(large image: 175 Kb)
6.1. Grote Topografische Atlas van Nederland 1:50.000 [1972-....]. Groningen : Wolters-Noordhoff
Atlasprodukties,
1st ed. 1987; 2nd ed. 1989-....
The original map consists of 62 sheets, each divided into a West and an East sheet (making a total
of
110 sheets),
with a map size of 40 x 50 cm, comprising an area of 500 km2 each. The legend is in Dutch, English
and French.
A new edition is published since 1959, giving a more intensive generalisation, more based on insight
than on what
is technically possible.
In the 1970's try-outs for the atlas were done with reducing the 1:50,000 to 1:100,000, 1:80,000, 1:60,000 and 1:55,000 to create a more handy size. Like Blaeu's town books it was intended that the verso of each map would be printed with texts concerning the area on the recto. Several publishers were asked to take on the project, as the TDN couldn't carry the risk itself, but they balked at the financial risk. Finally the firm of Wolters-Noordhoff was willing to take on the burden. The atlas is produced in 4 volumes, containing quarter-sheets and a total toponymic index of more than 40,000 names which includes co-ordinates and a code for the category of topographic object it belongs to. The introduction by the Director of the TDN gives an extensive insight into the history of the topographic surveying of The Netherlands, and in the process as to how the modern topographic map is produced. Furthermore it tells in synopsis what one can expect on the map. It contains also an index-map on which is stated when the last edition of a certain sheet has been published.
(large image: 175 Kb)
Photo 11. Topographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:50,000.
A problem is the review-cycle of the sheets, which brings sheets together which may contain information which is 10 years apart. To alleviate these problems second editions of some parts have been published up till now to bring the topographic contents as up to date as possible (16F) The publication of these atlases saves map-departments some 5-10% time in describing maps which don't contain (the right) mathematical data. Also the name-index (some 44,000 names) is more than handy identifying toponyms. I only hope that next editions will give geographical coordinates on all the border sheets, as these are sometimes missing.
6.2. Grote Provincie-Atlas 1:25.000 [1982-....]. Groningen : Wolters-Noordhoff Atlasprodukties,
1st ed. 1987-1991;
2nd ed. 1991-....; 3rd ed. 1995-....
The original map consists of 62 sheets with the same sheet-numbers as the 1:50,000, but they are
divided
into 8 sub-sheets,
indicated with the characters A-H, comprising each 125 km2
In 1964 the NATO decided the 1:25,000 was no longer an essential scale for military operations. This made the 1:25,000 obsolete, except for civilian use.
The success of the publication of the 1:50,000 atlas promoted the idea of publishing 1:25,000 atlases, arranged according to province (to appeal to the pride of the inhabitants). However, as the symbolization of the maps was drastically changed since 1981 they could only be published after all maps of a certain province had been renewed. This meant that production only could start from 1988 onwards and was finished in 1991. (16F)
The atlases, like the maps, have been printed in 7 colours. Map-pages have an overlap in North- and South-direction of half a kilometre. Unlike the 1:50,000 atlases there is no extensive introduction into the history of mapping nor of the process of mapping the 1:25,000, which can be regarded as a drawback. However a specially produced overview-map with the new municipality borders (The Netherlands have gone through a drastic administrative reorganization the past 15 years) was added. Also new extensive toponymic registers, which counts for all the 11 atlases (except the new Flevoland-province) together some 90,000 names, have been incorporated. To all names has been added a 2-character code, indicating one of 40 categories into which the physical and cultural features are categorized.
(large image: 223 Kb)
Photo 12. Topographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:25,000.
Extensive market-research shows that the atlases are not only sold to people from the upper- and middle-class, as an Ordnance Survey research of 1970 showed (B.D. Drewitt, The map market in Great-Britain. Professional Papers, New series, no. 28. Ordnance Survey, 1975), but also to the lowest income-quartile. This is remarkable as the price is almost DFl. 100,- per atlas! The largest group of buyers is not a professional one, but consists of those who want to recognize and identify their own direct surroundings, especially if the area is not highly urbanized. A second large group uses the atlases for recreational purposes, for solving ecological problems and for the study of local history. The smallest groups are those who buy the atlases for aesthetical or professional reasons. Though professional users usually will own the sheet-maps already, they will buy the atlases because they are handier and easier to cope with than the original maps. One category is under represented: education. However, education in geography in secondary schools in the short-term will be more oriented towards map- and atlas-use (13).
