Having Maps printed

[A R Frost]

Anyone know of places that you can get your map(s) printed in say a 36x48 scale.(Poster size)
Looking to get my world map printed so it's easier to use with my group.

Thanks
A.R. Frost

[Chick]

Search the web for "giclee printing". Giclee is the high quality printing process used for digital art. You will find dozens of choices where you can submit your image and they print and mail it to you.

I have a local printer who does beautiful work here, so I don't have an online recommendation, but I suspect it will be hard to go wrong with any decent online site. Here is just one of many examples I found with that search term: http://www.picturesalon.com/

[Larb]

Honestly these days there are a million places where you can get decent on demand printing. I imagine there will be some places local to you that do it if you do a search. That way you can visit them and speak to them personally.

[Chick]

If you do look locally, make sure they do GICLEE printing using ARCHIVAL INKS. Not all local printers even know what this is.

[markem]

I have done several maps using really low cost (and low quality) printing. You have to be careful just how low you go though. A lot of places will do 150dpi prints but they look grainy. I did my printing in two ways. The first was banner printing. I wanted the rough, leathery feel to the map and the stuff they make banners out of felt right. The second thing I did was fabric printing. This is like the kind of cloth used for making scarfs. It is very fine but also quite durable. I printed some maps out using that material and gave them away to friends for Christmas.

The banners I printed I first printed at 150dpi. But later ones I did at 600dpi. The difference is like night and day. On the scarfs - they all were printed at 600dpi and looked fantastic.

One of the things to look out for is naming conventions. What one place calls a banner another site might make you some kind of mosquito netting banner. So you have to be very specific in not only what you order but how you order it. So make sure you are ordering the solid material and not something that is going to look like Swiss cheese.

Last is price. The 150dpi place only cost something like $7.00 to print but it didn't look all that great. The 600dpi scarfs only cost something like $20.00 each.

Printing maps on banner material is going to give you something that won't wear out any time soon. Most banners are made to last outside and to keep their bright colors. So you will have a nice looking map for years to come.

[Redrobes]

Check out the member Gamerprinter who runs a print shop and does a lot of maps including laminated versions.

http://www.cartographersguild.com/member.php?u=878