This map has been compiled following surveys during a series of Cambridge Spitsbergen Expeditions between the years 1949 and 1958 under the direction of W. B. Harland and D. Masson-Smith. It is the first medium-scale map of much of the heart of Vestspitsbergen, incorporating in part details from a number of earlier charts and maps. The visual impression of the map is very pleasing. While clearly portraying the major features of the topography it also includes a wealth of detail; nunataks, ice margins, moraines, alluvial flats, mud-flats and huts are easily identifiable. Trigonometrical stations and the relative reliability of mapped features are indicated. Included on the map margin are a location map, triangulation diagram and a list of 181 new place-names used on the map. A minor criticism concerns the key, from which one or two symbols seem to have been omitted.

A paper by Reference Harland and Masson-SmithHarland and Masson-Smith (1962) describes in detail how the map was surveyed in the field and later compiled in Cambridge. It is fully documented and includes lists of previously published maps which overlap the area.