Italia Atlante dei Tipi Geografici

The work has a structure divided into three distinct parts :
– the first, introductory section, dedicated to the main tools used for geographic analysis;
– the second one consists of illustrative tables of the geographical types considered;
– the third section, including indexes and lists, aimed at easy consultation of the text.

As part of the preparatory part, three topics are developed to provide the reader an adequate introductory overview and the tools for an in-depth and detailed consultation. The essays on the theme “cartographic documents” provide useful information on the various cartographic tools featured in the Atlas tables, as well as some reflections on emerging “geographical databases”, on geographic information systems and on the representative limits of the cartographic document. The theme “Regulations about Named Places”, which is intended to be a useful supplement to the five tables in the second part dedicated to this topic, provides a general framework concerning Named Places standardization activity launched at international level by the United Nations Organization, the standards applied by the Italian Military Geographic Institute in cartographic productions at various scales and the relevant national legislation about Named Places. The section “elements of climatology” offers the reader a synthetic overview of the main climatic factors, which condition or influence the physical and anthropic environment and the related geographical types.

The second part consists of tables of geographical types, divided into twenty themes. The first seven concern physical geography in its many typological manifestations: from the ” slope modeling” to different morphological phenomena (fluvial, coastal, glacial, periglacial, structural and volcanic) and karst. This is followed by three themes, dedicated to “land reclamation”, “soil, vegetation and parks” and “agriculture and livestock farming”: these sections focus on geographical types, in which the physical reality of the territory has been shaped or significantly altered by the human activity, which has modified the Earth’s surface. The remaining ten themes cover the broad field of strictly “human” geographical studies, to which previous editions of the atlas had not assigned adequate space: five themes expand on the topic of settlements (rural settlements, inhabited centers, settlements depending on environmental conditions, settlements of industrial and tertiary activities) and one focuses on “urbanization dynamics”; two other themes then deal with issues relating to “communication routes and networks” and to the illustration of the natural and anthropic aspects of the landscape types and cultural heritage; “Types of territorial discontinuity” and “named places” close the set of thematic tables of the atlas.
This work concludes with the third part, which consists of the customary indexes, a list of illustrations and an acknowledgements section listing all those who contributed to the creation of the Atlas.