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Times Comprehensive 2007

The 12th Edition of the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World

The new edition of The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, which is published this week, reveals the changing face of the world. Dramatic environmental changes are forcing the cartographers to re-draw sections of coastline and lakes.

Despite a miserable ‘monsoon’ summer in Britain, temperatures elsewhere have soared. Eleven of the last 12 years now rank among the warmest on record, with intense rainfall at one extreme, matched by devastating drought at the other. Since the last edition of the atlas just four years ago, the effects of ill-conceived irrigation projects and global warming have forced cartographers to re-draw coastlines and reclassify land types in many parts of the world.

Editor-in-Chief, Mick Ashworth says: “We can literally see environmental disasters unfolding before our eyes. We have a real fear that in the near future famous geographical features will disappear forever.”

Other changes to the atlas include:

• Dramatic developments in China including the longest transoceanic bridge in the world and the highest railway in the world.
• Pinpoints modern day ‘ghost towns’ as abandoned settlements – this is a unique feature.
• Urbanization happening at an alarming rate with a huge increase in the number of size of cities.
• 3,500 changes to place names in particular Greece, Spain, Samoa, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

Four years in the making, The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World is the world’s most prestigious and authoritative atlas – painstakingly researched by a dedicated team of over 50 cartographers, with changes to the database made every 3.5 minutes using a 24-hour-a-day news feed.

The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 12th Edition, is published by Collins this week.

For more information, please visit www.collins.co.uk/timescomprehensive