My new wall map

[Haertig]

I'm excited to get my new wall map (just ordered it)! I went for the 54" x 36" laminated print of this one:

https://www.worldmapsonline.com/americas-centered-standard-blue-ocean-world-political-wall-map/
I can't tell you how long I took coming up with THE map that I wanted. Size of course matters when you're trying to fit it into an existing wall space. But you also have to zoom in on the details of the map. Are the country borders drawn so that they are easy to see? Are the fonts and font colors for the labels easy on the eyes? Is the map cluttered with too much information? Do you want the typical "centered on the Atlantic" view or do you want one where the Pacific ocean is in one piece and not split on both ends of the map? The ones that show the entire Pacific are my favorite. Do you care about ocean details? Are you most interested in political boundaries or physical characteristics of the Earth? What projection do you want? This has to do with relative sizes of objects and how squashed or otherwise distorted they appear. Most of us probably grew up with the Mercator projection, but that makes Greenland look as big as Africa, which it certainly is not. I like the "Miller projection" the best. List of map projections - Wikipedia

They have lots of really nice maps at this WorldMapsOnline store. I almost went for one of these Satellite Image ones (below), because they look so cool, but ultimately decided on the detailed Political Map above.

https://www.worldmapsonline.com/world-pacific-rim-satellite-image-map/
Another choice I considered was one of these Physical World ones:

https://www.worldmapsonline.com/nat...ific-centered/#mz-expanded-view-1190183188096
Note: Some of their maps do not show as available in laminated if you look online. But if you call/email/chat with them, they will give you a special ordering link to get what you want laminated (that was important to me). Some of their maps have lots of labels of places. Others, you have an extra choice to make on the website when ordering: labels, or no labels. Their customer service is very helpful and quick to respond to emails.

 

[jazzy]

great wall map, much nicer than mine, i might have to ask santa to get me one.

 

[Haertig]

What to look for to check how up to date your map is:

In 2018, Swaziland was renamed to Eswatini. This small country is near the east end of South Africa, and totally surrounded by it.
Just to the north of Greece is the small country of North Macedonia. Prior to 2019 this used to be called simply Macedonia.
In 2022, Turkey changed it's name to Türkiye.

 

[Peanut]

I'm a map guy to, have a collection. Every where I've been which includes europe and mid east. Hey, still have my old Thomas Guides from CA.

The ones I used to hang were cheap Nat Geo magazine maps. Some are very interesting. For years I keep paying the subscription just for their maps.

 

[Haertig]

I'm a map guy to

You may like these CIA maps (get the PDF versions):

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/maps/world-regional/
On the third page of the URL above, they have a nice "World Political" and "World Physical" map.

The 2021 Political World Map at the above URL is a little large (23.6Mb), so I downloaded the smaller 2019 version (8.4Mb) instead:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/CIA_WorldFactBook-Political_world.pdf
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The Gebco World Map is nice too, it has very detailed bathymetry (ocean bed detail) data. WARNING: This download is 60Mb!:

https://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/printable_maps/documents/gebco_world_map_2014.pdf
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For anyone using a Linux computer to view large PDF map files, the standard PDF viewer program that you find on many Linux distros is slow. I much prefer a (free) program named "MuPDF". It's probably available in most Linux repos. MuPDF is fast and very simple. So simple that it doesn't even give you a hint of how to use it. From the command line, type "man mupdf" for instructions. But all's I use are + and - to zoom, and click-n-drag with my mouse to move the map position. MuPDF also fills your screen with the map, no extra menus, toolbars and stuff like that to clutter the view.

 

[Bacpacker]

I too am a map lover. I've got a bunch of them, all different kinds. Topos of this entire area 1:24000 scale, topos of places I want to go or enjoy reading about, states to travel to, coutry maps, world maps, tons of Nat Geo maps. We used to have a map store near here and I'd go by once a month, rarely came home with less than 3. Went to Austria in 1999, I brought of maps home from there. I really like historical maps as well.
I'll be checking out the links you posted Haertig.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I like maps. I've got a collection of old maps. The oldest ones are hand colored maps from the mid 1700's. Many are of the Antarctica area and the Cook expeditions. I've got several old maps of the gold fields of Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.
My favorite modern state maps are the Raven maps.

 

[Neb]

I like maps!

In my reference section of the library I have my collection of maps.

Many of those maps are National Geo maps. The Princess's grandparents had maybe 50 years worth and I went through their collection and collected all of the maps (hint... The ones with maps had red text on the spine) and sorted them then created an index of the collection.

My son brings me gift he saved from the dumpster. One gift was a topographic map of PA.

The size of a love seat. The circles marks the location of my granddaughters school.

I plan to frame it someday.... When I find a wall big enough for it.

Ben

 

[kd4ulw]

Used a couple of my National Geographic maps to pin ham radio contacts.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I have a world atlas from 1899. I think it's called the World and it's People. I've got another US atlas from the early 1900's.

