Idea
Protection and sustainable use of water resources require comprehensive knowledge of the water cycle components and their spatial and temporal distribution as well as information about human impacts and water quality. A synopsis of different hydrological topics and water management issues is of special importance for a better assessment of possible developments. The Hydrological Atlas of Austria (HAA) offers a uniform and consistent representation of hydrologic information about Austria. This detailed knowledge is made accessible to a wide audience in an illustrative form. Its aim is to increase public awareness to the fact that water is a precious resource. The contents of the atlas and its presentation are useful for meeting the information demand expressed through the different areas of public interest e.g. research, education, economy and politics.
Contents and the product
The Hydrological Atlas of Austria is a dual product. It consists of conventionally printed thematic maps and is combined with a digital, GIS-based version. Thereby, both the expectations of the traditional map users and those who prefer electronic representations are met.
A cartographical concept has been found, which on the one hand presents a homogeneous lay out which gives the HAA its own identity and on the other hand enables an optimal presentation of the various topics in the atlas. The structure of the atlas covers the different components of the water cycle (e.g. precipitation, run-off, lakes and groundwater), contains various chapters dealing with water and mass balance and also covers water management themes as well as those on water and environment. The authors of individual maps represent the leading Austrian institutions in the fields of the respective topics. Thus the HAA is a true collaborative product of Austrias hydrologists.
The digital HAA is a combination of thematic maps and digital data sets, which enable the users to carry out further analysis, to query and verify and to make their own applications. The complete HAA contains 52 map sheets and 70 explanatory sheets.
Printed version
The concept and the layout of the printed version of the HAA take the following principles into account:
- collection of maps in a file with cover
- uniformly designed and high-quality cartographic
- map layouts
- maps with simultaneous readable explanation sheets
- main scale of the printed version is 1:1,000,000; 1:2,000,000 is used for maps with a lower information density (format when opened: 668 mm x 420 mm)
- legends and explanation sheets are written in German and in English
The HAA as a collection of maps with a GIS based version
The digital Hydrological Atlas of Austria
The software which is used to present the contents of the digHAA fulfils a number of criteria. The digHAA contains all the information of the printed version. The menu to call the respective topics uses the theme structure of the analogue HAA. Since the screen modes have a low resolution, zoom lens and moving functions are necessary. Graphic evaluations, tables and explanations which correspond to the maps can be activated by controlling elements on the user interface. The digital version is based on an especially developed viewer, providing the following functions:
- presentation of the printed map sheets
- linking map objects with tables, texts and charts
- overlay of diverse themes
- original datasets of themes ready for user specific application (ESRI Shapefiles)
When developing the user interface, great value was attached to an easy navigation through the atlas. Information about the present position in the atlas . spatially and thematically . is always shown. In addition to the complete contents of the printed version, a "Hotlink" function allows, for instance, the graphical representation of time series.