Well, many of you may be like myself and have done little-to-no holiday shopping for your map enthusiast friends and family members. Don’t worry, there still is time and there are plenty of great gifts out there to be had! Here are a few recommendations for those easy-to-buy-for map geeks.
–Visit a Map Store! If you are in the Boston area, check out WardMaps in Cambridge’s Porter Square. They have an awesome selection of historical maps, map souvenirs, map coasters (my favorite) and T memorabilia. They also have framing services as well for when you buy that historical map.
–Giant Wall Maps are awesome – Whenever I fly this is always my favorite item in SkyMall. I like to think of these as map FatHeads. Oh wait, they have map FatHeads!
-Need some flexibility in buying a giant wall map? Well, check out MuralsYouWay.com. Lots of cool maps are available and the buyer can select the size. Take note, there is some installation required and they are not cheap.
–Atlases are old school cool – Don’t have space for a giant wall map? Tired of online mapping? How about a huge atlas or a nerd atlas?
–Globes are classy because they have no distortion- Not in the market for a giant map? How about some mini-globes that would look great on a desk or bookcase?
–Books – Does your map geek like to read (probably)? How to Lie with Maps is on the shelves of many cartographers, geographers, and map enthusiasts. Why Geography Matters is a great read, and for the collector, they would love an early edition of Arthur Robinson’s Elements of Cartography.
–Strange Maps, the Book! A collection of maps from the blog, Strange Maps.
–Specialty maps, my favorite type of art – Does your map friendly friend have some empty space on their walls? How about a unique wall map? Check out my friend Jeff’s post on Very Spatial on some really awesome typographic maps from Axis Maps.
–Puzzles! L.L. Bean offers a hometown puzzle based on topo maps. If you live in a topographically boring area this might not be a great puzzle, but the map geek would appreciate it.
–Wear your maps – Ties, tshirts, socks. All the latest fashions!
Well, those ideas should get you started. There are plenty of other map gifts out there, so if you know of any others post them in the comments section! Happy holidays!
I always love seeing the license plate map of the US made with real pieces of license plates. Also, there are a few beer bottles with map labels which look cool. The best gift I ever got geography related was a 1 meter x 1 meter parcel of land in the Outback, Australia. I actually own it. Comes with a framed certficate, deed, map and coordinates. Boom.