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1998 National Geographic Road Atlas of USA, Canada and Mexico
Published by GeoSystems in association with National Geographic and Melcher Media
ISBN 1572622229
Spiral bound
Copyright date 1997
Size 11 inch by 15 inch (38cm x 28cm)
Price US$ 14.95 or CDN$ 19.95
134 pages of maps, 10 pages of index, milage charts & information
For the first time National Geographic has entered the marketplace with a road atlas of
USA, Canada and Mexico. The maps are well laid out and clear with grey shading used to
suggest elevation although some may find this shading makes the place names somewhat
more difficult to read. A definite advantage over the competition (Rand McNally) is that
there are a greater number and better quality city map and national park map inserts.
Throughout the atlas there are toll free telephone numbers given for state or provincial
tourism and road construction offices.
As with other competitive US made road atlases of this type the focus is on the USA. To
a much lesser degree Canada is included with a summary of only 11 pages and all of
Mexico is included on only two pages. For both Canada and Mexico there are far better
individual country road atlases on the market.
This atlas is organized starting with US states in alphabetical order and the first
state Alabama jumps on the next page to Alaska then Arizona and so on. Frankly I think
that a more logical organization with rectangular regions would be easier to use and
would require less page flipping than this alphabetical layout. The standard postal two
letter abreviation and a page number on the map borders indicate the neighboring state
but using the abreviation alone and not full state names may cause some confusion (is
Maine MA or ME ?) but there is an index map of states and page numbers on the inside
front cover as well. The back cover has a fold over flap to help keep your place and
printed here is the legend. There is one index of places at the back of the atlas
separated into USA, Canada and Mexico sections. The USA section seems very
comprehensive, Canada less so and Mexico with a population of over 95 million has only
about 250 cities listed.
The Canadian section of maps is not in alphabetical order and map coverage starts on the
west coast with British Columbia and continues east to the Atlantic provinces, as
mentioned above all of Mexico is shown on only one map.
Despite the superficial coverage of Canada and Mexico the main target market for the
atlas is in the USA and for them the atlas has excellent maps and features not yet found
in competitive products.
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