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Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

dominik-schwarz.net

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Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#211

Post by Turing_Machine »

jamesfe wrote: post #102

I was formerly a cartographer with the military; I have lots of experience with large format maps, both of the world and of single countries (usually Iraq). It was fun to read an article about a map that wasn't hastily tacked up on a wall with nails or duct tape. A few notes: - Paper sags over time. Good thing he mounted it to a board - We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisin…

"We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisingly hard to rip."

I've often wondered why children's books aren't printed on tyvek, but perhaps publishers see lack of durability as a feature rather than a bug.

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#212

Post by Turing_Machine »

quinndupont wrote: post #85

This is so brilliantly reminiscent of Borges' famous fiction: On Exactitude in Science Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions, translated by Andrew Hurley. ...In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographer…

Lewis Carroll was there first. :-)

From Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893):

"That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"

"About six inches to the mile."

""Only six inches!"exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"

"Have you used it much?" I enquired.

"It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well.

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#213

Post by pippy »

bbcbasic wrote: post #205
jamesfe wrote: post #102

I was formerly a cartographer with the military; I have lots of experience with large format maps, both of the world and of single countries (usually Iraq). It was fun to read an article about a map that wasn't hastily tacked up on a wall with nails or duct tape. A few notes: - Paper sags over time. Good thing he mounted it to a board - We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisin…

Obligatory https://xkcd.com/977/

A projection I'm fond of, but is almost unheard of is the Kavrayskiy projection:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavrayskiy_VII_projection

It solves most projection issues without looking terrible.

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#214

Post by ars »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #211
jamesfe wrote: post #102

I was formerly a cartographer with the military; I have lots of experience with large format maps, both of the world and of single countries (usually Iraq). It was fun to read an article about a map that wasn't hastily tacked up on a wall with nails or duct tape. A few notes: - Paper sags over time. Good thing he mounted it to a board - We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisin…

"We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisingly hard to rip." I've often wondered why children's books aren't printed on tyvek, but perhaps publishers see lack of durability as a feature rather than a bug.

Some are: http://www.indestructiblesinc.com/

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#215

Post by ars »

jpatokal wrote: post #32
fougerejo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe because he used Google Maps, and they use Mercator?

By default, but this can be changed in the API: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/...

But then you can't stitch images together.

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#216

Post by Turing_Machine »

ars wrote: post #214
Turing_Machine wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisingly hard to rip." I've often wondered why children's books aren't printed on tyvek, but perhaps publishers see lack of durability as a feature rather than a bug.

Some are: http://www.indestructiblesinc.com/

Nice.

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#217

Post by lakeeffect »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #211
jamesfe wrote: post #102

I was formerly a cartographer with the military; I have lots of experience with large format maps, both of the world and of single countries (usually Iraq). It was fun to read an article about a map that wasn't hastily tacked up on a wall with nails or duct tape. A few notes: - Paper sags over time. Good thing he mounted it to a board - We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisin…

"We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisingly hard to rip." I've often wondered why children's books aren't printed on tyvek, but perhaps publishers see lack of durability as a feature rather than a bug.

Like the invention of the dust jacket, the delicate protector.

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#218

Post by chrissyb »

I read through and couldnt help but think of a video about Perter Bellerby i watched a few years back who makes some of the most beautiful globes I've ever seen. https://vimeo.com/103263135

I really like Domink's project but I would have liked to have seen more diy trial and error.

Watching this video of Jimmy Diresta's would have made mounting on a timber french cleat a breeze.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y65tH4iMbg4

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#219

Post by chrissyb »

jamesfe wrote: post #102

I was formerly a cartographer with the military; I have lots of experience with large format maps, both of the world and of single countries (usually Iraq). It was fun to read an article about a map that wasn't hastily tacked up on a wall with nails or duct tape. A few notes: - Paper sags over time. Good thing he mounted it to a board - We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisin…

I've experimented with printing to tyvek before on a Canon ipf700 but I was using standard colorjet pigments which do not adhere to the tyvek.

I tried ringing around to see if I could source inks that would work with tyvek to use with this machine, but inks are expensive and i'd probably need a whole new dedicated printhead. In short I gave up.

What kind of resolutions were you able to achieve on Tyvek?

Re: Printing a wall-sized world map and what I've learned from it

#220

Post by chrissyb »

ars wrote: post #214
Turing_Machine wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We printed on tyvek for water/rip proofing, which was interesting. It's surprisingly hard to rip." I've often wondered why children's books aren't printed on tyvek, but perhaps publishers see lack of durability as a feature rather than a bug.

Some are: http://www.indestructiblesinc.com/

I wanted to start up something like this a couple of years ago called BeachBooks or something, reading a waterproof book while floating in a ocean or pool would be unreal. I have no idea how you would ever sell publishers this idea though!
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