Car atlas

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A car atlas (also known as travel atlas or road atlas ) is a summary of road maps in a systematic order in bound form, i.e. a special atlas that satisfies the individual needs of motorists. It is primarily used for orientation. Road maps in print form are of a much higher quality than the schematic road maps on the web and are not accessible on the Internet, or at least not free of charge.

Dutch car atlas with very detailed road map on a large scale. Also with bike paths, paths for agriculture and forestry and canals

Content and design

Map part

The main component is always a map section, which can be composed of map series of different scales . The travel maps, also known as detailed maps, are displayed on a scale between 1: 100,000 and 1: 400,000, depending on the atlas, and depict the respective country as completely as possible, for example Germany . Other possible card series are:

  • City center plans (usually scale 1: 10,000 or 1: 20,000)
  • Local transit maps , also known as metropolitan area maps
  • Highway maps
  • Travel maps (overview maps) for a region such as Australia , Central Europe or the USA (scale range between 1: 750,000 and 1: 1,500,000)
  • Planning maps for e.g. Europe (smaller scale than travel maps)
  • Maps with identification of routes at risk of congestion

Information area

In addition to the pure map section, a car atlas usually also contains an information area of ​​varying scope. This is made up of, for example:

Quality criteria

In addition to the topicality and correctness of the information presented, good legibility is particularly important , even with limited visibility. A selection of further criteria for evaluating an auto atlas are:

  • Scale: the most important criterion. The smallest side streets, every village and larger hamlet should be marked so as not to get lost on side roads. In densely populated areas such as Central Europe, at least a scale of 1: 200,000 is necessary for this.
  • Manageability
  • Size of the map sections on the individual pages
  • Overlapping of the map border areas to the surrounding map sections on other pages
  • durability
  • Map image with height relief
  • Tourist information, such as the identification of beautiful localities or scenic routes (see: Advantages of the car atlas )

Widespread auto atlases

Germany 1: 300,000

  • The Great Shell Atlas , Germany and Europe (Germany on a scale of 1: 300,000, A4 format)
  • The Great ADAC Auto Atlas Germany, Europe , (Germany on a scale of 1: 300,000, A4 format)

Germany, Austria and Europe 1: 200,000 to 1: 100,000

With auto atlases on a scale that includes every village , most hamlets , many wastelands and every public road, Europe is divided into three areas with regard to the publisher.

The west is largely covered by Michelin auto atlases , which are very detailed and valued by connoisseurs.

For Germany today only the ADAC publishes auto atlases based on these standards. In the scales 1: 200,000 and 1: 150,000, they succeed the General Atlas , which was last published in 2008 by MairDumont , with which the ADAC worked together for decades, in a slightly different form . The maps are no longer as detailed as they were before the general map was converted to computer-based production around the year 2000. Preferred hiking trails , long-distance hiking trails and mountain inns are still shown. The atlas on a scale of 1: 100,000 also contains long- distance cycle paths and the computer-based map, which was created from the start, has almost only the two-dimensional, confusing, schematic representation of an online map, with almost no relief .

On the territory of the former dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary itself has Viennese publisher Freytag & Berndt specialized. As is customary today, the map in this atlas is also computer-based, with a loss of detail. The topography , especially with mountains and mountain ranges , is only partially shown. In contrast to the atlases, ADAC does not mark beautiful landscapes , scenic routes, hiking trails and mountain inns.

Germany:

  • ADAC travel atlas. (Scale 1: 200,000, A4 format)
  • ADAC Maxiatlas Germany. (Scale 1: 150,000, format slightly smaller than A3, spiral binding )
  • ADAC Profiatlas. (Scale 1: 100,000, format slightly smaller than A3, spiral binding)

Austria:

  • Austria Supertouring , Freytag & Berndt (scale 1: 150,000, spiral binding)

Other European countries:

  • Czech Republic Super Atlas. Freytag & Berndt (scale 1: 150,000, spiral binding)
  • Croatia - Slovenia Super Atlas. Freytag & Berndt (scale 1: 150,000, spiral binding)
  • Michelin Road Atlas France . (Scale 1: 200,000, A3 format with spiral binding or A4)
  • Michelin Road Atlas Benelux & Northern France. (Scale 1: 150,000, A4 format)
  • Michelin Road Atlas: Italy . (Scale 1: 200,000, A3 format with spiral binding or A4)

Switzerland

No publisher offers a detailed car atlas for Switzerland (at least a scale of 1: 200,000). Here you have to use road maps in appropriate scales. Auto atlases for Switzerland, the rest of the Alps or Europe are offered by Hallwag , formerly also by Kümmerly + Frey , which Hallwag has now taken over. Hallwag had been issuing Tourig atlases such as the Europa Touring since the 1920s . The usual map display in Switzerland is used here (e.g. motorways today in red-yellow-red etc.). Today the range is limited to a few products, such as the Switzerland CH-Touring Atlas on a scale of 1: 250,000.

Comparison of alternatives

Criticism of route planners and navigation systems

Electronic route planners and navigation systems are widespread today. Many drivers therefore no longer have a car atlas in their vehicle. The younger ones can often no longer read maps (see: Understanding and using maps ) and as a result often lost general skills for spatial orientation . When it comes to navigation systems, the strange voice in the car is often criticized, which affects the atmosphere and makes conversations difficult, as well as the loss of the romantic holiday. In addition, that individual travel planning and own travel discoveries are no longer possible, but only travel within the framework of specified computer programs and parameters (see: Auto atlas as a source of ideas for excursion and vacation destinations ).

