Discussion: Map Printing

Starting a new thread for this discussion on map printing...

Has anybody used this service?

http://www.quickmap.sportsoftware.de/eng/home.html

Any thoughts comments?

Seems a bit impractical for North America and Australia. With digital printing of O maps, it's best to find a local printer with good quality machines, and build up a relationship with them.

However, digital is not always good enough, and in Australia our policy is that permission of the national mapping committee has to be sought for digital printing of maps at an A standard event (see Digital Printing Policy under Mapping at http://orienteering.asn.au/administration/op_manua... )

Simmo, good point and good link, and folks, note the date, well ahead of the curve. Another example of Aussie orienteering deserving credit, whether we like them or not :-), starting the same time as the US (1967?), even further from Europe, yet continually ahead of US orienteering in most/ all(?) ways. We should probably read this entire manual.

I have indeed read and reread the neighboring listing, "6.2 Mapping of Rock Features", and continually recommended this to all current and future mappers. This subject is ironically/ coincidentally(?) very related to the source of this whole thread.

Interesting link, but perhaps not forward-thinking enough. No distinction is made between a "high-quality digital printer" and digital offset printing on something like a Heidleberg press. You can't lump these together - the latter being much closer to true offset than to typical digital devices (and waaaay better than any toner-based solution, which is what the vendor in the first post is pushing).

I agree with both Eric's ... for at least those of us in the US, the best, high quality digital option is to find a printer using either the Kodak/Heidelberg Nexpress 2100 (for maps up to 12 x 18 inches) or 2100 Plus (for maps up to 14 x 20 inches). You can find printers using these by calling Kodak Customer Care (800-913-6796) or emailing info@nexpress1.com. Printers with these machines are usually used to small print runs (eg 100 maps or less), and the print quality is in most respects comparable to offset printing.

One thing that some people may not be aware of is that "offset" doesn't tell the entire story. There's process color offset, and there's spot color offset.

Process color is the method used whenever photographs or a wide range of colors are printed. It employs four colors of ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), that can be combined to create any color. All inkjet printers, and all laser printers that I know of, use process color printing. As far as I know, digital offset printing is always done with process color. Process color printing will always have some degree of "fuzziness" on the edges of things like contour lines, although the highest resolution equipment will have reduced fuzziness. Process color offset is usually (though not always) done on a four-color press.

Spot color printing is less common on the whole, but is the traditional method that was in use for many years to print orienteering maps. With spot color, five (or sometimes six or seven) colors of ink are used, and they are the exact colors needed for the map: black, blue, brown, green, and yellow (and sometimes gray and/or purple). There is no combining of inks to create the colors you want, with the result that lines are crisper, and you don't get weird effects when, for example, contour likes run through a green area. Spot color is essentially available only on offset presses, and only certain specialty shops are interested in doing it. It is usually done on a single-color press, in multiple passes, typically done an hour or more apart.

jjcote - exactly what it says in the IOF Mapping Specs (ISOM - look under Publications: Rules & Guidelines at www.orienteering.org ) and in Orienteering Australia's mapping policy http://orienteering.asn.au/administration/mapping/...

Anyone contemplating digital printing for a major competition should seek expert advice.

EricW - don't despair. Our senior women are about to get thrashed by Trish Aspin (NZ) and Sharon Crawford - not for the first time! Check out the entry list at http://wa.orienteering.asn.au/auschamps2006/index....
And if PG comes too that would just make my day (not)!

JJ is correct, although that distinction is becoming fairly theoretical at the resolutions that digital offset machines operate at.

I understand that Epson plans (is already?) to allow the ink cartridges in their top of the line inkjet printers configurable so you could actually get an ink cartridge made for each of the IOF spot colors, put it in your inkjet, and shazaam, offset quality (although not durability) from an inkjet. If true, that would be a major step forward for small volume map runs. The Epson printers have seven printheads, which would allow for the standard 5 IOF colors, purple overprint, and one additional color. Does anybody know if this is just rumor or if there's substance to it?

Greg, thanks for the info about the Nexpress machines. I intend to call them up to see if any central Indiana printers are using them.

Our club has a good relationship with a small digital printing company that uses the Xerox DocuColor 6060 digital press. The 1:10,000 results have been adequate for our local meets, but the 1:15,000 results are not acceptable (to my eye, anyway).

+1 on getting in good with a local printer, though. I email EPS files to our printer, which has a driver who will deliver the maps to any location in town the next day. Super convenient.

Eric - any idea of which Epson inkjets would be considered as "their top of the line"??

I've got a C88 which uses 4 cartridges - under $100- probably not top of the line. Does an OK job depending on which paper I use. OK means I'd use them for training maps or a local meet.

I also have a Epson Stylus Photo 1280 ~ $300 as I remember. Has a black cartridge and a single color cartridge, prints 2880x720 dpi "6 color". Haven't done much map printing with this yet - need to clear off some desk space for it to sit on.

Having 5 std color and a purple overprint would be very nice...

Well, to answer my own question the 1280 probably isn't top of the line.

Epson printers

looks like you'd be shelling out a bit more cash for either the R1800 ($550) or R2400 ($850) for an 8-color printer

The 1280 is quite obsolete.

The R1800 product was received well at the FLO Team Fundraiser and at the 2006 Team Trials (Day 3). Rock features at Hawn came out crisp and well-defined at 1:15,000. But, they were also drafted well to begin with. And, the quality is still not the same as spot-color offset.