Abstract
Modern atlas cartography has a number of unsolved problems, among which a special place is occupied by the renewal of the atlas concept and approaches to the atlas development and maintenance of atlases functioning. To study this problem, the article analyzes the evolution of the atlas concept in time and in the context of cartography paradigms. The key elements of the concept of the atlas in the “paper age” were format in the form of books with a certain fixed set of structural elements and a unified layout, atlas as a system of maps, atlas as a model of geosystem, atlas as a tool for storytelling, atlas as a tool for communication information and knowledge, atlas as a research tool. The greatest theoretical contribution to atlas cartography of the pre-computer age was given to G. Mercator and representatives of the model-cognitive paradigm of cartography. It is established that with the advent of electronic atlases in the late 1980s and atlas information systems in the 1990s, the generation of new atlas concepts is carried out in the field of geovisualization and communicative paradigm of cartography, which focused on high-quality visualization of maps (data sets) and communication of information in the form of a “story” or geoportal. It was found that in the late 2000s, atlases began to be transformed into complex information systems (atlas platforms) with a branched atlas infrastructure for multiple creation of atlases of the same type in technical implementation and concept. These innovations are primarily driven by cybercartographers, the Swiss school of cartography and the relational cartography.A number of problems of modern atlas concepts are indicated, including excessive focus on technology and users, as well as ignoring cognitive capabilities of atlases for geosystem research. Further conceptualization of atlases as models of geosystems and a unique class of cartographic information systems are named as priority areas of research.
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