. It is fitting therefore that a number of maps should be devoted to agriculture covering cash and staple food crops. We were lucky in that Dr David McMaster, after considerable research in the records of the Department of Agriculture and at county and sub-county headquarters was completing his doctoral thesis. He provided excellent manuscripts from which these maps were compiled. ## Cattle and small stock This map fails in attempting to combine two dot distributions. Various combinations of colours and dots of different sizes were tried and although the published map was the best, we were not happy about it. The small stock, mainly sheep and goats, are relatively unimportant compared with cattle, are not worth a map to themselves, and were reluctantly included with the cattle at the insistence of the Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry who provided the data. It would have been better to have omitted one or more photos and to have included the small stock on a 1/3 000 000 map on the page opposite. The distribution of cattle (without small stock) would be greatly improved if instead of 5000 each dot represented 1000 or even 500 head. ## Tsetse species ## Fishing industry Highpowered outboard engines fixed to the truncated sterns of traditional canoes have revolutionised fishing on the lakes. ## Internal communications Green is seldom a satisfactory colour for a line plate and it was a mistake to print the secondary roads in green. They are difficult to pick out and tend to hide the fact that Uganda has an excellent road network. The air routes are deliberately printed pale to emphasise that internally they are of minor importance compared with road and rail. ## Freight traffic Emphasises Uganda's dependence on the rail to Mombasa for the export of bulky cotton and coffee crops. The map is now out of date. Since the unprecedented rise in lake levels in 1961/62 lake services on Albert and Kyoga have been closed and the rail has been extended from Soroti to Galu and Pakwach. All cotton from West Nile now goes direct from Pakwach to Mombasa. ## Power generation and transmission The distribution of electricity into rural areas is of interest. Owen Falls power station is now nearing its maximum designed output. Some consideration has been given to damming the Nile again. ## Industries A map that had to be included although there are as yet few industries. On such a sparse map there was a temptation to increase the size of symbols and letterpress, rather as earlier geographers placed elephants for want of towns. Making more of the little there is might, I feel, tend to obscure one of the main messages of this map. ## Trade diagrams Reduced to two colours by the use of letter symbols. Larger symbols would have been preferable but their size is dictated by the narrowest bands in the columns. ## Archaeological and historical sites Much work remains to be done particularly in the archaeological field. ## Early travels For data and texts for maps in the historical section I approached Kenneth Ingham, Professor of History at Makerere. He was shortly leaving for Sandhurst to take up the post of Director of Studies, if I remember correctly. He had little time to spare and said 'Even if I were to prepare something for you I wouldn't dare to hand it over until I'd asked Mr H B Thomas to vet it. So why not ask him to do it'. H B Thomas, a former Director of Lands and Surveys is an authority on the history of Uganda. I wrote to him in England and he kindly said he would write the texts and comment on the maps if someone would prepare the manuscripts. Brian Langlands, Geography Department, Makerere, who had made a special study of exploration in East Africa, was the obvious choice. I asked him one morning and the following morning he rang me and said 'It's ready for you. I began it at 4 pm and finished it at 3 am this morning.' His treatment by considering the opening up of Uganda in several phases, by l'esser-known people as well as the great explorers, is particularly effective. ## Evolution of Uganda's boundaries Long stretches of the frontiers are still undemarcated and rely on the verbal descriptions given in Agreements and Orders in Council many years ago. The boundary with the Congolese Republic in West Nile District for about 100 miles is, for example, described as the Congo/Nile watershed. A section of the Sudan boundary was described in 1914 as being the southern limit of the Kuku tribe. No one really knows where the boundary is to-day. ## Central Kampala and Jinja These are portions of standard 1/10 000 town maps and were included as specimens of urban development, where the open nature of the towns contrasts with densely built up areas in other continents. ## Second edition Some preliminary work for a second edition has, I understand, been started. Apart from the revision which will be required, for much has changed over the last four years, a number of maps as I have indicated could be improved by recompilation to a better specification. One would also hope to see some new maps in a second edition. Although I asked many people for suggestions for new maps practically none were received. Two that I considered for the first edition I would add, a map covering almost a hemisphere on a zenithal equidistant projection with Kampala the centre, and in the historical section, a map which showed in some way the missionary contribution to the development of the country. Uganda owes much to missions of all denominations with their schools and hospitals, and I am sorry that the time factor prevented them being suitably included. I had in mind a map which would show the sites of missions, mission schools and mission hospitals and dispensaries at different periods. Considerable research