We've started printing wall maps for our seed customers this winter.  There are a variety of ways you can do it.  Some of this depends on how large of a wall map you want to print.  Our plotter allows us to print up to 42" wide by whatever length.

To manage field and crop boundaries, we use EasiSuite (ES) by Mapshots.  In ES, you can export map images as .tiffs, .jpegs, .bmp, etc. at whatever size you want.  If a customer doesn't have their field boundaries in GIS form, we use the public CLU's.  ES is optimized for quickly setting up a customer's farm and fields based on the CLUs.  ES also includes the NAIP background imagery and TIGER data, so our maps have the color background imagery as well as road information.  This procedure works well for wall maps up to about 24".

When you go up to the 42" size, it takes a little more intestinal fortitude to accomplish the task.  We still use ES to export the shape file that includes field and crop information.  ES allows you to set the projection of the shape file on the export.  We then use the Tatuk viewer to pull in the NAIP imagery, section numbers, and other goodies like road, state, and county boundaries.  Nearly all of this information is free off of the Internet.  The Tatuk viewer is a free program, but it takes a little time to master.  Once we have all the shape files displayed with the correct labels and label sizes, we save the new map in the Tatuk viewer as a .tiff.  The Tatuk viewer allows you to save a large 40" .tiff file.  Once the new .tiff file is created, we use Paint Shop Pro to customize the map by adding headers and footers.

A nicely done wall map will make you say "WOW!", but don't underestimate the time it takes to make a good one.

Brian Vulgamore

Scott City, KS