atlas

1. (chiefly in anatomy, especially of the human body) A detailed visual conspectus of something of great and multi-faceted complexity, with its elements splayed so as to be presented in as discrete a manner as possible whilst retaining a realistic view of the whole.Examples: "An Anatomical Atlas of Vegetable Powders Designed as an Aid to the Microscopic Analysis of Powdered Foods and Drugs"; "In addition to classical radiology systems like angiography, CT scanner or MRI have greatly contributed to the improvement of the patient anatomy investigation. Each examination modality still carries its own information and the need to make a synthesis between them is obvious but still makes different problems hard to solve. There is no unique imaging facility which can bring out the whole set of known anatomical structures, brought together in a neuro-anatomical atlas."; "1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 55 (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN Our perception of the body as the natural “space of the origin and distribution of disease”, a space determined by the anatomical atlas', is merely one of the various ways in which medicine has formed its “knowledge”."especially

2. (differential geometry, topology) A family of coordinate charts that cover a manifold.

3. (anatomy) The uppermost vertebra of the cervical spine in the neck in humans and some other animals.Examples: "There are of these glands upon the first vertebra of the neck of the atlas; on which the head turns[…]"; "Ribs and spines show through the thin layer of meat left on the carcase, and, where the head meets the body, the crucial first vertebra – the atlas – is exposed."Synonyms: atlanto-, atlo-

4. (architecture) A figure of a man used as a column.Synonyms: atlantid, telamon

5. (paper) A sheet of paper measuring 26 inches by 34 inches.

6. (computer graphics) An image or texture containing a number of other images or textures, so as to reduce the cost of loading them separately.Examples: "a glyph atlas used in font rendering"; "a texture atlas"