The atlas, published by Australia’s Millennium House, is leather-bound, weighs 200 kg 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, said a statement. 

 

Earth Platinum has a purchase price of $100,000.

 

The World Luxury Expo will be held at the Ritz Carlton Riyadh from February 10-12.

 

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, it said.

 

“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 devise 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,” said Gordon Cheers, managing director of Millennium House.

 

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, he said. 

 

“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,” said Cheers. 

 

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, he said.

 

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, he said.

 

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, said Cheers.

 

Guinness World Records granted a certificate to Millennium House on July 13,  2012 for   Earth Platinum which is now recognized internationally as the largest atlas in the world and indeed history, breaking a 350 year-old record, said Cheers. – TradeArabia News Service