Atlas of Design
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the goals of the Atlas?
What is NACIS (North American Cartographic Information Society)?
Why is the Atlas a physical book?
Where can I find past copies of the Atlas?
How are maps chosen for the Atlas?
What kind of maps can I submit?
Can I submit a series of maps?
Can I submit a digital map, web app, or animation?
Do I need to live in North America to submit?
Does my map need to feature North America?
Does my map need to be in English?
Can I submit a map on someone else’s behalf?
If my work is selected, do I get paid?
If selected, do I retain the rights to my work?
The Atlas of Design is a biennial publication produced by NACIS (the North American Cartographic Information Society) featuring inspiring examples of modern cartography from around the world. Each volume is published as a physical book and contains around thirty maps, along with commentary from the authors intended to take the reader deeper into the map’s design process. The first volume of the Atlas was published in 2012.
The Atlas of Design seeks to honor the great cartography being made around the world today. Its goals are to inspire readers both within and without the field of cartography toward new understandings of design, and the power that a well-crafted map can have. Amidst this modern era of satellite imagery, digital displays, and Google Maps—it seeks to help answer the question: what do cartographers actually do?
The North American Cartographic Information Society is a not-for-profit professional organization for mapmakers, welcoming professionals and enthusiasts from government, commercial, and not-for-profit groups alongside academics, scholars, artists, librarians, hobbyists, technologists, and students interested in all things related to cartography. An annual meeting is held each October where attendees can share and present their work, build relationships with peers, and discuss all things mappy. If you like maps, you’ll fit right in. Learn more at NACIS.org .
The objectives of NACIS are:
You can read more about the organization’s constitution and bylaws at NACIS.org .
Each volume of the Atlas is a labor of love, assembled by a team of volunteers from within the NACIS community. An editorial team works on everything from managing map submissions, narrowing down the final selections, assisting with author commentary, designing the book layout, and distributing the completed volume to readers. They are assisted by a team of volunteer judges, who help choose the maps that go into each volume, and a team of volunteer translators, who assist with submissions and author commentaries in whatever language the Atlas receives it in.
We wanted to make something that you could physically hold in your hands; something that wasn’t just another part of the digital ether. You can read more about our choice in our blog post on printing.
The Atlas of Design is funded by The North American Cartographic Information Society and is run by volunteer staff. You can read more about funding for the Atlas in our blog post on profitability.
All previous volumes and reprints can be found on our Orders page through the Atlas of Design website.
Map selection is a multi-step process. Once the submission window has closed, the editorial team does an initial screening of all the maps that were received, removing any duplicate or excess maps submitted over the limit from one person or group, or maps that are clearly not the author’s own original work. The team may also remove entries that aren’t actually maps (for example, if someone just submitted a photo of their pet cat and did not have a convincing argument as to how their feline friend constitutes a map). Lastly, the editorial team does a basic pre-judging pass to choose which maps will go on to the next step—with this stage of the process erring strongly on the side of inclusiveness. If any one of the editors recommends the map should move on to the next step, it advances. The point of this initial screening is to reduce the burden of work needed for the second step—ranking by our volunteer judges panel.
Each volume has twelve or so volunteer judges who are invited to assist in the selection process based on their contributions to the cartographic community. These judges review each and every map that made it through the first screening and assign a score from 1–5. The judges are provided little-to-no guidance on what they should be looking for in this phase. Instead, we encourage each to bring their unique perspective to the process and rate the maps based on their own tastes and values. Good design can often be subjective, and so we hope that a diverse group of judges can help offset any particular bias in this ranking process. Once complete, the editorial team sorts the results by their average score and starts going down the list from the top.
We don’t simply take the top 30 ranked maps, however. While we try not to deviate too far from the judge’s rankings, there are a few additional factors the team considers when choosing the final maps. We want the Atlas to contain a variety of maps in subject, theme, and style. Often, we’ll get two maps from the same author that ranked very highly, and instead of featuring both, we’ll pick whichever of the two maps brings the most variety to the volume as a whole. In other cases, we might have three highly ranked maps that are all very similar in subject, theme, or style but from different authors; and may choose only one of the three that we feel best represents what those maps are trying to achieve.
