Kartographische Entwicklung des Atlases von Kanada

Summary

This paper describes the cartographic development of the new National Atlas of Canada initiated in 1949. Following the creation of an interdepartmental atlas committee and thematic subcommittees, a provisional base map at 1 inch to 100 miles was chosen, and the final sheet size and scales were approved in 1952; cartographic work began in 1954. The base-map programme comprised scales of 1:10,000,000, 1:20,000,000, 1:5,000,000 (in three regional sheets), 1:50,000,000, and 1:2,500,000 (in four regional sheets), all derived from a new 1:1,000,000 map of Canada using the Lambert conformal projection with standard parallels at 49° and 77° N and a polyconic projection above 80° N. The paper discusses the selection of stable drawing materials, the use of neutral colors for base maps so that thematic information would stand out, and the separation of name plates to facilitate color separation. To increase efficiency, the number of printing impressions per sheet was reduced from as many as twenty in special cases to an average of nine. A standardized set of contact screens and eight basic colors produced about thirty tones, with special combinations reserved for geological and land-use maps. Colored proofs were made on opaque plastic sheets, and final color negatives were exposed with appropriate screens before precise multi-exposure plate-making. The author concludes that the atlas project, although carried out alongside regular topographic mapping, provided excellent training in cartographic methods and fostered new ideas for solving diverse map problems.