Awesome Maps

Louisville, Kentucky-based The Wooden States creates precision-cut hardwood wall art based on state shapes. Each one is backed with four strong magnets which can hold onto key rings, pocket knives, jewelry, and other metal objects. In addition to individual states, there’s a version of the entire continental U.S.

Artist and designer Dom Riccobene painstakingly replicated the full single-player map of Los Santos from Grand Theft Auto V as a 3D model. Because of the size of his 3D printer, he broke the map down into 24 quadrants, then assembled each piece onto a 20″ x 30″ base. We enjoyed watching the map legend being carved too.

Commemorate your adventures and travels with these outstanding wood artworks from Topo Trail Maps. Each one is custom-made by artist Trevor Crosta based on a trail you specify. They feature deep, 3-dimensional carvings of the terrain, and come in two National Parks designs, as well as a rectangular floating frame.

The guys from RPG-themed tea company D&Tea turned up at Anime NYC and ECCC with what they say is the world’s largest dungeon map. Based on a design by RPG cartographer Dyson Logos, the enormous fabric map looks like it’s at least 30 feet long, assuming the person lying in the middle is roughly 6 feet tall.

Select any map you want, and Foster Leathercraft will make you a custom work of wall art by carving and embossing real leather. Each map is mounted to a sturdy fiberboard backing, and can be framed for just a few dollars more. They offer small, medium, and large sizes.

Woodworker Frank Howarth keeps getting requests to create a globe of the Earth. He started with 3D modeling software to project the map onto triangle shapes, then cut each of them and assembled them into a faceted sphere before turning the whole works on a lathe. It took lots of trial and error, but the finished piece is amazing.

These unique maps are printed onto an aluminum panel, combining vintage cartography with a modern aesthetic. Designs are available for a variety of U.S. cities as well as a world map, in sizes starting at 12″ x 16″ up to 24″ x 36″. Sale prices through 11.2.2021 from Touch of Modern.

Montreal artist Olivier Gratton-Gagné is obsessed with maps. Olivier applied his coding and graphic design skills to data on OpenStreetMap, and his iLikeMaps project was born. Based on satellite imagery, each 18″x18″ pillow design is a contemporary work of art, appearing both abstract and detailed with identifiable avenues.

This oversize padded mat covers a 31.5″ x 15.7″ area on your desktop with a world map, offering an expansive mousing surface, and protecting your desk surface from scratches. It’s easy to clean, features a rubberized backing to prevent slipping, and stitched edges for durability.

This unique piece of decor puts an illuminated world map on your wall. Created by Zero Degree, the World Light is a 3D cutout wood map by day and lights up with thousands of tiny dots at night, like cities in nighttime satellite imagery. It’s available in natural wood or white finishes, in traditional or geometric map designs.

Architect James Wines of SITE designed this unique series of watches with faces inspired by topographical maps. The design reveals its depth as light and shadow play across its layers. It comes in in monochrome grey and black models, along with a stainless steel variant directly from Projects Watches.

Based in Tahoe Woods, California, Origin Artwork creates awesome laser-cut wall art with a tremendous amount of depth and dimension. Their designs feature topographic maps of real world locations, fictitious places, and the occasional video game screen.

The biggest LEGO Art set yet creates a pixelated map of the world. It comes with an insane 11,695 round 1×1 LEGO studs which come together to form a 26″ x 41″ piece of art. After you place the continents with your preferred nations centered, you can fill the oceans with your own custom patterns. Drops 6.1.2021.

In a major upgrade to Google Earth, the service now offers 2D and 3D time-lapse satellite images showing how our planet has changed since 1984. To experience it first-hand, visit g.co/Timelapse. There’s an awesome library of pre-rendered videos as well if your computer isn’t up to the GPU and CPU challenge.

While taking a road trip across America, maker Xyla Foxlin was inspired to collect a piece of wood that was grown and milled in each state she visited. While she didn’t manage to drive through every state, her fans helped her out so she could complete this beautiful and unique piece of wall art.

When looking at a 2D map of the world, it’s really hard to understand how big countries really are. For instance, the U.S., Australia, and Europe are similarly sized. Developed by James Talmage and Damon Maneice, The True Size Of… lets you drag countries on top of each other to better visualize their relative sizes.

Geo 101 Designs makes these great wall art pieces for chronicling your journeys. The self-healing nature of the 1/2″ thick cork makes it perfect for pinning locations, tacking up photos from your trips, or even poking in commemorative pins. Comes in 15″h x 23″w and 21″h x 34″w sizes, as well as a giant 8 foot-wide version.

Artist Andrew DeGraff’s cinematic atlas is filled with intricate isometric maps which guide us through the locations in popular movies. The hardcover book features 11″ x 14″ reproductions of his hand-painted maps from 35 movies including King Kong, Fargo, The Princess Bride, The Shining, and many more.

Joy Neon makes custom lighting that looks like neon, but is fabricated from flexible LED tubing, which isn’t fragile and runs on low voltage. Their most impressive work is this low-poly world map that would make an amazing centerpiece in any room. Available in three sizes: 21.6″ x 39.9″, 43.3″ x 78.7″ and 65″ x 118″.

Technically, all of the world’s oceans are connected and therefore they’re a single, giant body of water. Still, geographers sliced them into sections and named them so we’d know roughly where we are. Minute Earth explains where the boundaries are located, and suggests a more logical way of breaking them up based on science.

EnjoyTheWood’s laser-cut wood maps are a beautiful addition to any wall. They can be ordered blank, or with shaded countries and engraved country names, and with pushpins to document your travels. Comes in M (39″ x 24″), L (59″ x 35″), XL (79″ x 47″) and XXL (118″ x 69″) sizes.

Maria Constanza Ferreira created this short using screen grabs from Google Street View. By setting the perspective to a fixed view, it creates the illusion of an impossibly long road. As the film progresses, it uses digital manipulation to turn satellite images into abstract art.

Geo 101 Design presents a compact, global version of their cork map. Set agains a rich blue dyed backdrop, it measures 12″ point to point, and is perfect for tracking your travels across the globe – assuming you don’t visit the Arctic or Antarctica.