AVAtlas is an extension to ArcView GIS which provides all the tools necessary to create a printed atlas (sometimes called a map book) within ArcView.

ArcView's cartographic tools were designed to create very sophisticated individual maps. AVAtlas was designed around the concept of an atlas. However, AVAtlas does much more than just break up a map onto multiple pages. It handles all the details necessary for creating a true multi-page document just like your standard word processor will.

Things like page numbering, indexing, two-sided printing, print previewing are all automatically handled by AVAtlas.

AVAtlas adds a new type of document to ArcView called an Atlas. An Atlas is similar to Layout with the following differences:

1. An Atlas document can have multiple sections. A section is group of pages in your atlas that display similar things. For example, if you were developing a street atlas, the pages displaying the street maps would be one section while the street name index would be another.

2. An Atlas document knows how to draw 6 new frame types (Atlas Frame, Atlas Key Frame, Atlas Locator Frame, Atlas Text Frame, Atlas Section Index Frame, and Atlas Page Index Frame) in addition to the regular Layout frame types (View Frame, Legend Frame, etc.).