When do we use atlas

With the development of the World Wide Web and smart devices, the way we consume geographic information has changed. So, have we seen the death of the Atlas? For the younger reader, atlases are their introduction to cartographic literacy, critical thinking and the understanding of scale Ramos, Further to these skills, an atlas also provides a comprehensive geographic resource, enabling users to search and find locations, understand geographic relationships and discover statistics and other information about countries.

There are great examples of hard copy atlases that contain beautiful cartography combined with luscious photography and beautiful data visualisations. The Times Atlas is always reinventing itself, and the latest 15th edition combines the well-known detailed cartography with some additional stunning visuals. Since the introduction of the internet the concept of a multimedia, or digital, atlas has been proposed by academics and implemented in a number of exemplary cases, such as the Atlas of Switzerland , Diercke Atlas and the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States.

These digital atlases and their ilk perform the same functions of a hard copy atlas, but they have added advantages that a hard copy atlas just cannot provide. In spite of all the additional content a digital atlas can provide over a hard copy atlas, there are some limitations, such as the display of the map is limited by the screen size of the viewing device. Navigating around a digital atlas requires menus, tools dialogue boxes and pop-ups to facilitate use and derive meaning, all of which can take up precious screen real estate.

Building an atlas that can be accessible to everyone is challenging. Not all digital devices are equal—different computing power, operating systems, browsers—and not everyone has access to a computer or high-speed internet.

Individual maps of major cities or other points of interest may also be included in a world atlas. Population statistics , the location of natural resource s, cultural and religious information and political data are frequently found in an atlas.

Although people have been using maps for thousands of years, civilizations really didnt begin producing large atlases until the s. During this time, European and Asian countries were exploring the world through trade and colonization. They depended on atlases to guide them through unfamiliar territory.

As European explorers mapped the " New World " the Americas , they also updated atlases with their discoveries. In , a collection of maps prepared by the Flemish mapmaker Gerardus Mercator was published with the word "atlas" in the title. Atlas referred to a portrait of King Atlas, a mythical African monarch. King Atlas invented the first celestial globe. A celestial globe is a ball-shaped map of the stars and constellation s.

Celestial globes were very important in navigation , when sailors used stars to determine their position at sea. Mercator showed King Atlas to demonstrate his importance to navigation. This was the first time the term was applied to a collection of maps. Eventually, "atlas" came to be used for any book of maps. Carrying the World on his Shoulders The mythological creature Atlas is often associated, and pictured, on atlases. Atlas was a giant called a Titan who was forced to carry the Earth and the heavens usually pictured as a sphere on his back.

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society. Like the larger world atlas, it includes information on the human, physical and biogeography of the Yellowstone region.

It offers a variety of maps that show areas within and outside of Yellowstone National Park. Travel atlases and roadmaps are usually paperback and are sometimes spiral bound to make them easier to handle while traveling. They contain the same types of information you'd find in book format. The National Geographic Atlas of the World is a very popular reference atlas for the wide variety of information it contains.

Goode's World Atlas is popular in college geography classes because it includes a variety of world and regional maps that show topography and political boundaries.

It also includes detailed information about the climatic, social, religious and economic statistics of the world's countries. These are very specific to areas such as the U. They include detailed road maps that also show points of interest to aid in travel and navigation. Visit National Geographic's MapMaker Interactive website to view an interesting and interactive online atlas.

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