The largest atlas in history has been published by Australian publishing company, Millennium House. The atlas, Earth Platinum, is leather-bound, weighs 200 kilograms, and measures
6ft x 9ft (1.8m x 2.7m). Only 31 copies of the atlas exist, making each one as rare as it is valuable.
The aim in producing Earth Platinum has been to create a benchmark in cartography and to leave a legacy for future generations, as the atlas shows the world in as much detail as was possible at the time of publication. In the creation of this unique geographical time capsule, over 120 professionals from around the globe have contributed their knowledge and skills.
An engineer needed to be consulted to devised a mechanism to assist with the turning of the pages and also give protection to the time-honoured unique bookbinding process which has been used. The atlas contains the most recent and comprehensive record of flags. It is expected to be the definitive reference for cartographers, oceanographers as well as those who are curious about many aspects of our planet.
Earth Platinum has a purchase price of $US100,000.
The large format allows for far more detail than is usual to be displayed. Towns, rivers and islands that normally would not be shown due to size restrictions are clearly visible. Because of the size of the book, a person is actually enveloped by what they are seeing when viewing the atlas. The combination of ‘surround sight’, the 3D like effect of the maps, and the clarity of the photos causes a different level of awareness to be experienced by the viewer as their mind and body become engaged in taking in the information before them. This all-encompassing sensory response is triggered as the vastness of continents, cities, oceans
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and mountain chains become apparent. Such is the clarity of the photography that people
who have visited some of the sites have commented that it makes them feel as if they are back there.
Linguistic experts were called on as not all countries use the Roman alphabet. It was necessary to devise and introduce special alphabetical characters within standard font ranges and also to standardize names so they can be used as reference internationally. Fortunately, Millennium House had a reasonably large database of names as they had encountered this problem previously during production of their first atlas, Earth Blue. Because of its much larger format, Earth Platinum is able to display a far greater number of towns, islands and rivers than Earth Blue or any of the other smaller atlases published by Millennium House.
Cutting-edge technology in the photographic process called gigapan was used in the reproduction of some of the 60 photos in the atlas. The photo of the skyline of Shanghai for instance, is a composite image of over 12,000 individual photos that were taken over a period of time. An eagle eye was needed to join the images together so they would read as one image. As changing light conditions were unavoidable during the process, any variations in color had to be adjusted. Over the time span required to take the multiple images, everything that could move did move. This resulted in images of headless bodies and half cars that had to be deleted and the resulting space needing to be blended in.
The traditional offset printing process was used but the process was employed in conjunction
with photo images being burnt into the plates using a high-tech machine. The result is a much
greater level of detail in the plates and an enhancement of the final 3D like effect. Only one type of printing press can cope with the size of Earth Platinum and the level of detail in it. Although there are 26 of these presses globally, only one company in Milan was willing to undertake the risk for such a ground-breaking project.
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An ancient form of Chinese book-binding that uses hand stitching was the one most suited to the size of the atlas, so the printed pages were sent to Hong Kong for assembly and binding.
The only atlas that is similar in size to Earth Platinum, is the Klencke Atlas, which is housed in the Antiquarian Mapping Division of the British Library in London. It was produced as a one-off over 350 years ago, and, like Earth Platinum, is said to encompass all geographical knowledge of that time. Thanks to today’s technology and accumulated knowledge, Earth Platinum surpasses the Klencke Atlas in detail and size. Earth Platinum is considered to be one of the most comprehensive atlases ever produced and the unique processes used in creating it have delivered an atlas that is a combination of science and art.
Owning a copy of Earth Platinum is regarded as a fascinating investment and a fine bequest by private collectors, institutions and companies alike.
Since the production of their first atlas in 2008, Millennium House has been awarded a number of cartographic awards including: IMTA Asia-Pacific Best Overall Award 2010; IMTA Best Book Award 2008, 2009, 2010; Earth Blue voted Best World Atlas at the International Cartographic Conference 2009.
Guinness World Records granted a certificate to Millennium House on July 13th 2012 for Earth Platinum which is now recognized internationally as the largest atlas in the world and indeed history, breaking a 350yr old record.
Chris Sheedy from Guinness World Records Australia / NZ. “The Earth Platinum has broken a record that has stood since circa 1660 and, in this era of digital content, will provide a unique, valuable, enduring and unforgettable perspective on the world we live in.”
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Head of Cartography and Topography at the British Library, Peter Barber OBE, who wrote the introduction to Earth Platinum, says “The Library’s collection of maps is one of the greatest in the world, and the maps are important not only for their use as geographical aids, but also as mirrors of the cultures in which they were created. While the Klencke Atlas 1660 provides an insight into the world of British monarchs in the seventeenth century, and what they thought was important about it, the Earth Platinum will offer a reflection of what people of 2012 felt was worth recording about their very different world. It will be an astonishing resource for researchers in ten, twenty or two hundred years time.”