Book reviews: Atlas of the Republic of Austria

This review assesses the first installment of the Atlas of the Republic of Austria, published in 1961. Planned as six installments over approximately six years, the atlas is designed to cover Austria’s physical environment, population, settlement, economy, transport, administration, and regional organization. The first twenty plates emphasize climate, agriculture, transport, tourism, and administration, demonstrating a strong empirical foundation, coherent geographical conception, and refined cartographic execution. Particularly innovative are the maps of Vienna’s building types, land use, traffic flows, and tourism. The reviewer argues that the project benefits substantially from the methodological and regional knowledge accumulated through earlier atlases of Austria’s federal states. Beyond advancing Austrian regional research and geographical education, the atlas offers a valuable model for the planned Swiss national atlas because the two countries share comparable Alpine landscapes, socioeconomic development patterns, territorial dimensions, and cartographic challenges.