English Translation

90 AOOMOO "The first stage of spatial research is characterized by the inventory, the identification of spatial data, i.e. by what is best known as basic research in terms of spatial planning objectives. It would be quite wrong to consider this stage of research, because it is a mere collection of material, as not belonging to space research, for already in the selection of facts, the arrangement of the elements of observation and the structure in detail, the direction of research and the goal of knowledge are revealed. Even more clearly, this conditionality appears through the object of knowledge when it comes to putting the details given in the space in relation to each other from the guiding point of view and in this way, beyond the exploration of cause and effect, in the sense of a functional approach, to understand the interactions of the various factors in question and to understand life relationships in their overarching meaning. 330.) Therefore, the scientific goal of the Atlas Bayerische Ostmark of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft für Raumforschung is to address all individual questions of regional research in consideration of their importance in relation to the overall spatial policy problem. The atlas is structured according to a uniform point of view and, in the absence of any specific documents, the extensive material was summarized in a concise manner by the editors. Information which was not necessarily necessary for this atlas work, although not insignificant, had to be excluded from publication. All studies, the results of which were not fully satisfied, were of course also postponed; finally, the material on industrial and commercial enterprises had to be viewed particularly critically in order to bring about only fundamentals. The logical disposition, which emerges clearly from the table of contents, allows the reader to explain the maps on a continuous basis with reference to each other. The structure is novel, but has proved to be quite useful and avoids the unsightly ending of a large scientific community work in attached minor matters. As an introduction to the spatial-political question underlying the entire Atlaswerk, the situation of the NSDAP.-Gaues in the Great German Reich, its political development history is sketched in great detail and the map picture from one of our school atlases, familiar to each viewer, is once again brought to light. On the basis of the height-layer map, the relief is followed by a landscape-sounding spatial structure. The editor proceeds from the idea that the character of a landscape is a function primarily of elevation and relief design, the visible forms of rock and soil and visible climate phenomena, the distribution of watercourses (valley density), the occurrence of forest, meadow and field in their share of the total area, and finally the type of settlement in the wider sense. The demarcation thus gained in spaces, which in the entirety of their appearances bear largely uniform character and therefore can be repeatedly peeled out in the various maps of the atlas work, explains a part of the picture in which the 34 best aerial images and over 80 ground photographs taken for this purpose as type pictures are intended to stimulate the understanding of space. After this introduction, the types of rocks and their construction for the clarification of the relief, as well as the examination of the spatial body with the large European air currents are discussed.