On the concept of creating an electronic version of the National Atlas of Russia

This article proposes a conceptual and technological framework for developing an electronic version of the National Atlas of Russia (NAR). The project is designed as two complementary components: an Internet portal and CD-ROM editions distributed with the corresponding printed volumes. The Internet component is intended to publicize the atlas, provide online access to selected cartographic and thematic resources, offer search and reference services, and support ordering and payment for CD-ROM products. Each CD-ROM should reproduce the maps and thematic content of its printed volume in full, provide higher-quality cartographic visualization than the online version, and optionally include editorially approved multimedia, databases, spreadsheets, and hypertext materials. The distinction in quality reflects both network bandwidth limitations and the commercial need to differentiate freely accessible resources from purchasable editions. Both components should support unified navigation, thematic-layer control, geographical-name searches, and printing, while the Internet system may additionally integrate external resources such as the State Catalogue of Geographical Names. The authors compare raster visualization, scalable vector graphics (SVG), and Flash/SWF technology in terms of image quality, file size, interactivity, platform independence, browser compatibility, and client-side software requirements. Raster formats such as JPEG and PNG are broadly compatible but offer limited interaction and lose quality when scaled. SVG provides an open, XML-based, searchable, scalable, and semantically rich framework for interactive mapping, although its practical performance depends on plug-ins and data volume. Flash combines compact vector graphics, animation, multimedia, scripting, database connectivity, and cross-platform delivery, making it the recommended primary format for cartographic presentation. Dreamweaver and Flash are proposed for interface development, while HTML is selected for text, tables, statistics, and related thematic information. Databases may be delivered through web-enabled database systems or XML files; JPEG/PNG and AVI/MPEG are recommended for images and multimedia. The study emphasizes maximum unification of formats and processing technologies across online and offline versions to reduce costs for data preparation, software development, maintenance, and distribution. It concludes that the electronic NAR should become an integrated, information-rich and continuously updated environment for accessing reliable spatial and thematic knowledge about Russia. Future development should focus on sustained content renewal, expansion of search and analytical services, and architectural compatibility with the standards, protocols, and technologies of a national spatial data infrastructure.