Help me get a giant map of San Diego!
July 12, 2011 12:05 PM Subscribe
Where can I find a giant, detailed map of San Diego?
Ideally, it'd be about 60''x80'' and have labels for the local beaches and parks. I'm planning on posting this on my wall and coloring it in/attaching memory photos as I visit each new place.
An alternative I'd be willing to consider is blowing a map up to 60'' x 80'' and printing it myself; where could I go (online or in San Diego) to get it printed for cheap?
Ideally, it'd be about 60''x80'' and have labels for the local beaches and parks. I'm planning on posting this on my wall and coloring it in/attaching memory photos as I visit each new place.
An alternative I'd be willing to consider is blowing a map up to 60'' x 80'' and printing it myself; where could I go (online or in San Diego) to get it printed for cheap?
SANDAG has extensive Map resources. They have a Service Bureau that you can pay to help you create custom maps.
posted by artlung at 12:42 PM on July 12, 2011
posted by artlung at 12:42 PM on July 12, 2011
I'd first talk to the people in the UCSD Library's map collection.
You might also find something useful using the USGS's map locator.
posted by MsMolly at 12:44 PM on July 12, 2011
You might also find something useful using the USGS's map locator.
posted by MsMolly at 12:44 PM on July 12, 2011
Best answer: Sounds like you want MapaGigante + Blockposters.
posted by ofthestrait at 1:06 PM on July 12, 2011
posted by ofthestrait at 1:06 PM on July 12, 2011
Best answer: Open Street Map has several different export formats.
posted by echo target at 1:28 PM on July 12, 2011
posted by echo target at 1:28 PM on July 12, 2011
They seem to start at about $300 for a laminated version but there are a number of companies that make wall maps in the size you want. Here is one vendor.
posted by TedW at 1:35 PM on July 12, 2011
posted by TedW at 1:35 PM on July 12, 2011
Best answer: SanGIS has a number of different maps for sale here, typically produced for various local government entities. If you're feeling particularly ghoulish, there's maps detailing the extent of and damage caused by the Cedar fire in 2003. Maps are of various sizes, and seem to cost $20.
Another good place to check might be City records, but that would depend on the extents of the map you're looking for - are you looking for just the City? The metropolitan area? The whole County coastline? The City of San Diego has a bunch of maps sitting in their records section that you can get prints of, but they'll only cover the City of San Diego, which only stretches up to about Del Mar, and the size will generally max out at 24x36, but that'll only cost you about $5.
There are also local aerial photography places, but they don't seem to offer anything for sale, which is kind of surprising. My office has a number of (unlabeled) aerial photos hanging up, inlcuding one that stretches from the San Diego river to La Jolla, thats about 36" wide.
For printing, most reprographics shops will do, but printing at the size you're looking at and in color will get sort of expensive. "Large Format" printers generally handle up to 36" wide, so unless you splice together two 30" wide maps you're looking at another order of "large", and I don't know that many places will be able to handle it. There's a place on India Street called Giant Photo Services (right next to a Ducati dealer, about halfway between the Aero Club and Shakespeare's/El Indio if you're familiar with those), and their prices, which I think are probably fairly representative, are shown here. You might be able to do a little better going to ARC or Advance and just printing on regular bond, but probably not too much. The big repro shops don't have pricing on their sites; you'll just have to call them and tell them what you want.
posted by LionIndex at 3:05 PM on July 12, 2011
Another good place to check might be City records, but that would depend on the extents of the map you're looking for - are you looking for just the City? The metropolitan area? The whole County coastline? The City of San Diego has a bunch of maps sitting in their records section that you can get prints of, but they'll only cover the City of San Diego, which only stretches up to about Del Mar, and the size will generally max out at 24x36, but that'll only cost you about $5.
There are also local aerial photography places, but they don't seem to offer anything for sale, which is kind of surprising. My office has a number of (unlabeled) aerial photos hanging up, inlcuding one that stretches from the San Diego river to La Jolla, thats about 36" wide.
For printing, most reprographics shops will do, but printing at the size you're looking at and in color will get sort of expensive. "Large Format" printers generally handle up to 36" wide, so unless you splice together two 30" wide maps you're looking at another order of "large", and I don't know that many places will be able to handle it. There's a place on India Street called Giant Photo Services (right next to a Ducati dealer, about halfway between the Aero Club and Shakespeare's/El Indio if you're familiar with those), and their prices, which I think are probably fairly representative, are shown here. You might be able to do a little better going to ARC or Advance and just printing on regular bond, but probably not too much. The big repro shops don't have pricing on their sites; you'll just have to call them and tell them what you want.
posted by LionIndex at 3:05 PM on July 12, 2011
Response by poster: Wow, thanks everyone! The more I think about it, the more it seems like it might be a good idea to split it into two or three smaller maps so that I can get the level of detail that I want at the right size.
This map gives a rough idea of what I'd like to be looking at (I'm not sure what the difference between the City and the metropolitan area is): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/San_Diego_Neighborhoods.png
posted by millions of peaches at 3:35 PM on July 12, 2011
This map gives a rough idea of what I'd like to be looking at (I'm not sure what the difference between the City and the metropolitan area is): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/San_Diego_Neighborhoods.png
posted by millions of peaches at 3:35 PM on July 12, 2011
The shaded regions (not 50% gray) in the map you point to constitute the City of San Diego. Luckily San Diego is big enough that that map gets almost the entire metropolitan area, just missing out on Carlsbad and Oceanside. The metro area can be considered the built-up, inhabited area of San Diego County, including the City of San Diego as well as other incorporated cities, like Chula Vista, La Mesa, Escondido, and some unincorporated areas of the county. Basically from Camp Pendleton to the border and the ocean to the mountains.
posted by LionIndex at 3:56 PM on July 12, 2011
posted by LionIndex at 3:56 PM on July 12, 2011
Best answer: If a historical map would work, the Big Map Blog [self-link] has two maps of San Diego (and another scheduled for release next Tuesday, July 19th).
I provide a download link to the highest-res JPEG for all maps on the site so that folks can make their own prints. If you can find a printer that would handle this (or if you were to "rasterbate" it or similar) the two SD maps should be around 10,000px in their length dimension, putting you in good-but-not-great 125dpi territory for your stated size. (I say "good-but-not-great", but this would probably be superior to most alternatives that involve digital enlargement.)
Once you get this done, regardless of the image/printing method you select, I'd be very interested to see the finished product and hear of your experiences/opinions on the process you use (If you have the time and the inclination, shoot me an email).
(Also: some very interesting suggestions and resources mentioned in this thread. Many completely new to me. Thanks for that.)
posted by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj at 8:38 AM on July 13, 2011
I provide a download link to the highest-res JPEG for all maps on the site so that folks can make their own prints. If you can find a printer that would handle this (or if you were to "rasterbate" it or similar) the two SD maps should be around 10,000px in their length dimension, putting you in good-but-not-great 125dpi territory for your stated size. (I say "good-but-not-great", but this would probably be superior to most alternatives that involve digital enlargement.)
Once you get this done, regardless of the image/printing method you select, I'd be very interested to see the finished product and hear of your experiences/opinions on the process you use (If you have the time and the inclination, shoot me an email).
(Also: some very interesting suggestions and resources mentioned in this thread. Many completely new to me. Thanks for that.)
posted by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj at 8:38 AM on July 13, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
As for the image, here are two old birds-eye views: San Diego and Coronado Beach (via), or larege San Diego map image search (you can set the image size parameters for different results).
posted by filthy light thief at 12:31 PM on July 12, 2011