For a progressive national atlas

Summary

This article presents a comprehensive proposal for the conception, organization, and cartographic methodology of the second edition of the National Atlas of Czechoslovakia. Its central objective is to make the atlas a modern geographical work that represents the country’s contemporary spatial structure and the results of socialist development. Drawing on the first edition, available statistical materials, and an assessment of forty-two foreign atlases of comparable scope, the authors recommend a volume of approximately sixty sheets divided into five major sections: Czechoslovakia’s position in the world; natural conditions understood as a basis for economic activity; population and settlement; the geography of production; and living standards together with external economic relations. More than one third of the atlas should be devoted to production—especially industry, agriculture, and transport—with industrial geography alone occupying roughly one quarter of the work. The authors reject both descriptive landscape regionalism and an excessive accumulation of historical maps. Historical comparison should be included only where it directly explains present conditions, generally taking 1945 as the principal benchmark, while the atlas should be coordinated with the historical atlas then under preparation. Methodologically, the maps should employ a common base, carefully selected scales, internationally recognizable techniques, and comparable indicators such as employment, physical output, multi-year agricultural averages, and transport flows. Related phenomena may be superimposed where their relationship is clear, or explained in an accompanying text, but simplistic causal representations should be avoided. The article develops detailed recommendations for mapping industrial branches, agricultural production, forestry, transport and communications, migration and settlement, education, culture, health care, housing, social provision, retail services, economic regions, living standards, and foreign trade. It also emphasizes synthetic maps of physical-geographical and economic-geographical regions, international transport connections, Slovak industrialization, collectivization, and changes in the geography of foreign economic partners. The authors conclude that the atlas must combine scientific rigor, political relevance, international comparability, internal coherence, and practical feasibility. Its preparation should be directed by a compact but representative editorial board capable of synthesizing public and professional discussion, issuing a precise program, coordinating participating institutions, and supervising complex map designs. A textual supplement should document sources, compilation methods, and appropriate use of the atlas rather than serve as an abbreviated economic geography. Overall, the proposal advances an integrated, regionally oriented model of national atlas production centered on contemporary socioeconomic structures and their spatial interrelations.