Publisher: Hammond World Atlas Corporation ISBN: 0843709375
Hammond World Atlas has teamed up with the bestseller World Almanac and the Book of Facts, creating a great and educational publication, Hammond World Atlas of World Almanac 2006.
You can probably call this almanac a bible for world-class cartography and data with 200 pages of facts and figures about people, ethnic groups, languages, religions, regions, capital, GDP, the head of state and governments. And then there are 100 pages of digital TerraScape Maps, which have three-dimensional terrain and terrain on land.
When I looked at the “Content” section in the Almanac, I noticed that there is a section concerning the interpretation of maps. How often do you look at the map and you do not know what all the symbols mean or the scale of the map and forecasts?
In a clear and precise language, the authors of this publication explain what cartographic forecasts are and study some of the most widely used forecasts. They also introduce us to a new projection - the optimal conformal variant of Hammond.
For those of us who are not familiar with the projection of the term map, we are informed that the problem faced by cartographers is to project the curved surface of the earth onto a flat plane. Therefore, to achieve this success, cartographers have developed map projections or formulas that govern this transformation of geographic data. You can identify each point on earth using a geographic grid, and this grid is projected onto a flat surface.
From this starting point we get explanations of general principles and terms, how to smooth the sphere, selected examples of projections, projections of the conic and the optimal conformal Hammond equation.
This first section provides a detailed explanation of how to use the map section. It is here that we learn how the boundaries, sources of names, map symbols, colors, labels and scale of the map are determined.
Armed with all these introductory data, we are now preparing to study world maps, starting in Europe and North Asia, and then Asia, Australia and the Pacific, Africa, the Antarctic, South America and North America. At the bottom of each card there are color codes that distinguish the population of different cities and towns. There is also a mileage scale, indicated both in form and in kilometers. Also included are detailed and comparative thematic maps, tables, charts related to each contributor, topography, population, land use, mineral resources and consumption.
The final section or section of the World Almanac presents key facts and figures for each nation, such as their population and district ratings, major oceans, ocean depths and islands, rivers, waterfalls, continental heights, lakes, reservoirs, dams, the highest mountains, temperatures, upper languages, precipitation, population growth, energy and the environment.
Considering the facts and figures about a particular country, we note that it includes: topography, capital, date of independence, type of government, head of state and head of government, GDP, industries, major crops, minerals, life expectancy at birth, level literacy and a link to the country’s website.
This almanac is a great achievement that you need to savor and enjoy many times. It fills an educational niche and is a great addition to libraries, classes and personal book collections, where vital geographic data is at your fingertips.
The above review was presented: NORM GOLDMAN Bookpleasures editor. CLICK SEE MORE OF Norm Goldman & Reviews
