What you get
Every sheet shares the same outer frame and rim, so the stack lines up flush. From the bottom:
- Water base: the full frame, showing through wherever the land is cut away.
- Depth bands (optional, up to four): sheets cut away where the sea is deeper, from sea-floor data.
- Land: the frame with the water cut out and the smaller streets engraved.
- Roads: the main roads as one raised piece joined to the rim.
Choosing the frame
Pick a circle, rectangle, rounded rectangle or hexagon, set the size in millimetres or inches, then drag the frame over the map. Which roads are raised and which streets are engraved default to Auto, chosen from the map's scale, so a whole city doesn't turn into a solid mass of roads. Each sheet but the top one gets its layer number engraved where the sheet above hides it, so loose layers sort themselves.
Framing is free. The preview of a new place costs 1 credit and its laser files 2 credits; after that, changing any setting and downloading again is free.
The files
You get one file per sheet, sized in millimetres, as SVG or DXF. Red hairlines are cuts, black fills are engraving and blue hairlines are scored glue guides, so map those three colours to three layers in LightBurn, xTool Creative Space, Glowforge or similar software. Text is already turned into outlines, so you don't need any fonts.
Every zip includes a README.txt with the design's size, sheet thickness, kerf, the layers from bottom to top and how to put them together.
Materials, kerf and settings
Most layered maps are cut from 3 mm (1/8 in) sheets: birch plywood or MDF for land, cast acrylic for water. Set the sheet thickness in the studio and the 3D preview and stack height follow it. Thicker sheets give deeper steps, but the stack gets tall quickly with many layers.
Set the kerf, the width of material your beam burns away, so pieces fit as drawn. To measure it, cut a 20 mm square from the material you'll use and measure it: the kerf is 20 mm minus what you measure.
Power and speed depend on your laser, lens and material, so run a test on scrap from the same sheet before cutting the real thing, and never leave the laser unattended.
Gluing it up
Work from the bottom sheet up. Sheets that reach the edge line up by their outer frame; loose pieces such as islands have a scored guide on the sheet below, set in a little so the piece covers the line once it's glued.
Use wood glue between wooden sheets and a glue that dries clear and won't fog acrylic (or double-sided transfer tape) on acrylic. Press the stack flat under weight while it dries.
Start from a famous place
Each link opens the studio there; pick your frame and generate.
Questions
Can I make a map of my own town?
Yes. Search for any place, or drag the map there. The map data covers the whole world, from big cities to small islands.
How big can the map be?
As big as your laser bed or stock sheets. Set the size in millimetres or inches; the roads get thinner on large maps so the detail stays cuttable.
Can I sell the maps I cut?
Yes, on every plan, though not the files themselves. Credit the map data (© OpenStreetMap contributors) where you sell them.
Ready to cut? The assembly guide goes step by step from test cut to frame, and the FAQ answers the usual questions.