Last updated: October 11, 2024
National Geographic Society
Atlas of the World 10th Edition
We are proud to have created the cover image and several double-page maps for the Atlas of the World 10th Edition, a project of great significance as it marks the 100th anniversary of National Geographic Maps. Our collaboration on this landmark edition allowed us to contribute to one of the most visually compelling and authoritative atlases ever produced, seamlessly blending our artistic vision with National Geographic’s long-standing tradition of scientific rigour and exploration. This milestone atlas is not just a celebration of mapping history, but a tribute to the evolving art and science of understanding our world.
We also had the honour of creating the covers to the National Geographic Family Reference Atlas of the World 4th Edition, the Compact Atlas of the World 2nd Edition, and the Concise Atlas of the World 4th Edition.
The content displayed here, including images and maps, is copyrighted by National Geographic and is presented under the provisions of 17 U.S. Code § 107 (“Fair Use”) for the purposes of portfolio display and professional showcase. This use is limited to non-commercial, transformative purposes, without impacting the market value of the original work. All rights to the original materials remain with National Geographic, and no further reproduction or distribution is permitted without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
Atlas of the World 10th Edition — Advertisement and cover, celebrating the 100th anniversary of National Geographic Maps
Interior spreads and Globaia cartography for the Atlas of the World 10th Edition
National Geographic atlas covers created by Globaia — Family Reference Atlas 4th Edition, Compact Atlas 2nd Edition, Concise Atlas 4th Edition
Double-page map spread from the Atlas of the World 10th Edition
The Atlas of the World 10th Edition marked the 100th anniversary of National Geographic Maps, and its cover -- a luminous rendering of Earth at night created by Globaia -- became one of the most widely seen planetary visualisations in the history of cartography.
Modern digital cartography can resolve features as small as 30 centimetres from satellite imagery, yet the fundamental challenge of mapmaking remains unchanged since Eratosthenes first measured Earth's circumference in 240 BCE: how to represent a spherical reality on a flat surface without distortion.
National Geographic has published atlases since 1922, and each edition reflects the geopolitical and environmental realities of its era -- making the collection, read sequentially, an inadvertent chronicle of how humanity's understanding of (and impact on) the planet has evolved over a century.
The Earth-at-night imagery used for the atlas covers combines data from the Suomi NPP satellite's VIIRS sensor, which detects light as faint as a single fishing boat lantern on the open ocean -- revealing the full extent of the human presence in a way that daytime imagery cannot.
A single double-page spread in the National Geographic atlas compresses millions of square kilometres of terrain into an area smaller than a human palm, yet must remain legible enough to distinguish a river from a border -- a design constraint that makes atlas cartography one of the most information-dense visual arts ever practised.