Personalised Maps and Coordinate Gifts

GIFTS · GLOBAL

Personalised Maps and Coordinate Gifts

What makes one good, checking the details, framing and when it works

Personalised prints marking a place or a date are popular precisely because they are specific, which is also where they go wrong.

What makes one good

A place that means something to both people, rendered cleanly. The best versions are restrained — a clear map, the coordinates, one line of text — rather than crowded with names, dates and a quotation.

Check the map actually shows the area recognisably at the size ordered, since zoom level changes everything about how it reads.

Check every detail

Coordinates in the right format and order, place names spelled as they are locally, and dates in the format of the recipient's country, since month and day are reversed between conventions.

Proofread it twice and have somebody else read it, because personalised items cannot be returned for a mistake.

Print and framing

Paper weight makes a large difference — anything under about 200gsm ripples in a frame. Standard sizes are far cheaper to frame than unusual ones.

Order framed or get it framed properly, since a good print in a cheap clip frame undoes the effect.

Lead times

Made-to-order printing takes days to weeks, and longer in December. Order early rather than paying for express delivery.

When it works

Weddings, a first home, a move abroad, an anniversary. It works less well as a general gift, since the meaning has to be genuine.

Other personalised gifts

Engraving, embroidery and printing all make a gift unreturnable, which raises the stakes on spelling and dates. Confirm details in writing from whoever knows them rather than from memory.

Keep a note of what you ordered in case a reprint is needed.

Presentation

A print arriving rolled in a tube needs flattening before framing — leave it under books for a day. Order framed if the recipient is unlikely to get round to it.

For children

Maps and prints marking a birth date or a first home are kept for decades, which is unusual for a baby gift.

Delivery and timing

Personalised items ship later than stock ones, and December adds weeks. Order early and check whether a digital version can be printed as a stopgap if it arrives late.

Keep the confirmation email until it arrives and has been checked.

Digital versus printed

A printed piece is the gift; a digital file is a file. If you are late, print it yourself at a copy shop on decent paper rather than emailing a PDF.

Keep the digital file, since reprints for other family members are then straightforward.

Alternatives

A photograph from the place, framed properly, is frequently better and cheaper.

WHERE TO BUY

Ready to shop Atlas and I? Use the link below to visit the official store.

→ Shop Atlas and I — official site

Visit this site