Topological atlas ($\mathcal{A}$)

A topological atlas is a family $\mathcal{A}=\{(U_i,{\phi }_i)\}$ of coordinate charts whose domains form an open cover of a topological manifold. Each point must belong to at least one chart domain; no individual domain needs to cover the entire topological manifold. On overlaps, topological transition maps describe the same points in two coordinate systems.

For two coordinate charts in a topological atlas, the topological transition map is the homeomorphismBoth domains are open sets in Euclidean space. Function composition gives $g_{ij}=g_{ji}^{-1}$ and $g_{ki}=g_{kj}\circ g_{ji}$ wherever all three coordinate charts overlap. These identities express consistency of the coordinate descriptions; imposing smooth functions as the coordinate changes gives a smooth atlas.