6.3. Historische atlas ... : Chromotopografische kaart des Rijks 1:25.000 [1865-1933]. Landsmeer
: Robas, 1989-
1990
As the old sheets of the 1:25,000 series are only available in a small number of libraries Robas decided
to publish
them as province-atlases for a rather cheap price. They were meant as a historical counterpart of
the
modern 1:25,000
atlases of Wolters-Noordhoff. (16F) The introduction to the atlases
describes in synopsis the history
of the cartography
of The Netherlands as well as a description of the topographic mapping from 1800 up till the end
of
the 19th century.
Though it describes also the manner of projection and lithography, it is easily readable. At the end
it
gives a small
lexicon of cartographic and land-surveying terms. Unfortunately it doesn't give a specific introduction
to the maps
in each atlas itself, except that at the end there is an appendix with the surveying, revising and printing
dates of each
sheet plus an index-sheet. Another drawback is that it was not possible to publish maps which all
show
the country
at a certain time, say 1880-1900, as either the maps were originally not all produced at this time
or because
the publisher
found some of them of poor quality and decided to insert more beautifully executed maps of other
times.
This makes
comparison of the total with other atlases sometimes difficult as the surveying may have taken place
anywhere between
1865 and 1933.
(large image: 165 Kb)
Photo 13. Chromotopographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:25,000 (1865-1933).
(large image: 165 Kb)
Photo 14. Sheet of the Chromotopographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:25,000 (1865-1933).
6.4. Grote Historische Atlas van Nederland 1:50.000 [1834-1859]. Groningen : Wolters-Noordhoff
Atlasprodukties,
1990
In an article in the Kartografisch tijdschrift of 1989 Schilder pleaded for a facsimile of the fair drawings
(fair drawings
of the field documents) of the TMK as these colourful documents give an extremely detailed and
unique
image of
the Dutch landscape in the 1st half of the 19th century, and they form a reliable source for the
reconstruction
of
The Netherlands during that period. (15)
In 1990 WN published in cooperation with the General States Archives and the TDN the 'Grote Historische Atlas van Nederland 1:50.000' (Great historical atlas of The Netherlands 1:50,000) in the same way aligned as the 'Grote Topografische Atlas 1:50.000' which makes comparison of the present situation with that of 150 years ago very easy and pleasurable. (16F) The fair drawings were chosen as the coloured maps can be well compared with the modern maps. Examples of the fair drawings and the modern map have been included in the introduction for comparison.
The introduction (written by K. Zandvliet of the General State Archives and P.W. Geudeke of the TDN) to the atlases describes extensively the history of military surveying and the Topographic Survey and the history of the topographic mapping up till the publication of the TMK. Special attention is given to the technical procedure with which the field-documents were made, so one knows the anamnesis (10) to the map. At the end some advice is given as to how to use the atlases and where to find information about the maps made/published before and after these maps. Lastly each atlas contains a list which states: sheet - surveyor - year of survey - draughtsmen - year of fair drawing.
(large image: 187 Kb)
Photo 15. Topographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:50,000 (1834-1859).
The atlases contain the fair drawings of 1839-1859 plus some of the earlier ones made for the province
of Noord-Brabant,
which were made between 1834 and 1839. The legend is constructed from the engraved TMK
(1850-1864)
in combination
with the "Instructions of E.G.W. Roloff" (ca. 1840) and printed instructions by A.E.A. De la Porte (1851),
as the
military surveyors didn't use a homogenized set of colours and symbols. These were only standardized
in 1852. Roloff
says in his instructions that the map should depict all characteristics needed for offensive and defensive
actions, so
making it into a (detailed) military map. Sometimes cadastral maps -which have been surveyed by
parcels-
have been
used as basis, so parcelling can be well discerned.
The field documents 1:25,000 measured 40 x 50 cm, 1/8 of a TMK-sheet. These were reduced to
1:50.000
fair drawings
(40 x 25 cm), which fill 2 opposite pages in the atlases. Toponyms were mostly obtained from the
local
people. Not
everyone had knowledge of dialects and neither did every surveyor put down all the names well,
so some
curious
toponyms were put down. Added is an list of names of surveyors and draughtsmen with dates.
(large image: 212 Kb)
Photo 16. Comparable sheets of the modern (1988-....) and old (1834-1859) Topographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:50,000.
