The New Edition of the National Atlas of Hungary

National atlases provide basic information on the total geographical environment of a given country and its regions, including the physical environment, society, culture and public administration, and attempts are made to reveal the reasons and consequences of changes. Maps, especially sets of maps, represent the most expressive way to illustrate, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the complex interrelationship among spatial and temporal processes. Therefore, many countries publish or republish their national atlases. The first edition of the National Atlas of Hungary was published over two decades ago. During the last 20 years, important changes have taken place in the country, primarily from the socio-economic point of view; the natural environment has also changed, and deeper knowledge has been acquired. The study and presentation of these changes and new conditions have become urgent. Meanwhile, a new era in the world economy has started, and the Hungarian economy and society have not been able to adapt adequately even with reform tendencies since the late 1960s. The preparation of the new edition aimed to give the most complete picture of Hungary, based on data availability, including typical conditions during the early 1980s regarding natural and socio-economic resources and national assets. A second objective was to summarize important changes over the last two decades in population, housing and living conditions, settlements, public administration, national production, and services. An attempt was also made to present changes brought by reforms started in the late 1960s, manifest in socio-economic life. The maps, charts, and tables of the new atlas summarize knowledge from century-long scientific research, cartographic survey, and thematic mapping, accompanied by detailed explanatory notes. However, completeness was hardly achieved for each factor and process due to unavailable statistical data for some topics. Data collection, processing, cartographic design, supervision, and printing were complicated and interrelated, taking several years. The preparation and publication required extensive scientific and social collaboration; responding to the call of the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1983, 12 ministries and other institutions provided full support, involving hundreds of experts from over fifty institutions. The atlas covers chapters such as introductory maps, surveying and mapping, relief, geology and geophysics, climate, surface and groundwaters, soils, biogeography, nature conservation, population, health, education, industry, agriculture, transport, trade, tourism, foreign trade, and regional planning. Hungary's geological formations and geophysical features have been researched and mapped regularly for over a century; although geological endowments are less favorable than neighboring countries, geological surveying has extended national wealth through new mineral reserves. Climatic maps provide information on daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual weather patterns for planning production and daily life. Surface and subsurface water resources receive increasing attention for public health, productive sectors, and tourism, with quantitative and qualitative analyses and hydrological mapping considered important. Due to favorable geophysical endowments of lowlands—high geothermal gradient—Hungary is rich in mineral thermal waters, with limestone mountains containing nearly 50 cubic km of thermal water reserves. Soils represent one of the most important natural resources, requiring amelioration for land use despite their regeneration ability.