Recent work on national and regional atlases in Russia

Summary

This article reviews recent developments in Russian national and regional atlas cartography against the background of the country’s long tradition of state-directed geographic mapping. Beginning with the Great Soviet World Atlas of 1937, atlas production primarily served public administration, economic and transport planning, science, education, and defense. Since the early 1990s, specialized institutions and modern surveying, remote-sensing, and computer-assisted mapping capacities have expanded, while political and economic transformation has begun to diversify both producers and users of geospatial information. Central to the article is the National Atlas of Russia, initiated under a federal scientific and technical program approved in 1994. Two organizational models were under discussion: a multivolume atlas of at least seven volumes or a series of relatively autonomous thematic atlases. The proposed subjects comprise general geography, natural conditions and resources, population and economy, environment, history and culture, national heritage, and Russia in space. Standardized formats, projections, scales, and five spatial levels—from global and Eurasian contexts to individual sites—are intended to combine scientific comprehensiveness with practical applicability. The atlas is also expected to have official legal status and to provide authoritative source material for subsequent cartographic and educational products. Particular attention is devoted to the environmental atlas and the Atlas of National Heritage. The environmental atlas integrates natural foundations, anthropogenic pressures, ecological change, assessments of environmental components, health and economic consequences, hazards, and strategies for balanced development, using standardized data and scientifically grounded methods. The heritage atlas documents natural and cultural assets, historical personalities, languages and place names, religions, rural traditions, and urban popular culture. Its innovative multimedia design combines printed and electronic editions with video, audio, and facsimile materials. The article further distinguishes three types of regional atlases: comprehensive scientific atlases, local-history atlases for general education, and atlases of economic and social development. Existing regional works are concentrated especially in resource-rich development areas, while local-history atlases cover about half of the Russian Federation’s regions, with stronger representation in European Russia. Recent editions devote less space to conventional physical and economic geography and more to environmental, ecological, and other emerging themes; several have been produced entirely through local computer-assisted workflows. Despite difficulties in updating cartographic information, Russian atlas production is advancing through satellite imagery, digital processing, geographic information systems, and broader thematic coverage. The article concludes that post-Soviet social and economic change is ending the state’s exclusive control over geotopographic information and creating new legal and organizational arrangements that will reshape the content, production, and dissemination of national and regional atlases.