Above all, in recent times, as a result of traveling with electronic aids, the resulting tunnel vision has been increasingly criticized and that the sense of orientation is withering ( orientation illiterate ). It has been scientifically proven that the brain areas responsible for this wither away without orientation training , since the sense of orientation is not innate, but only gives it the opportunity to develop it.

See also: road map, today's meaning of the road map

Advantages of route planners and navigation systems

  • More convenient and faster handling; No stopping to read the map or a passenger reading the map while driving
  • No edge of the map or leaving the map area shown
  • No need to understand the map
  • More accurate
  • Information in the form of points of interest
  • Current information on traffic jams and accidents, with recommendations for diversions

Advantages of the auto atlas

  • Safer: prevention of accidents as a result of blind trust. There have already been fatal accidents due to misdirection of navigation systems: see also navigation system, navigation system accidents
  • Safer to use: no failure of the technology or rejection of the destination entry
  • Alternative route planning from more or more individual points of view, e.g. B .:
    • Avoidance of metropolitan areas
    • Route planning from a touristic point of view (see: Road map # Additional touristic entries )
    • Bypassing tunnels
    • Preferring tunnels and avoiding mountain routes (e.g. in winter)
  • Entry of rest stops, truck stops, special filling stations (LPG, natural gas) (especially for larger scales from 1: 200,000)
  • Special marking of the streets, e.g. B .:
    • Toll: Entry of toll and toll-free motorway sections (e.g. France or Spain) and toll mountain roads (e.g. Austria)
    • Passes with and without winter closure (with specified regular time)
    • Roads closed to: motorcycles, mobile homes, caravans

Combination of both media

The advantages of both media can be used by planning a trip using a car atlas (or paper road maps) and making the trip using electronic systems (see: road map, introduction ).

Higher quality online maps

Europe

The only online map , far to integrate, which Europe tries to date a piece of the quality of a Autoatlasses with its tourist entries in a web map is also free accessible viamichelin . From a certain enlargement it contains entries of scenic routes and nature parks . However, it is nowhere near the level of detail and quality of the BayernAtlas.

With OpenTopoMap an attempt is made to display a topographic map based on OpenStreetMap .

Germany

From the public side, the only map on the Internet that comes close to a topographic map or a car atlas on a scale of 1: 200,000 or on an even more precise scale is only available within Bavaria so far (2019) : the free topographic map in the BayernAtlas , etc. . a. with the entries of contour lines and mountains. In contrast, private providers throughout Germany offer topographic maps from the state survey offices up to 1: 25,000.

Switzerland

Topographic maps of the federal government and the cantons are available online for Switzerland . SwitzerlandMobility, on the other hand, tries to mark appropriate POIs analogous to an atlas, but the focus is on non-motorized traffic.

Auto atlas as a source of ideas for excursion and vacation destinations

With numerous interdisciplinary and tourist entries, the car atlas, especially for larger scales from 1: 200,000, can also be used as a source of ideas for excursions, vacation destinations and individual vacation planning if the map is already understood. Beautiful regions can be localized without prior knowledge using the map image and thus unknown regions can be discovered. Disappointments caused by choosing unsuitable holiday destinations can be avoided. See: Road map # Map content and road map # Today's meaning of the road map

General Atlas

history

The general map from Mairs Geographische Verlag was published in the form of a large-format atlas in cooperation with the ADAC from the 1960s to the 1990s only for the map area Germany. Initially under the title German General Atlas and later General Atlas . Since the turn of the millennium, the General Atlas has been computer-based (see: map, computer-based production ). Between 2005 and 2007 (in three editions for 2006/2007 to 2008/2009), the publisher, which has since been renamed MairDumont, published a more manageable general atlas in the usual auto atlas format under the name of the Great General Atlas . For the first time, it covered the entire German-speaking area as well as northern Bohemia with Prague and the northern area of ​​northern Italy . MairDumont then no longer published a General Atlas.

present

Since then, the ADAC, which ended the collaboration with MairDumont in 1999, has filled the gap in the market. For Germany he publishes almost the same map as last in the General Atlas , also on a scale of 1: 200,000, under the name ADAC Reiseatlas . Places and landscapes worth seeing are marked even more clearly in it than in the General Atlas. The atlas is more widely available in the trade than a general atlas has ever been.

Map content

General atlas as a universal atlas

As a topographical overview atlas, the General Atlas contains further content in addition to the existing road network and tourist entries:

Just like the historical general map, the modern general atlas was developed in the 1960s as the basis for German national planning and has been continuously updated to this day. The general map, as a universal map, or the general atlas as a manual, offers a first, quick overview for many areas, which contains all important issues: from traffic of all kinds, to nature conservation, to tourism and quality of life in a region or an urban environment.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map excerpt from the ADAC Travel Atlas Germany M = 1: 200,000. Retrieved April 12, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Andrea Weibel: Hallwag. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  3. ^ ADAC: Why sat navs are like crutches. Retrieved April 13, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c d 3sat: Don't let your sense of direction wither. Orientation training is missing due to navigation systems. Retrieved April 13, 2018 .
  5. ↑ viamichelin. Retrieved April 12, 2018 .
  6. ↑ OpenTopoMap website on opentopomap.org
  7. ^ BayernAtlas. Retrieved April 12, 2018 .
  8. ↑ For example gps-tracks.com ("Maps" tab)
  9. ↑ map.geo.admin.ch from Swisstopo
  10. ^ Map of SwitzerlandMobility