Mapping the Earth and the Sea

Publishing atlases can be a dicey business.

First of all, there is the ever-present risk that someone, somewhere is going to disagree -- violently -- with one of those obscure hair-line borders, or those tiny unpronounceable names. This can lead to some very unpleasant scenarios. Second, if you happen to pick the wrong country in which to print your atlas you'd better be prepared to start moving land masses and borders to mollify local government agencies that have a different idea of geography from you.

Arguably the world's best-known publisher of atlases, The National Geographic Society has just produced two stunning new volumes for fall publication. These two enormous projects kept my colleagues at Mondadori Printing busy most of this past summer.


Published with the support of both NASA and NOAA, OCEAN: AN ILLUSTRATED ATLAS explores the “backbone of Earth’s life support system”: the ocean drives climate and weather, regulates temperature, governs planetary chemistry, generates half the oxygen in the atmosphere. Included are newly commissioned maps of the sea floor, same-scale geopolitical and sea-surface temperature maps, and several depth maps of principal seas. Underlying this book is both a sense of urgency to address the unprecedented changes occurring within the ocean and recognition of the many recent positive actions aimed at stabilizing our relationship with the ocean.

The enormous VISUAL ATLAS OF THE WORLD combines the signature cartography of the National Geographic Society with more than 850 locations designated by UNESCO as World Heritage sites. A unique focus of this project is the commitment to highlighting those places, both natural and those made by human hands, that represent our collective legacy as inhabitants of this planet earth – from the Great Barrier Reef, to celebrated wine-growing regions, to the Taj Mahal.

Did I mention that working on such a mammoth project -- one that includes over 1000 maps, illustrations, and photos AND a hand-made die-cut slipcase played absolute havoc with everyone’s summer vacation plans? From the cartography department at National Geographic that apparently does not sleep, to the craftsmen and women in Italy who hand-made over 63,000 slipcases in record time to meet the incredibly tight deadline, everyone involved with this project put other interests aside until those books were finally out the door.