The Understanding of Cartographic Design “The Atlas of the Palaeogeography of China”

This paper gives a brief account of the compilation of "The Altas of the Palaeogeography of China", included: (1)the understanding of the compilation of the atlas; (2)the contents and the selection of the subjects in the atlas; (3)the ways showing the contents; (4)its cartographic design,and (5)the participants and their mutual coordination. The first aspect consists of the author's understanding of the compilation of the atlas that it is not only the results in scientific rescarches of geology, but the models for palaeogeographic environments and the carrier of information as well. The understanding is based on the theories of the models and information. The fourth aspect including cartographic design for the atlas is expounded as the emphasis of the paper as follows: (1)how to perfect the design; (2)the guiding ideology of the design;(3)general design in cartography; (4)the format, scale and mathematical basis for the atlas; (5) the structures of the atlas and the layout of the maps in it; (6)the basic geographic maps; (7)the cartographic processes for the atlas and their characteristics, and (8)the design for symbols and colours. In this paper, the author has also given a general review of the other three aspects and suggested in conclusion that great attention should be paid to the cartograpgic design for the large-area palaeogeographic maps on the small scale.