12 replies to this topic

[BEAVER]

Where do you fine people get your maps printed. I'm looking for good offset printer that does good job on maps. Most I call never did a map before. I found two places on the net and had some quotes from them. There was also a place 10 miles from me that wanted $11 per sheet on 36x36 paper for 5000 maps. I think they lost their minds.

Williams & Heintz had the best price at $1.80 per map. Second was the Eastwood Printing in CO. Those two have capabilities for some really large maps but I also need some one with a standard 28x40 printer.

[Martin Gamache]

For oversize you may want to get a quote from Pikes Peak Lithography in Colorado. They print the Raven Maps and I've worked with them in the past. They have alot of experience with maps and do excellent work.Pikes Peak

For 28x40...I know a few places in New England (LaVigne, Winthrop Printing ) and Oregon (Lynx). There is a place in Maine that Herm has worked with that he may be able to put you in touch with.

Maybe we should put a list of printers together with links in the resource section?

[BEAVER]

Thanks for the info. I give those guys a call tomorrow.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Martin,

Good idea. I think Nick is the only one who can add categories so we'll have to wait for him.

[Nick Springer]

Good idea. I have added a Map Printers category.

[Polaris]

I just added Techna Graphics to the list. They are the best printer and best folks I've worked with. My rep is David Mecklenburg. He does great work and is an idispensable ally.

Eric

[Dennis McClendon]

I won't claim they have any great expertise in map printing, but we get perfectly acceptable results--and great pricing--from Sheffield Press in Hammond, Indiana, +1 219-844-2520. Max sheet size is 28 x 40.

It's not really like the old days when a "map printer" had to be able to handle 30 or 40 flats of knockouts and fatties and overprints. I give them a FreeHand file or PDF just like all their other clients and they don't care if it's a catalog or a map until it goes to the folder.

[Rick Dey]

Even when we had 30 -40 layers most all the printers I've worked with wanted you to supply them film. Thats why we had to have our own darkroom. There were a couple Blueprint service companies that could do film for you but man did you have to have detailed contact instructions. Invariably one color ended up getting messed up.

Here in the Bay Area two printers that have done a fair amount of printing for us are ColorCopy in Burlingame and Advanced Printing in Pleasanton, both are 28x40 format. ColorCopy has an 8 color perfector so they can do two 4 color sides in a single pass however for economics that normally needs a pretty high volume run. As for larger format most of the shops that did that kind of work here have closed up in the last 5 years.

[Mike H]

William and Heinz is a great outfit, my rep there (from 10 years ago) is now with Techna-Graphics, Gil Stimson, and he is one of the very best. Both of these east coast shops can do (very) large output on a variety of media and they are perfectionists. Very enjoyable to work with.

In Maine I've had excellent results with JS McCarthy, but they can't handle sheets above 39 inches wide. They are very experienced on synthetics as well (HopSyn, PolyArt) and employ some of the best pre-press talent in the industry. Top notch shop, competitive pricing. They spoke to NACIS at our Portland, Maine meeting a couple years ago, and they are great with maps.

http://www.jsmccarthy.com/

I always encourage people to float multiple bids when you're getting ready to print - the results may surprise you. Prices can fluctuate based on their workloads and paper inventory. If it's a shop that comes highly reccomended by other cartographers, it's a safe bet even if you have no history with them.

m.

[BEAVER]

Does anyone know who does the printing for National Geographic. Their Trail Illustrated maps are the highest quality you can find. Most new NG maps are printed at 1440 resolution compare to 300-600dpi that most printers listed in here offer. I have stereo 10x-80X microscope which I used to count the dots.

[Martin Gamache]

I believe it is Eastwood, which you have already mentioned but I'm not sure. Others on here who have worked for TI may be able to confirm. I know they are based in CO. If NG's printers are using stochastic or FM screening technology, counting the dots won't mean much. I personally find the colors on some NG maps a little bit too saturated and the shading washed out for my taste, but not sure if that is due to the synthetic stock/ink combo, print process or to design.

[tom harrison]

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area I use Hatcher Press in San Carlos. They print my maps on a 28 x 40 6-color press, and they know how to print on PolyArt. But we send the folding out to a real bindery. They are a "trade" press which means you have to go through a print broker to use them. Of course, if the printing economy doesn't pick they may start to bend that rule a bit. My print broker is Steve Mulins at Tiamat Graphics in San Francisco.

[Mike H]

Trails Illustrated did use Eastwood for about 20 years - but not anymore. Eastwood was purchased by Consolidated Printing in 2004. Trails Ill. currently use Vision Graphics in Loveland, Colorado. National Geographic and Lattitude 40 print there as well.

www.visiongraphics-inc.com


Sales manager:
billj@visiongraphics-inc.com
(970) 613-0608