Do I get a file or a printed poster?

A file. A print-ready PDF at 300 dpi, by e-mail, which you print wherever you like. Nothing is shipped.

How large can I print it?

The file is made at 300 dpi for the size you choose, so A4, A3 and 50x70 cm all print sharp. Larger still works at normal viewing distance, since nobody reads a wall poster from ten centimetres away.

Does it work for any place in the world?

Yes. The map data covers the whole planet at street level, so a village lane works the same way a capital city does.

Do I need an account?

No. You make the poster, pay, and the file arrives by e-mail. There is nothing to sign up for and no password to forget.

Dear Place,

Custom map poster generator

Make a poster of any place on earth in your browser, then download a file made for printing. No account, and nothing in the post.

Open the editor €4.99

How it works

Search for a place, or drag the map until the frame sits where you want it. The marker moves on its own, so the centre of the poster and the exact spot it marks do not have to be the same thing — useful when the building you care about sits at the edge of a good-looking frame.

Then pick a style, type the words that go underneath, and choose a paper size. The preview is the poster: what is on screen is what comes out of the file, at the same proportions and with the same type.

What you actually get

A print-ready PDF at 300 dots per inch, sized to the paper you chose. That is the resolution print shops ask for, and it is why the file is worth printing large rather than only looking at on a screen.

It arrives by e-mail, usually within a minute or two of paying. Nothing is posted, so there is no delivery window to miss and no customs to think about if you are ordering from another country.

Printing it

Any print shop can work from the PDF. Ask for matte or lightly textured paper if you want it to look like an art print rather than a photograph; 200 to 250 gsm holds its shape in a frame instead of curling.

Online services and high-street shops both work. If you are framing it, order one standard size up from your frame and let the framer trim it — that gives a cleaner margin than printing to the exact frame size.

The styles

Nine map styles, light and dark, three of them in colour. The pale ones suit a busy wall and settle into it politely; the dark ones hold their own and work better under glass in a bright room.

Street names and roads can each be switched off. Turning the names off is worth trying on a dense city centre, where the map then reads as a pattern rather than as a diagram.

What it is built on

The map is drawn by MapLibre GL JS, the open-source renderer, from vector tiles served by OpenFreeMap — the same OpenStreetMap data the printed file is made from. Leaflet handles the framing and the dragging on top of it. Nothing in the chain needs an account or an API key with a map company, which is why there is no per-poster cost hiding behind the price.

The preview and the export are that same renderer at two resolutions. The file is made by drawing the map a second time, off screen, at the same zoom and the same proportions but at print density — which is why the poster you download is the one you framed, rather than an approximation of it.

Questions people ask

Do I get a file or a printed poster?: A file. A print-ready PDF at 300 dpi, by e-mail, which you print wherever you like. Nothing is shipped.
How large can I print it?: The file is made at 300 dpi for the size you choose, so A4, A3 and 50x70 cm all print sharp. Larger still works at normal viewing distance, since nobody reads a wall poster from ten centimetres away.
Does it work for any place in the world?: Yes. The map data covers the whole planet at street level, so a village lane works the same way a capital city does.
Do I need an account?: No. You make the poster, pay, and the file arrives by e-mail. There is nothing to sign up for and no password to forget.

Make one now

Pick the place, choose a style, and see it on the sheet before you pay.

Open the editor