Geographic’s New Atlas: Planet Earth Revised

Expanding democracy and advancing technology are represented in National Geographic’s sixth Atlas of the World, which includes a map of a united Germany that was revised at the last minute as well as striking satellite images of entire continents.

“Not since World War I have we seen such major changes in governmental order on Planet Earth,” Gilbert M. Grosvenor, president of the National Geographic Society, said Tuesday as he released the new atlas. “If ever the world needed an atlas, it is now.”

The consolidation of East and West Germany, the unification of the two Yemens and the official renaming of Burma to Myanmar are some of the changes cartographers made in the atlas, last revised nine years ago.

To keep up with fast-changing international boundaries, National Geographic said it will publish two atlas updates in the next three years. The two inserts, the first ever published by the society, will be distributed free to atlas owners, Grosvenor said.

The society is monitoring several “hot spots” that may require changes in future maps, said John Garver, the society’s chief cartographer. Those include Quebec, which has considered secession from Canada; the British colony of Hong Kong, which in seven years will revert to China; Kuwait, which was invaded by Iraq last August, and Puerto Rico, which could become the 51st state of the United States.

If the status of Kuwait is still in question when the first update is printed, the regional map will include a statement on who is occupying the tiny nation and the United Nations’ position on the situation, Grosvenor said.

Using satellite-derived broad-resolution imagery, Santa Monica artist Tom van Sant created a picture of the world that spans the first two pages of the atlas, which is 405 pages and costs about $60.

The high-resolution images will aid in the study of environmental changes such as desertification, deforestation, ozone depletion and coastal pollution.