Book Description

This CD-ROM presents data as never before in a stunning fusion of style and content. Beautifully detailed maps, photographs, and videos are backed up with enough facts, statistics, charts, and graphs to satisfy anyone. View the world through compelling cartographic maps, dazzling images, and exciting 3D graphics. Or, explore the huge encyclopedic database using state-of-the-art software features.

Additional features:
* 500,000 words of text in a searchable database
* Over 40,000 separate data fields
*Approximately 400 maps
*Thousands of graphs and charts, generated "live" from the database
*33 videos
*250 photographs
*Flags for every country in the world
*An extensive online site accessed from the disc

DK Multimedia Minimum System Requirements: Personal computer with 75MHz or faster Pentium(r) processor with at least 16 MB RAM, 8- or 16-bit sound card, quad-speed CD-ROM drive, 16-bit (32,000 color), 800 x 600 pixel display, Windows 95 ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Best CD atlas I've seen so far
Please note that this review is for the 1998 version of this atlas.

Although out of print so far this is the best CD-based atlas I've seen, with the possible exception of the one that comes with Encarta. I have the Grolier's, Webster's Millenium, the Oxford, and the World Book Encylopedia atlas too, and it is superior to all of them in terms of the interface, ease of use, flexibility, the quality of the writing, and overall features. The interface is, as with all DK products I've seen, very slick and well done visually. In a CD-based encyclopedia or atlas, the interface can make or break the product, because it doesn't matter how scholarly and well-written the text is if the interface is clunky and hard to use. If it is difficult to use, or if it just has a few quirks or limitations people don't like, people just won't use it and will probably go to another atlas or encyclopedia that may not be as good information-wise but which at least is usable. Here the Webster's atlas really falls down, and the World Book's isn't much better. The Grolier's is better, however, and I found it at least acceptable there. Encarta's is quite well done and allows you multiple ways to access information from the main country screen, which is nice.

So the choice for me comes down to either Encarta or DK's. One thing the Encarta atlas allows you to do is to zoom in or out at about 10 levels of magnification. The DK only allows you one far and two close views. This definitely isn't as nice as the Encarta and is one big selling point there. Also, the Encarta allows you to scroll around to neighboring countries at will, which makes it extremely convenient to explore an entire area and visualize geographical relationships more easily. Amazingly, the World Book, Grolier's, and Webster's won't allow you to do this either unless you zoom out to the world view and then reselect the country you want. This is pretty lame and they should really fix that, as this makes the CD version no different from having the different country maps bound together in a book, which requires that you flip back and forth. The only reason to prefer a CD version, besides space, is whether the potential digital and multimedia capabilities are exploited.

One reason, though, to prefer to DK is the very well written country descriptions. Let's face it, the dull, dry country articles typical of most atlases are mostly suitable for putting you to sleep or doing those boring school assignments where you have to pick a country and write a report on it. The DK's are the closest thing to something a little lively and interesting there and I give them a lot of credit for that. For example, I learned that Uzbekistan has the world's largest operating gold mine and is the fourth largest producer of cotton in the world. Another former Russian country, Tajikistan, is mostly bare mountains and only 6% of the land is suitable for agriculture, but although very poor, it contains 14% of the world's known reserves of uranium, and derives most of its income from that. I also learned that Namibia, in south Africa, has the world's largest uranium mine, and is the second largest producer of lead, and the third largest producer of cadmium, in the world. Also, the Okavango river carries a higher volume of water than all of south Africa's other rivers combined. On the social side, amazingly, the constitution not only gives women equal rights but legalizes positive discrimination in favor of women! Those are just of few of the interesting facts you can glean from these articles.

Another nice feature is that along the left side of the screen there are 17 different categories of information you can select to get info about the country, ranging from People, Resources, Economics, and Political, to Health, Education, Crime, andeven Communications and Tourism. This makes it easy to pick the topics you want instead of having to read the whole article. It makes cross-country comparisons very easy as you can use these topics as screens and filters to compare. However, the Encarta's articles are probably a little more scholarly and technical, and often run 15-25 pages each for many countries. The most important country articles, such as those for Japan, China, Russia, Brazil, and the various countries in Europe, and so on, can run to 120 pages or more.

Hope my little comparison guide to atlases helps. Happy altas buying and reading! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent For The classroom
This is an excellent Atlas. It is user friendly and an great choice for use in the classroom! ... Read more

Book Description

This oversized, full color book offers an innovative introduction to a favorite reference topic. Like the others in the "Picture Reference" series, (Animals, Atlas, Earth, Space, Transportation), there's a vibrant mix of detailed illustrations, computer-generated maps and colorful photographs. Each book in the series is easy to use for school projects or to read just for fun. In addition, glossary, index and cross-references help sharpen research skills for children ages 8-11. ... Read more

Book Description

Here's an atlas that really maps out everything a young scholar needs to earn an A+ in geography! Especially created for secondary school students, it's divided into easy-to-use sections, all with color-coded pages. Political maps show national boundaries at a glance, and mark capital cities. Physical maps have layer-coloring and hill-shading that give landscape information, including mountains, rivers, and lakes, we well as towns, roads, and railways. Climate maps for each continent tell the average temperatures for January and July, indicating the prevailing winds and cold and warm ocean currents. Thematic maps compare nation with nation on key social and economic topics such as population, health, standard of living, food consumption, and trade. World study maps provide detailed information on important geographical and environmental themes.
Economic maps chart the different types of land use in each continent. Whether pupils want to know about energy and water resources in the Middle East or deforestation in Brazil, they'll find the information quickly!
... Read more

Book Description

Climb aboard for an exciting and educational journey around the world with this information-packed atlas!State-of-the art maps show each country's topography, cities, borders, and other features in extraordinary detail. Succinct text, hundreds of photographs and illustrations, and clear fact panels help curious young geographers understand what life is like in these faraway places including customs, cultures, economic systems and climates. Includes global locator maps, country flags, and a section on mapmaking and usage. ... Read more