Reach for the sky! Custom Panoramic Illustrated Maps: bird's eye view map illustrations of your campus, cityscape, fantasy landscape, and more.

Illustrated maps are best described as the product of a creative and skillful combination of geography, architecture, and information; crafted to favorable vantage point. This presentation of a community, campus or facility is the visual expression of the brand – colors, style and position.

Our firm has created maps, illustrations and graphic presentations for clients both domestically and internationally. In our sample portfolio with its range of colors, styles and mediums we now have a new feature: web interactivity.

Our custom map illustrations range from whimsical to traditional, 2D to fully rendered illustrative three-dimensional. Our urban maps, created by Principal Maria Rabinky, give readers a unique and creative presentation of architecture and information.
Through creative blend of architecture, illustrator’s skill and spatial presentation we design a unique map art, which is both hand drawn and yet 100% digital.

You will note that our pictorial maps share a couple of traits:

• The View. Oblique or birds-eye-view maps convey more than just simple geographical information; they give the viewer a real sense of the terrain as seen from a human perspective.

• Clarity. Each aerial view map includes the images that our clients want to include; and excludes any information which is not relevant to their message.

• Imagination. Artist’s pen and creative color palette provide color and the warmth to hand-drawn map illustrations. Machine created images feel cold and fake, while people are drawn to a more human interpretation of cityscape illustrations.

We call this new approach creative human wayfinding.

The Illustrative Technique

Illustrative maps usually show an area as if viewed from above at an oblique angle (or “bird’s eye view”). These maps are also termed aerial view maps. Pictorial maps are not generally drawn strictly to scale in order to show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective. While regular aerial view maps focus on the accurate rendition of distances, illustrative maps enhance landmarks and often incorporate different scales into one illustrated map artwork.
This illustrative technique gives the viewer a more familiar sense of recognition. With an emphasis on objects and style, these urban maps can cover an artistic spectrum from childlike caricature to spectacular landscape graphics; delivering our client’s message via cityscape illustration in a unique way.

We invite you to review our fully interactive web map. This map illustration shows a college campus in two views – 2d and fully Illustrative. Each custom map showcases the strengths of different presentation styles, and we have applied information markers appropriate to the style where merited. This is what makes our firm unique: our clients do not have to decide one way or the other – a variety of landscape and urban architectural maps can be facilitated and created for presentation consistency.

Using panoramic maps in presentations and ads can be especially effective. These custom panoramic map illustrations inspire feelings about a location and with careful attention to detail, the architectural illustration can motivate clients or partners to become inspired and certainly interested in the message you’re presenting. The bird’s-eye-view map you’re seeking will be a map illustration much more representative of your message and emotional center than any other panoramic map could be. Having a creative, custom edge to your cityscape illustration makes it truly unique.

Illustrative Maps - Creative human wayfinding

Interesting facts about bird’s-eye-view maps

Pictorial panoramic 3D city maps, made popular by the Dutch in the 1600’s, depicted towns from the perspective that came to be known as bird's-eye view maps. These non-photographic old maps depicted city scenes from an oblique angle: showing street patterns, buildings and the predominant surrounding landscape in perspective that included the horizon to show scale and impact.

Going to great lengths to make these maps, artists would often climb surrounding hills or trees, sometimes even building platforms from which to achieve the birds eye view perspective. To bolster sales of these old panoramic city maps, the artists would often choke town harbors full of ships, include proposed building developments and depict a vivacious, bustling industry. Historically interesting and beautifully drawn, it is no wonder that these old panoramic city maps are popular decades and centuries later. Today we don’t have to climb trees to get our artistic perspective, but the end product still provides the depth and popularity begun centuries before.

Today a map illustrator uses the same passion for details and flair for creativity that the original artists captured centuries ago. Creating an illustrated map of your business center, campus, town or area can capture a moment in time as well as the interest of all who view it. The map illustrator knows that her talent for capturing both emotional response and architectural detail in the custom map illustration is essential. The pictorial map complete with architectural illustrations could easily become the most interesting conversation piece in your boardroom, lobby or media. The custom map illustration will certainly draw attention.

Contact map illustrator studio:

Email us at illustrative-maps.com for a proposal to meet your map illustration needs.

Call us toll free 877-277-1768 to order a one of a kind illustrated map.

To see more illustrations and paintings by Maria Rabinky please visit her studio at RabinkyArt.com