would be necessary and I am not certain what would come out of it and whether it would be a suitable cartographic subject. Missionary work should find a place in the atlas and the research would be well worth while. Something on land use would be a useful addition but no countrywide survey has yet been made. Where space permits I would again include photographs making certain that all were of good quality. Even the best halftone printed by lithography tends to be a little grey and lacking in contrast. We experimented after producing the atlas making two halftone negatives of the same subject, one exposed for the highlights and one for the shadows. These were superimposed by machining in an attempt to get more ink on to the subject. We did not succeed. I should experiment further. Printing plates for most of the maps were cleaned off as we could not afford to leave them standing. Printing time for a similar press order is therefore likely to be of the same order as for the first edition. It would be wise therefore, despite some maps requiring little or no revision, to allow a more comfortable ## Discussion D T F MUNSEY: I am very pleased to see with us H B Thomas, sometime Director of Lands and Survey in Uganda, and the co-author of the History of lands and surveys in that country; and also W D C Wiggins, the President of the British Cartographical Association. We are also very grateful to those organisations, including the Royal Geographical Society, who have kindly lent us copies of the Atlas to peruse tonight. W D C WIGGINS: It has been most interesting to hear about this Atlas, which is an enduring monument to Mr Whittaker, not only in Uganda but throughout the world of cartography. It is production time for the second edition—say 12 months instead of nine months. ## Appendix

Map	Scale	Masks	Base Plates	Overprint Plates plus Text Plate
Frontispiece	—	—	—	3
Foreword	—	—	—	1
Contents	—	—	—	1
External communications	—	2	—	7
Physical	1/1 500 000	17	—	13
Geology	1/1 500 000	18	2	10
Geophysics	1/1 500 000	—	3	5
Hydrology	1/1 500 000	8	2	8
Mean annual rainfall	1/1 500 000	10	1	7
Mean monthly rainfall	1/6 000 000 (12)	11	1	7
Rainfall probability	1/3 000 000 (4)	6	1	4
Max-min temperatures	1/3 000 000 (2)	10	1	5
Soils	1/1 500 000	8	2	10
Vegetation	1/1 500 000	6	3	8
Forest reserves	1/1 500 000	5	3	7
Game conservation	1/1 500 000	—	3	4
Major game species	1/6 000 000 (12)	1	3	2
Political	1/1 500 000	4	3	8
Population densities	1/1 500 000	10	3	8
Tribal and ethnic groups	1/1 500 000	14	2	11
Malaria	1/1 500 000	4	3	5
Medical facilities	1/1 500 000	3	3	7
Educational facilities	1/1 500 000	3	3	7
Cultivated land	1/1 500 000	9	3	6
Cotton	1/1 500 000	9	3	6
Coffee, tea, sugar and tobacco	1/1 500 000	4	3	6
Main food crops (1)	1/3 000 000 (4)	8	3	7
Main food crops (2)	1/3 000 000 (4)	4	3	5
Distribution of cattle	1/1 500 000	1	3	4
Tsetse species	1/1 500 000	4	3	7
Fishing industry	1/3 000 000 (4)	—	3	7
Internal communications	1/1 500 000	—	3	4
Freight traffic	1/1 500 000	—	3	8
Power	1/1 500 000	2	3	5
Industries	1/1 500 000	1	3	4
Trade diagrams		—	—	4
Archaeological and historical sites	1/1 500 000	1	3	6
Early travels	1/1 500 000	—	3	6
Evaluation of boundaries	1/2 000 000	—	2	5
Central Kampala	1/10 000	1	—	7
Jinja	1/10 000	2	—	8
Mapping programme		3	2	5
Gazetteer		—	—	2
	Total	189	88	260

Total number of astrafolls made: 460 (including all masks and duplication of some originals). Total number of plates made: 760 (including all proof plates). a most interesting production, and when one considers that it came from a so-called undeveloped land it is really just as remarkable as the great Russian Atlas. For myself, I think the most successful of many fine maps is the tribunal/ethnic one. At first I was worried at the thought of individual sheets being issued separately after the bound copies were issued, for then one would get a sheet showing the fishing industry on the front but the text of something else on the back. Luckily Mr Whittaker was so pushed for time that he could not print all the copies he had intended in the first printing run and had to do a second lot of printing. He was therefore able, later on, to print the relevant text on the back of each map. If he had had more time in the first place it would not have been so good in that respect. Speaking in more general terms, as President of the British Cartographic Society I believe this is perhaps the first time that this Institution has had a purely cartographic meeting. Cartography is homeless in this country. Oddly enough, in the United Nations and elsewhere it includes all surveying, including geodesy and photogrammetry. I believe that those who practise these activities in this country need a home. There is a great deal of pressure for technician qualifications and possibly even for professional qualifications in cartography, and I hope that the interest being shown by this Institution this evening will lead to something being done in this respect, for I believe that this Institution is perhaps the only possible professional home for all the surveyors' activities. There is the Institute of Printing but that is rather outside our sphere and could only cater for a very small proportion of cartographic activity. The amount of printing a surveyor or cartographer needs could be included under the heading of cartography, indeed, a little is included in the 'Newbury' course. I would therefore like to make a plea to this Institution to include some form of cartography within its Survey Division. Also, if it is considering technician or sub-professional qualifications to add one in cartography. H B THOMAS: I should like to express my real admiration for the enterprise we have had described to us tonight, and particularly to our speaker, who is really