Proceedings of ICA National Atlases Commission Meeting, 1990, Beijing

Summary

This volume presents the principal outcomes of the 1990 Beijing meeting of the International Cartographic Association’s Commission on National Atlases. More than fifty specialists attended, including Commission members and participants from China, Sweden, Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Spain, India, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and other countries. Thirty-five papers were collected and twenty-six were presented. Their main subjects included national reports on atlas development, electronic atlases, national atlas information systems, and the planning, design, implementation, production, publication, and financing of atlas projects. The proceedings therefore document both international technological innovation and China’s extensive achievements in national, regional, and thematic cartography. China’s national atlas program is shown as the product of long-term comprehensive regional surveys, demographic and resource statistics, remote-sensing applications, ecological observation, and geographic information system development. Its broader purpose is to provide a scientific basis for resource use, environmental protection, and socioeconomic planning. Technical case studies illustrate the transition from conventional compilation toward computer-assisted and data-oriented mapping. Population-density mapping experiments examine the gridding of demographic data, the combined use of accurately located and evenly distributed dots, continuous density classification, and the selection of grid size according to map scale, regional extent, accuracy, and intended use. A microcomputer-based method links settlement population data with elevation zones, aggregates population and area values by grid, and produces classified density maps. Results for the Beijing–Tianjin–Tangshan region show a strong concentration of population below 100 meters, where 91.1 percent of the population occupies 67.2 percent of the land and densities generally exceed 500 persons per square kilometer. Another major example concerns the aerial remote-sensing map series for the Tarim River. Using 1983 aerial photography, specialists compiled thirty-eight 1:100,000 maps covering geomorphology, hydrology, vegetation, grassland, poplar resources, land use, desertification, land resources, imagery, and geographic base information. The project emphasizes unified specifications, interpretation keys, classification systems, coincident feature boundaries, cartographic generalization, prototype-map testing, accuracy assessment, and coordination among disciplines. The concluding catalogue of Chinese atlases and map series demonstrates a broad cartographic system encompassing physical geography, agriculture, population, health, history, climate, geology, environmental quality, territorial resources, and regional development. Overall, the volume argues that modern national atlases depend on integrating traditional cartographic principles with computers, remote sensing, and geographic information technologies, while maintaining standardization, data consistency, interdisciplinary cooperation, quality control, and sustained international exchange.