This last step of the selection process can be a very challenging task, given that we receive hundreds of exceptional submissions each volume. We strongly encourage folks to keep submitting their work, if interested, even if their work was not included in a previous volume.
Anyone can submit their work to the Atlas. You do not need to be a participating member of the NACIS community, and we strongly encourage non-members to submit. You don’t need to be a professional cartographer, either. Whether you make a living on maps or you’ve just designed something for fun—we welcome whatever designs you want to send our way.
We have a broad definition of “map”. If you would describe your own work as a map, then we’re interested in seeing it. In past volumes, we’ve featured everything from the traditional to the unconventional—maps designed for physical print and maps designed for the screen, 2D and 3D, static and dynamic. We’ve featured sculptures, tapestries, and even maps made with small explosions. You can see snippets of every map that’s been featured in a past volume on the Atlas of Design website. In short, any kind of map is welcome.
Submissions are limited to two maps per individual and four maps per organization. For excess submissions, we will only consider the most recent two or four that were received, as previously described.
Yes! In fact, each previous volume of the Atlas has featured at least one map series. We’ve also featured individual maps that were originally part of a larger collection. Keep in mind, however, that our submission form can only accept one file per submission, and we ask that you please do not submit multiple times in order to send multiple files from one series. One submission per series is ideal, though if you have one or two maps from a series that you think have strong standalone value, you can submit them individually. Another option is to arrange multiple maps into a single file or layout that could help give judges a general idea of the series as a whole, and talk about the map as a series in your description. You can also make use of the website section to have a URL link to a page where the judges can see additional maps from the series.
If your work is selected, the editors will give their recommendation as to how best include your work—whether that is a single map that encapsulates the group, a handful of maps across multiple pages, or some other solution. The answer is always case-by-case. You can email the editors at atlas@nacis.org with any other questions regarding the best way to submit your work—we’d be happy to help.
Yes, and we recommend using the provided box for including a web URL, where possible. For the image file, it may be beneficial to combine multiple images of your digital map/app into a single layout to give the judges a better sense of the scope of your work, given the dynamic and interactive nature of web cartography. If your work is selected, the editors will contact you to discuss the best way to display your work in print.
No, we accept and encourage submissions from anywhere in the world. Or even off-world, for that matter. First Contact by way of cartography would be quite exciting.
No, maps may depict anything, anyone, anywhere. In the past we’ve featured cosmic maps of the galaxy, cerebral maps of the mind, and fantasy maps of things that will never exist outside of the work itself.
No, maps do not need to include English text. Previous volumes of the Atlas have featured maps from all around the world, with text in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and more. We’ve even featured maps with made-up languages, and many that have no text at all.
We ask that you please limit your submissions to maps that you’ve made (or significantly revised) within the past five years or so. Our goal is to make each volume of the Atlas a showcase of current cartography.
No, we ask that you please only submit your own work. However, we do greatly encourage and appreciate you sharing our Call for Submissions with others, so if there is a cartographer whose work you admire and you think would be a great feature within the Atlas, tell them about it! If anything, they’ll appreciate the compliment!
We do not financially compensate contributors whose work has been selected for the Atlas. You can read more about our policy in this blog post on profitability. We do, however, send a complimentary copy of the book to all contributors who have their work featured in the final volume.
Yes. If selected, NACIS will ask for non-exclusive rights to publish images of your work within the Atlas volume it is chosen for, as well as any future reprints. You retain all ownership of your work. We also will ask for permission to publish images of your chosen work in our promotional materials for the Atlas, such as on the Atlas of Design website and our social media accounts.
You can find a copy of the general release form we use below. Please note, however, that this example is from past volumes and may be subject to change for current and future volumes. But in general, this is the type of release form you might expect to receive, if your work is selected.
You can reach the editors at atlas@nacis.org with any other questions about the Atlas—we will be happy to answer.