the begetter of it. I ought to disclose an interest. I was Director of Surveys in Uganda. I started there in 1911 but I do recall how terribly ignorant we were, how illequipped, how poverty-stricken, in those early days, and yet I think I can say that the survey was always characterised with integrity. We did our best with those tremendous handicaps with which we were assailed. I think one needs to live under a grant-in-aid from the Treasury to know what it is like to live in a Union workhouse! I should like to express very great appreciation to Mr Whittaker on behalf of the rest of us tonight, and heartily congratulate him on putting through this enterprise, really very much against time. It was his drive that did it. P ELLIS: We in Tanzania are at the moment engaged in producing a new edition of our Atlas. The last one was produced in 1956 and is now rather out-of-date. We are working on this new edition as part of our five-year development plan. We have a great deal more ground to cover than you had in Uganda, and I do not suppose that our resources are any greater financially or in terms of people. We have, however, allowed ourselves a lot more time than you took. We have been collecting information for it now for about 18 months and we hope by the middle of this year to start the actual printing. It will take us almost as long to print 3000 copies as to compile the Atlas; about nine months just for the printing is our estimate. With regard to size, the current edition of the Tanganyika Atlas is bigger from top to bottom than the Uganda Atlas, drawn up on a base map of 1 in 3m. We have debated reducing the size but eventually decided to keep the same size. We found that we could trim it by practically 2 in. by cutting off as much detail as possible at the top and bottom and putting the titles alongside. We shall be able to produce an Atlas which will be almost the same dimensions as the Uganda one. We fully agree with this idea of putting an explanatory text and photographs on the page opposite the actual map. I think that an Atlas that is just a bound collection of nothing but maps can be rather dull, and it does give an opportunity to show all the information one wants. We did do this to a very slight extent in the 1956 edition but we did not put photographs in, and some of our texts were rather short. We are now expanding it. Most of the details will be very similar to the Uganda one. I do not think we shall have as many sheets on meteorology or on agriculture as there are in the Uganda Atlas. With regard to our population map, we have used the dot method because we found that we can then reproduce this on a transfer and overlay, and this is very popular with customers who buy our Atlas. They like to put the overlay on other pages in the Atlas and find out how the population compares with the information on other maps. We also in' the 1956 edition have a sheet on the different tribes. We are finding now, however, that for political reasons this is something that is being dropped, with the new Government of Tanzania following a policy of 'Uhuru' and 'Togetherness'. We very much admired your frontispiece with the golden crescent crane. The current edition of the Tanganyika Atlas has about six different colours and types of print and so we unashamedly decided that we would try to produce a frontispiece similar to yours. We have had our ‘Christmas card selection committee’ trying to decide what to put on! We eventually decided that the most suitable thing would be a background of Kilimanjaro. We have studied the Uganda Atlas a great deal in the last 18 months and it has been useful to us in giving some ideas as to what we should put in an Atlas of Tanzania. B R WHITTAKER (in reply): Mr Ellis, I think I omitted to say that quite naturally, when we began our Atlas, we looked at the Tanganyika Atlas and at the Kenya Atlas. The 1956 edition of the Tanganyika Atlas is, I think, the third edition. They produced their first in 1942 or thereabouts. I did not know Uganda then but I can assure you that in Kenya that would have been quite impossible, to produce an Atlas as early as 1942. There was no equipment, or printing equipment, there was no drawing office really; the people were engaged on cadastral work only. We looked at the Kenya Atlas, which was published about two years before the Uganda Atlas, and we looked at the third edition of the Tanganyika Atlas, 1956, and decided there were a few things we liked and a few that we did not. We felt that as we were the last in the field we must try to produce a better looking Atlas than either of those. I am very pleased to see that you are having a look at our Atlas and I am sure that your new edition of the Tanganyika Atlas will be better than this one. DRIGADIER R A GARDINER: One of the great things we all appreciated about the Uganda Atlas was the speed with which it was produced. Speaking from a very short knowledge of the Royal Geographical Society, I would suggest that this is the thing the users of atlases want above all. It is far far better to get an atlas out quickly, even with a few shortcomings in regard to beauty, etc, than to hold it up for so long that the data becomes virtually valueless, except for historical purposes, by the time it reaches the user. I hope that for this reason Mr Ellis will try to produce his new edition as quickly as possible. With regard to Mr Whittaker's comments about green roads, as many of you know, in this country we are now faced with primary routes known as green routes, and the Ordnance Survey are busy converting their road planning map from red roads to green roads. I am sure that they will echo your difficulties. But it will have to be done and the problem is to make a green road more prominent