In an article about these atlases Johan Beenakker describes some of the important themes in historical-geographical research of the spatial development and the realization of the present organisation of the residential areas. These are: the waterstaat (construction and maintenance of dikes, building of locks, mills and steammills), the infrastructure (the pattern of country roads, the construction of canals, railways), the built-up areas (diffuse and concentrated habitation) the land-parcelling (irregular or homogenous) and landuse (animal husbandry, agriculture). However he warns that a comparison of the situation ca. 1850 with the present creates only an image of the development, but not the explanations. Furthermore he shows how these atlases can be included in geographic projects in secondary schools, to make the pupils aware of the changes to which the surroundings are subject to. (18)
6.5. Foto-atlas ... 1:14.000 [1989]. Landsmeer : Robas, 1990
(large image: 229 Kb)
Photo 17. Aerial photographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:14,000.
Since the 3-yearly cycle began in 1981 aerial photographs were taken in 1989 of the whole of The Netherlands on the scale 1:18,000. The photographs are taken to update the topographic maps as well as to compute the amount of money that municipalities will receive from the 'Municipality Fund'.
In 1990-1991 Robas published 12 provincial atlases, containing ca. 4,000 aerial photographs, reduced to the scale of 1:14,000. The atlases contain all photographs of the province in question, except that some military terrain has been obliterated. The preface to each atlas describes in a very elucidating way the history of aerial photography from 1939 onwards and goes on to describe how these photographs are used to make maps. The photographs cover an area of 4 x 4 km and are printed in the direction of the photo-flight. They have been renumbered, but the original number is printed at the bottom (next to date and time when it was taken) in case one wishes to order copies from the TDN. Each photograph is named after the principal town depicted, and these names are gathered into an index. At the bottom an index-map of the surrounding 8 photographs is given. The only drawback is that, though they measure 27 x 27 cm, they are bound in a soft cover, which makes them a little bit unwieldy.
(large image: 282 Kb)
Photo 18. Aerial photographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:14,000.
Next to this Robas publishes some 1,000 'photoplans'. Some 800 from the TDN-archives, some 200 from the archives of KLM-Luchtfotografie, taken between 1950 and 1980. Aerial photographs are seamed together around a built-up area and enlarged to 1:12,000. Then a cutout is made of appr. 40 x 45 cm and printed in an impression of 100 to 200 copies on 170 gr. cellulose-free machinecoated paper. Afterwards the 50 x 60 cm photoplan-sheet is coated with an UV-finish.
To top it off Robas is momentarily flying the 'Photographic map of The Netherlands'. This map consists of appr. 18,500 colour-photographs on scale 1:12,000. After processing they are enlarged to 1:6,000 and printed over with the Dutch triangulation grid. These analog pictures are sold to private firms, and certain state, provincial and municipal authorities. In future they may be sold on CD-ROM or another digital form. Unfortunately the whole series costs about Dfl. 500,000 which is too much for a library or archive. They plan to fly the whole country every two years!
6.6. Grote Historische Provincie-Atlas 1:25.000 [1834-1859]. Groningen : Wolters-Noordhoff
Atlasprodukties,
1992-....
The maps are an enlarged reproduction of the same fair-drawings which have been used for the
publication
of the
'Grote Historische Atlas van Nederland 1:50.000'. Though the original field documents 1:25,000 are
kept
in the General
State Archives, they are not complete. Often the toponyms are not legible, because lettering has
been
done in the
field. Besides some documents have corners broken off or are smudged. As the information on the
field
documents
doesn't deviate much from that on the fair drawings the choice for enlarging the latter can be
justified.
(large image: 211 Kb)
Photo 19. Topographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:25,000 (1834-1859).
(large image: 175 Kb)
Photo 20. Comparable sheets of the modern (1988-....) and old (1834-1859) Topographic atlas of The Netherlands 1:25,000.
As with the 1:50,000 counterpart to the modern atlas the original maps have been cut in such a way that they can be aligned with the modern 1:25,000 atlas, which will make comparison in time easier. But the atlases have some extra's. A short historical introduction in the mapping process of the TMK, a list of surveyors and fair drawers with dates, an 'Etappekaart' of 1848 (a map on which day's marches of military contingents could be measured) and a facsimile of part of the 1573 map of Christiaan 'sGrooten. Lastly an index of placenames based on the spelling as used on the fair drawings is included.
(large image: 231 Kb)
Photo 21. Military stage map of The Netherlands 1:200.000 (1848).
next chapter
earlier chapter
Back to GdC Homepage