Architects and engineers have been using "stick files" for years - like 100 or more.  A drill, a couple of bolts, and two sticks a little longer than the drawing or map is wide.  While "boxes" or begs from the wall are nice, my favorite was to use two file cabinets set apart so maps or drawings hung between with sticks on top of cabinets.

But it's good to be reminded of classic solutions for today's challenges.  I happen to like folded to near file size and I keep all of my camping and bwca "paper" - books and an manuals and such - in a plastic tote that always goes with me north.

PhantomJug wrote on Dec 7^th, 2012 at 1:06am:


Hmm, I told my friend I'd help him market it and we'd make a million bucks.  Guess we're a little late. 

prouboy

Iv'e used that exact same method for years Mike.  I learned it at YMCA Camp St. Croix when I was a wee camper.

Here you go.

Hey DB, got a picture?  I can't visualize this Kodak box you're referring to.

prouboy

I use 2/3rds of a 3 box set that Kodak photo paper comes in. The 40" x 100'  size fits all my rarely used maps w/o rolling 'em too tightly. It may even be archival. Who knows?

Any maps I take with get refolded again and again as needed. I have a file of 8.5 x 11 printed detail sections marked up that I tend to revisit more after trips as I add new ones.

Since I roll for storage, my thoughts on the curl. Roll 'em viewing side out so when you lay them out on a table they stay put.

How you store your maps probably depends mostly on what you use them for.

My canoeing, topo, and geological maps exist mainly so I can take them out into the field and use them there. So all of my paper maps are folded and kept in manila folders and archive boxes until I need them.

Nowadays, I store my canoe maps electronically. I use Photoshop format, because I'm willing to sacrifice automatic mapping features (eg updating PCD data) for cosmetics. (Also because I already have a copy of Photo$$$hop).

Once my route is finalized, I print out 1:50000 custom maps of the relevant sections onto waterproof paper. (Somewhere there is an existing QJ thread on WP paper and custom mapping, started by DentonDoc IIRC). When it's time to go, the relevant maps (normal paper or WP paper) go into a ziplock bag for protection.

Folded or 8.5x11 two-sided custom maps aren't especially convenient if you want to spread them out at home for planning. If this is the main use for your maps, map cases, hangers (as shown), or rolled-up makes a lot more sense.

Most of my working career was spent in the oilpatch, and we used maps for everything. Only a few were kept in map hangers, because our maps were always getting updated, and you always needed to pull out one or two specific ones to take to some meeting or other. So most maps were kept rolled, and everyone had a cheap wire-frame holder for rolled maps in the corner of their offfice.

Rolled maps have one disadvantage: they tend to curl back up when you try to spread them out flat. So every office and conference room kept a supply of "shot bags", little (1"x2"x3") leather bags filled with lead shot, used solely to weight down curling-up map corners. That was much easier than trying to use coffee cups, staplers, scotchtape holders, or whatever else you could find. For anyone who keeps their canoe maps rolled up, I'm sure you can find shot bags cheap at any drafting supply store, maybe Staples carries them too.

Prouboy...what a great way to store maps. Right now I just have my maps folded and stored in large 2 gallon ziplocks put away in my basement.  I put maps for every trip inside a clear ziplock and then put them inside my mapcase to keep dry while tripping. When I get home, I take the maps that are inside the ziplock and remove from my mapcase and put them in a pile in my basement. Hanging them on the wall looks to be such a better way of storing them. Kudos to your inventor bud.

Having struggled for years to find a decent way to store all my maps (I don't have the room to buy one of those huge old flat map file cases!), I finally came up with a solution (actually it was my canoe buddy's invention) that keeps them flat and out of the way.  Check it out!

How do you store your maps? 

prouboy