than a red road. It is intended to case the road. MR WHITTAKER: If the road is cased, even with green, one does have a little more chance. The secondary roads on this sheet were uncased roads and the green rather fades away. J R HOLLWEY: With regard to the question of showing the town pattern of Kampala, could this not have been achieved in a rather less dull manner by using some form of mosaic of a set of air photographs of the township? I feel that town plans in Africa do look very dull. The real trouble, of course, is the way the towns are built. MR WHITTAKER: As a cartographer and surveyor I feel that a map should be able to give a better interpretation perhaps than a photograph. Even the best of air photographs tend perhaps to lack a certain amount of contrast compared with a ground photograph. ## Geodimeter model 6 and tellurometer 101 The following is a report by the Honorary Secretary of the Land Surveyors' Committee on an informal land surveyors meeting held at the RICS on 15 December 1966. At an informal general meeting of land surveyors held in the Institution on 15 December 1966, Major A J Ayers, of the Ordnance Survey and Mr C C Brown of Huntings Surveys Ltd, outlined their recent experiences with the Geodimeter 6 and Tellurometer 101 respectively, and sparked off an interesting discussion in which many of the 120 persons present participated. Major Ayers summarised the advantages of the Geodimeter 6 over the previous production model 4, vis, a reduction in weight, a reduction in power consumption, a great simplification in field operation due mainly to the co-axial optics which make pointing easier and dispense with the need for deviation wedges at the reflector, and an increased range which varies with visibility conditions and can be as much as 13 km using the mercury vapour lamp in daylight. He then described the various tests carried out by the Ordnance Survey and gave favourable figures for fixing air survey control for 1:1250 mapping [8 points per day by Geodimeter as compared with 4 points per day by tacheometric methods], and he also stressed the flexibility in use of these instruments on productive surveys. Major Ayers described a test comparison with an accurate 240 m base line on which agreement of 2 mm was achieved by direct measurement. Later in the discussion a second speaker spoke of achieving a similar accuracy over the same base line with a different Geodimeter 6 and a special measurement technique. Major Ayers also described a test comparison over a 1:1 km distance measured by Dr Froome's Mekometer in which agreement between the two instruments was 8 mm. The use of the Geodimeter to resurvey the Aberfan disaster M M BARRETT: This Atlas was remarkable, I thought, for two things in particular – for the speed at which it was compiled and for the amount of cooperation shown by all the departments. It was also remarkable for doing a very good turn to the Survey Departments. Survey Departments rather suffer because nobody seems to know what they really do. The cadastral surveyor puts beacons in and charges exorbitant fees for finding them again! He makes maps in the areas where they do not want them and of the wrong sort! The public image of the surveyor has not been very good for a long time and has not had sufficient publicity. We have to thank the cartographers for the light they shed on the Survey Departments by producing these marvellous Atlases, and this is a very good example. If Sir David Gill could only have gone about things the other way round and produced atlases like these first, he might have got the money and support for his project for a Geodetic Survey of the African Continent and completed it in less than 60 years. I would like to thank Mr Whittaker very much indeed, on behalf of the surveyors, for this most interesting paper. area was described in which accuracies for vertical angle heighting of 3 in were obtained. Major Ayers summed up on a vote of approval, and suggested that a one-way speech system from Geodimeter to reflector would bring a worthwhile improvement in field organisation. Mr Brown described the Tellurometer 101, and its reduced weight and power consumption compared with previous models. He also passed on the useful idea of painting the reflector dishes in a bright red and white symmetrical manner for use as a theodolite target, and pointed out that it was once again possible with the MRA/1, and that the Automatic Frequency Control enabled quicker fine readings to be taken at both ends of the line whilst on a particular cavity setting than the former procedure of completing all the readings at one end before interchanging the master/remote functions. He also warned that a standard refractive index of 1·000325 was incorporated in the system and that departures from this still required to be considered. Mr Brown also gave accuracy figures of ±2·5 cm over 10 km and ±6 cm at 50 km. Mr Brown then described a test at Folkestone Warren (see table) in which Geodimeter Models 4, 6 and Tellurometer 101 had been used, and stressed that the figures may not be comparable as the sea cliff area is liable to surface movement. He referred to the difficulties of measuring over the sea with the Tellurometer, and looking into the sun with the Geodimeter, and the need for a centring device for the former instrument. He then described experiences with the Tellurometer in busy streets where traffic movement did not adversely affect measurements. Mr Brown ended by raising the topics of costs—which are comparable—and the need for two trained operators with the Tellurometer as compared with one for the Geodimeter. This view was later taken up in discussion and hotly disputed by

Atlas of Uganda

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