 

[theheathen13]

I collect maps myself, and have been thinking about building a dis play so I can enjoy them, like the poster dis plays at Spencer’s back in the day. Just. What ya think

 

[Morgan101]

Count me in. I too am a map lover. One of the best gifts my daughter ever gave me was a collection of maps of all of the continents in a leather book; 11 3/4 x 7. It doesn't have any info on who compiled it or sold it. The front cover is embossed with Maps of the World. On the inside cover there is a Monsanto Round-Up logo, so maybe they had something to do with it. The maps are all folded in their own plastic pocket pages. I must have added a Missouri roadmap back in 2001-2002, so she probably gave it to me back then.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I had several of my antique maps matted and framed. Since I spent a lot of time in Antarctica I especially like the southern hemisphere maps that shows what was known of Antarctica at that time, circa 1753. I also have several old prints of Cooks voyages of 1773 around Antarctica.

 

[Magpie]

I love maps too- I've picked up old school atlases second-hand to use for crafts. My favourite ones I bought when in the States, and the 'Book of the world' my Nanna gave me Christmas 1980

 

[Haertig]

And here I was, thinking I might be the only dufus on the planet who could just sit here mindlessly staring at a map. The wife asks, "What are you doing?" And the best answer I can give is "Just looking at a map. For no particular reason. Just letting my mind wander and enjoying looking at it."

 

[Haertig]

One show that I do enjoy watching on TV is The Amazing Race. It has always floored me how many of the people get so lost - they cannot read a map! Sure, I'd have some difficulties if the map was in a foreign language, but I could get by. Maps are fairly universal. Reading highway exit numbers in a language totally unfamiliar to me - like Arabic or the many Asian languages - would be a super challenge. But I'd at least be able to figure out that I need to head north or something. That simple task seems beyond many of The Amazing Race contestants.

I even like looking at maps that are quite alien to me. Like ocean navigation charts. I spent a couple of hours on one the other day. Trying to learn what all the symbols mean. While it's nice to recognize that this type of line means an undersea cable, and that type of line means a shipping channel, that's not of much practical use to me here in Colorado. But I still like looking at maps and deciphering things like that.

[edit] Here 'ya go ... zoom in and out and pan to your hearts content. That's what I did!

https://fishing-app.gpsnauticalchar...+-+Cell+2+boating+app#11.22/21.2197/-157.8199
[/edit]

 

[Neb]

One show that I do enjoy watching on TV is The Amazing Race. It has always floored me how many of the people get so lost - they cannot read a map! Sure, I'd have some difficulties if the map was in a foreign language, but I could get by. Maps are fairly universal. Reading highway exit numbers in a language totally unfamiliar to me - like Arabic or the many Asian languages - would be a super challenge. But I'd at least be able to figure out that I need to head north or something. That simple task seems beyond many of The Amazing Race contestants.

I even like looking at maps that are quite alien to me. Like ocean navigation charts. I spent a couple of hours on one the other day. Trying to learn what all the symbols mean. While it's nice to recognize that this type of line means an undersea cable, and that type of line means a shipping channel, that's not of much practical use to me here in Colorado. But I still like looking at maps and deciphering things like that.

[edit] Here 'ya go ... zoom in and out and pan to your hearts content. That's what I did!

https://fishing-app.gpsnauticalchar...+-+Cell+2+boating+app#11.22/21.2197/-157.8199
[/edit]

I wondered around Jerusalem by myself using just a map. The street signs were in Hebrew but I knew enough to navigate. That was fun!

Ben

 

[Bacpacker]

I wondered around Jerusalem by myself using just a map. The street signs were in Hebrew but I knew enough to navigate. That was fun!

Ben

I did the same thing in Austria. I read almost no German and didn't at all when I went there. Went from one end of the country to the other. Place we were staying at had a paper store across the street. Went there the day we arrived trying to stay awake and adjust from the flight. Wouldnt you know, they had lots of maps. I bought one of the country and one of Vienna right then. Got 5 to 10 more to bring home.
We took a hike the next day of something like 10 miles, never looked at a map. Freaked out 2 guys I was with, swore up and down we were lost for hours. I brought them back on the same street we left on.

 

[Morgan101]

We took a hike the next day of something like 10 miles, never looked at a map. Freaked out 2 guys I was with, swore up and down we were lost for hours.

You weren't lost!! You were in Austria. Nothing to worry about. I did much the same thing in the Netherlands, but the Dutch are excewllent linguists, and almost everybody speaks English, so it was much easier. I love exploring as well, and meeting the local people.

 

[Morgan101]

I wondered around Jerusalem by myself using just a map. The street signs were in Hebrew but I knew enough to navigate. That was fun!

Sorry, Ben but I have to bust your chops. Are you still wondering about Jerusalem or were you wandering around Jerusalem? Typo?!?!

 

[Haertig]

Back in high school and early college, my friends and I went on lots of out of state backpacking trips (we lived in Texas). One year we weren't sure where we wanted to go. So we drove to Denver, where they have a federal center that houses tons of topo maps (at least they housed them back in the 70's when we went there). We spent hours just looking through the maps, searching for a place where the topography looked enticing and good for backpacking. Pretty random way of picking a place to backpack, especially since we did it on the way to our unknown backpacking destination, but that's what we did. We ended up in some beautiful mountains just west of Lander, Wyoming.

Ah, the good old days when parents didn't track the kid's every movement via cellphone:

"What are you going to do today?"
"We're going backpacking!"
"Neat. Where?"
"Not sure. Some place west and north where it's cooler probably."
"When will you be back?"
"About 3 weeks plus or minus."
"OK, have fun!"
And off we went!

 

[Bacpacker]

Well that sounds like an awesome way to plan a trip. I'm sure fun was had by all