The mapvie studio on a laptop with the finished map print on the wall

How to Print Your Map Poster at Home or at a Print Shop

Our printable file lets you print your map anywhere in the world. It’s also a great last-minute gift. Here’s how to get a print that looks just as good as the one on your screen.

What you receive

  • A high-resolution file at 300 dpi, at the exact size you designed. For example, a 16×20″ design arrives as a 4800 × 6000 pixel file.
  • No crop marks and no bleed. The file is the artwork, trimmed exactly.
  • It arrives by email within 24 hours, because each file is prepared from your own design. The download link also sits on your order page and works for 90 days.

Printing at a print shop

For the best result, take the file to a local print shop or photo lab and ask for these four things:

  • Print at 100%. “Scale to fit” or “fit to page” adds a white margin and makes the map smaller.
  • Borderless (full bleed) printing. Without it, you get a white edge that isn’t part of the design.
  • Matte paper, 200 gsm or heavier. This gives the closest result to our own prints, with no glare.
  • No auto-enhance. The file is in sRGB and the colours are already balanced for print, so ask them not to sharpen or colour-correct it.

A mapvie map print of New York City on fine art matte paper, partly rolled

Printing at home

  • Choose the borderless setting if your printer has one.
  • Use the heaviest matte photo paper your printer can take.
  • Print at the file’s own size, not “fit to page”.
  • Big sizes belong at a print shop. A 36×48″ file is 155 megapixels, and home printers (and some photo apps) will struggle with it.

Framing it

  • Every inch size we offer is a standard frame size, so a ready-made frame will fit without a custom mount.
  • Ordered an A size (A4 to A1)? Look for European A-size frames, which are easy to find in most home stores.
  • Would you like a white border around the map? Ask the print shop to print the file onto a larger sheet, rather than shrinking the map. Or use a frame with a mount (passe-partout) cut to the size of your print.

Something not right?

If your file won’t open or doesn’t match the design you made, contact us within 7 days and we’ll send you a corrected one.

Prefer us to print it?

If you live in the US, the UK, Canada or Australia, we can print it for you on fine art paper, in a solid wood frame or on canvas, and ship it from the lab closest to you. See the details on our Materials & Sizes page.

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