Atlas of the German States: Project Planning

Summary

This 1993 project plan sets out the conceptual, substantive, technical, organizational, and financial foundations for an Atlas of the German Länder, conceived as a modern national atlas for reunified Germany. Prepared by the National Atlas working group of the Central Committee for German Regional Studies on behalf of major German geographical and cartographic associations, the document treats a national atlas not merely as a collection of maps, but as an expression of a country’s scientific, cultural, technological, and political capacity. Its international comparison of recent atlases from Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and other countries identifies the emergence of a new generation of national atlases since the late 1970s. These works combine scientific inventories with public information, education, spatial planning, international comparison, problem-oriented analysis, and national representation. Their publication formats, thematic structures, languages, print runs, prices, financing arrangements, and production periods demonstrate both the diversity and the long-term institutional demands of such projects. Drawing on these precedents and earlier German initiatives, the plan proposes an atlas intended for scholars, educators, planners, public authorities, media organizations, publishers, and a broad domestic and international readership. It envisages an integrated presentation of maps, graphics, diagrams, photographs, remote-sensing materials, and explanatory texts, organized into coordinated thematic complexes and produced according to common cartographic and editorial standards. Particular importance is assigned to digital methods, which should support not only the printed volumes but also continuously updated databases, customized maps, electronic information services, and derivative educational products. The proposed organization combines a central institution with thematic working groups and individual map authors. The central unit would coordinate content, standards, quality control, production, data management, software tools, and distribution, while decentralized contributors would prepare and revise assigned data and maps. Atlas operation after initial publication would include maintaining and expanding the database, updating hardware and software, producing user-specific files and maps, preserving documented current and historical versions, and distributing both printed and digital products. A networked computing architecture is therefore recommended to overcome geographical separation and permit electronic mail, remote program execution, graphical applications, shared file systems, and distributed database access. UNIX workstations would serve as network nodes, PCs as author workstations, and existing academic Internet connections or Ethernet and ISDN networks as communications infrastructure, using quasi-standard technologies such as TCP/IP, NFS, X-Windows, and MOTIF. Data organization would encompass geometric and statistical data, texts, cartographic standards, command files, and production metadata. Because fully distributed databases were not yet available, the plan recommends interconnected partial databases with controlled redundancy and consistency checks at the author, working-group, and central levels. Overall, the document presents the atlas as a long-term national information infrastructure whose success depends on sustained funding, institutional continuity, interdisciplinary cooperation, technical standardization, and the close integration of cartography, geography, and information technology.