Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
process of map-making is mentioned in atlas cartography. Atlas creation it is not
only a random collection of separate cartographic works, cartographic atlas repre-
sent a set of maps that are associated with certain themes and concepts. It can be
said, that cartographic atlas “tell the story” about presented topic. Therefore, for its
uniqueness and value, atlases have been appreciated at any historical stage. The
importance of single non-technological aspects of map making varies in different
areas of cartography (Vondr
´
kov
´
2012
). With regard to the use of technologies
varies for example the importance of hardware and software aspects (different for
the web or printed maps), as well as digital and paper maps are based on different
colour models and they require different organizational arrangements, etc.
Atlas Cartography in the Czech Republic
Atlas cartography in the Czech Republic has a long history of over 250 years.
Kleˇkov´ (
1999
) introduces the first atlas in our country
Atlas Silesiae
, which was
created in 1752 as a result of the M¨ ller mapping (extensive mapping in the Czech
lands). However a long time before the first Czech cartographic atlas, individual
maps of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia occurred in well-known foreign atlases.
Publishing house “Matice
ˇ
esk
´
” has released the first Czech geographic atlas in
1842 and in subsequent years there were produces other atlases based on the same
cartographic content, such as
Small Geographic Atlas
(Mal´ zem
ˇ
pisn´ atlas—
Merklas, 1843 and 1853; Andr
´
, 1858),
Small Hand Atlas
(Mal
´
p
ˇ´
ru
ˇ
n
´
atlas—
Matice
ˇ
esk
´
, 1846; Kronberger, 1853) or
Old World Atlas
(Atlas star
´
ho sv
ˇ
ta—
Merklas, 1850; Andr
´
, 1853). The tradition of Czech atlas produced for the general
public and extends to approximately half of the nineteenth century.
The following period was marked by historical events—the world wars, regional
power struggles, etc. Although historical basis certainly has an impact on the
current mapping creation, the research was focused on the cartographic atlas
works published in the Czech Republic after 1993, when the independent state—
the Czech Republic—was established.
After 1989, when the state monopoly in the field of cartography began to
crumble, cartographic works from the past were still used. It means that there was
not revolutionary or rapid change in cartographic production, such a uniform
system of school cartographic atlases. For example the Atlas of Czechoslovakia
was replaced by Atlas of
ˇ
SFR (Czechoslovak Federative Republic), and subse-
quently by the School atlas of the Czech Republic—but mostly the only change in
maps was caused just by renaming some places and with implementation of
necessary borders modifications. This situation was very similar also in other
cartographic production, such as road maps, tourist maps and other traditionally
published cartographic works. Commercialization of cartography in the Czech
Republic fully developed after the formation of a democratic state in 1993 and
the development of new cartographic departments and the creation of new carto-
graphic works carried out over the whole of the 1990s.
