Guinness World Records lists the largest printed map as 6m x 11m (19ft, 8 in x 36 ft, 1 in). That map was created in 2007 by Igor Vilus, for Croatia. There is very little information on this map; it’s not clear what is being mapped, where this map is, why it was created and what it looks like.
While Vilus’s map is undoubtedly quite large, it is by no means the world’s largest map. Perhaps this is the world’s largest map? This 200-square-meter aerial photo of Switzerland on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne dwarfs Vilus’s 66-square-meter map. This map is so large that in order to examine it you have to put on big fuzzy red sandals over your shoes to walk on it!
But, believe it or not, even larger maps have existed! The 1964 World Fair in Queens, New York, had an enormous 130ft x 160ft highway map of New York State (2005 square meters). Sadly, this map has fallen in to disrepair.
The Guinness book of world records holds this 565 m2 map of British Columbia as the largest relief map in existence, although even Guinness may sometimes be wrong.
Perhaps the largest map of them all is one that weknow little about in terms of why it was created and what it is used for. Some have suggested that this 1:500 scale map in China is likely for military purposes or to clarify the border dispute between India and China. This map is enormous: 700m x 900m (a whopping 630,000 square meters).
This 1:1,000,000 scale map holds a record of a different kind—it is the largest 3-dimensional scale model of our planet. Eartha, the name of the globe, is located in Yarmouth Maine at the DeLorme headquarters.
This 5,600 pound globe is tilted at 23.5 degrees and completes one full rotation every hour.
Notable Mentions:
This map finished on November 17, 2010 promotes the 350 movement. It is 3,130 square meters, and holds the record for largest painting by numbers, but is more than just a map and not very detailed.
The San Francisco Bay Model is the largest hydraulic model, measuring in at 320ft x 400 ft (just under 12,000 square meters).Do you know of any large physical maps that we missed?
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