Custom Laser Cut Map

For this project, My goal was to create a map of my hometown out of sheets of laser-cut plywood.

Obtaining a Vector Map

While maps are easily available for people to look at, getting a vector file a laser can understand is pretty difficult. To start, I looked around for sources that allow exporting as an SVG. Openstreetmap has an option to export as SVG, so, I zoomed into the section of my town that I wanted to make and exported the map.

An OpenStreetMap view of the Parsippany area, with highways, local roads, green parkland and the Boonton Reservoir.

Once I had an SVG, I had to clean it out. Openstreetmap has many layers for houses, roads, buildings, water bodies, etc. I selected what I wanted to keep and deleted the rest.

The exported map in a vector editor, with roads drawn as red, yellow, pink and blue lines around a cyan lake.

Planning

I converted the lines to outlines and separated the layers to how I wanted them in the final product.

One layer of the map in the vector editor: black building footprints packed along the streets, with the lake left blank.

The editor’s layer list: L3 (Roads), L2 (Building Engrave), L2 (Lake Cut), L1 (Lake Paint Outline), L1 (Base) and Other.

Once I had vector files the laser could understand, I made a mockup of the final design on Fusion 360.

A Fusion 360 render of the layered map in a dark wooden frame, with the lake in deep blue and a PARSIPPANY NJ label.

Cutting & Engraving

Once I had a design I was happy with, I converted the vector file into one the laser can understand. The total laser time was around one hour.

The cut plywood layers stacked on a wooden desk, with the street grid standing above the base and the lake still bare wood.

Painting

After getting all of the cuts complete, I painted the bottom-most layer blue with spray paint to represent the water in the lakes and ponds.

The finished map in its dark wooden frame in a white wall niche, with the lake and a small pond painted blue.