Laser Engraved City Maps

Laser engraving offers a lot when it comes to making things and one of the most popular items I tend to make is our city or county maps of various parts of Virginia.

Today, I’ll go over what they are and how I make them for the general public.

There are lots of designs out there on the marketplace for city maps and we make ours a bit differently, using 8” by 10” boards, either a single size or a much larger 4-panel size.

I also offer them in various colors too: natural, golden oak, light cherry, red mahogany, and Ipswich pine.

The fun thing about these maps is that each one is made by first creating the map itself, I need a file to be able to engrave. While many people use online programs, I hire a company to produce each city or county, then I take that file and convert it into a file the laser can read.

Then, marking the center of the board, I use that to align using the red marking laser and raster engrave it.

Each map takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to make depending on the complexity of the map itself.

Some maps have water, like Virignia Beach or Smith Mountain Lake for example and I’m starting to work with paint to create the maps.

For the larger 4-panel maps, I have to cut the image into 4 sections in Photoshop, then fill each one to the correct size, which is a bit of a process.

Typically, each is made to order, although when it’s slow, I will make a few of the more popular city maps and stain them, ready to be shipped.

The most popular ones in order include:

• Roanoke

• Franklin County (Limited Edition of 75)

• Botetourt County (Limited edition of 75)

• Staunton (Special Edition)

• Blacksburg

• Lynchburg

• Appomattox

• Charlottesville

• Virginia Beach

• Front Royal

• Richmond

• Williamsburg

• Norfolk

• State of Virginia

Beyond the standard ones I make, I also offer just about any city, county, or state in the US for a small upcharge for the art file that needs to be made. Check out some of my work below.

Where do people place city wall maps?

Most clients that purchase wall maps from me tend to place them at their desks or on a shelf as home decor. I do have some that place them in an 8x10-inch frame and change them too, and a handful that purchases the multi-panel plaques and places them in office walls.

The great thing about these is that you can hang or place them anywhere and they make great gifts!