Making the Most of Your Library
Part 6 -- Geographical Sources
This article originally appeared in Science Fiction & Fantasy Workshop Newsletter #128, May 1992
Geographical sources allow us to gain information about places. There are two basic types of geographical sources -- atlases and gazateers.
Atlases are collections of maps. Almost everybody is familiar with the world atlas which gives political maps of almost every country of the world. However there are also many other kinds of atlases for specialized uses. For instance a historical atlas shows how geography and history interact, using such things as maps of how a nation's population changed over the years or locating the sites of the major events of a particular era. Similarly a geophysical atlas will show the landforms and geology of the area that it covers, rather than political divisions. And for science fiction writers, there are also planetary and astronomical atlases which give such things as maps of the other planets and various kinds of star charts.
Gazateers, by contrast, are dictionary-like lists of place names. These are useful for ascertaining the location of a place for which one has the name, or for seeing how many places have the same name.
Both atlases and gazateers are important sources of geographical information. By using them we will be able to increase our knowledge of geographical matters and thus increase the realism of our writing.
Last updated November 4, 2010