I'm looking to purchase a poster size map of Greater London (area
within M25) of at least 100cm x 100cm, but ideally something about
175% the size of this would be great. This has to be available for
purchase online in the UK, and has to be of the "Ordnance Survey" or
"A-to-Z" type (difficult to describe, but if you give a few
suggestions I can clarify exactly what I'm after).

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Clarification of Question by topbanana-ga on 15 Jan 2005 14:03 PST

Thanks, enigmaga. The 9 sheet a-to-z map at the top looks about right,
but unfortunately if all 9 sheets were laid together it would be
almost 500cm in width which is way too big! Certainly along the right
lines of what kind of road detail I'm after and what area I'd like it
to cover though.

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Clarification of Question by topbanana-ga on 17 Jan 2005 11:24 PST

Thanks, lostpost. Unfortunately as you point out, it's difficult to
tell exactly whether the first two links to elstead.co.uk are what i'm
after because of the poor preview. Centremaps.co.uk seems to bring up
almost identical results. I'm interested in the last comment you made
however; are there any custom map places that could provide what I'm
after?

Stanfords is a good place to start when looking for maps - they have a
few wall maps of London but I can't see one fitting exactly what you
want.

http://www.stanfords.co.uk/navigation/navig?loc_id=1297&action=sub_category&cat_id=560

Have a look at http://www.elstead.co.uk/acatalog/Postcode_Sector_Map_No_8_London_and_M25.html

(One problem with map suppliers is that they often don't provide full
iamges to stop people copying them!)

This map is 1030 x 730mm, so a bit smaller than you were after, but the right area.

There are some other versions at
http://www.elstead.co.uk/acatalog/London_Postcode_Maps.html, which are
similar sizes.

Also have a look at http://www.centremaps.co.uk/ and do a search for
M25 - this lists many maps, available flat as well as folded.

The OS travel map for London looks promising, but I cannot find a size.

There a are also a number of places now that wil print a custom map
for you (including centremaps above), so you can have any area and
size you like. Let me know if this is of interest and I'll put a few
links up for you.

OK, this turned out to be a bit more challenging than expected, but
here are the results.
First, I took your requirements and worked out the scale you needed.
The M25 area is approximately 60km x 60km. Put with avrious scales,
you get the following map sizes
Map width of 240cm, you need a scale of 1:25 000 (2 1/2" to the mile)
Map width of 175cm, you need a scale of 1:35 000 (2" to the mile)
Map width of 120cm, you need a scale of 1:50 000 (1 1/4" to the mile)
(imperial measures are approximate)

Having worked this out, I found that OS maps (including custom maps)
are usually 80cm wide.

The "London including M25" map in my previous post is a 1:75 000 map,
which gets the right area onto the 80cm map. The 1:50 000 Landranger
maps only cover half the area. landranger maps 176 and 177 (West and
East London) are close if together, but a bit short North to South.

The A-Z Premier map of London is 3" to the mile and 120 x 965cm, so
covers the central area but not out to the M25.

Finally, I have come up with Maps International (tel 0800 0386277)

http://www.mapsinternational.co.uk

They will do maps to any standard scale, to any size up to double A0
(168cm x 119cm) and will even layer on additional information such as
postocde areas over the streetmap)

See http://www.mapsinternational.co.uk/create/custom.htm?0&none for
details of their custom maps.

I suggest you give them a call, as they would seem to be able to meet
your exact requirement.

Hope that helps.

topbanana,

Expanding on lostpost and enigmaga:

The ISBN of A-Z's "Main Road Map of London" is 085039788X for the
folded version. Their page
http://www.a-zmaps.co.uk/asp/details.asp?id=0-85039-788-X
has no information about a flat version,
http://www.stanfords.co.uk/mapdetails/mapdetails?item_code=7719&loc_id=1297;
or a laminated/encapsulated version, http://www.mapsworldwide.com/maps_19337.htm; 
nor does it have  a direct link to the image,
http://www.a-zmaps.co.uk/graphics/overviews/788-X_6_o.jpg.
I suppose that would be too convenient. ;)

(To be fair, map publishers are understandably cautious about making
their products available gratis.  Also, many map publishers don't list
specialized titles in their general catalogs.)

Ordnance Survey ( http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ ) doesn't have
complete information on their titles, either.  The OS "London
including the M25", http://62.25.96.208/products_new/touring/specific.cfm?tour=875#top
has a scale of 1:75000.  ISBNS are 0319250911 (folded) or 0319 150917
(flat). OS doesn't list dimensions, but Map Link -- the largest US map
distributor ( maplink.com ) -- does: 27 x 50 in.  I couldn't find a
laminated wall map, but if it didn't exist, one could easily have the
flat version laminated.

OS also does London in 2 sheets in their (great) Landranger series. 
Both are 1:50000, 100*88 cm.

#176 "West London, Rickmansworth & Staines" ; ISBN (folded): 0319
228495 ; Flat ISBN: 0319 128504.
http://62.25.96.208/products_new/landranger/specific.cfm?lrm_no=176#top
preview image: http://62.25.96.208/products_new/landranger/bigmap.cfm?lrm_no=176

#177 "East London, Billericay & Gravesend" ; ISBN (folded): 0319
228509 ; Flat ISBN: 0319 128512. 
http://62.25.96.208/products_new/landranger/specific.cfm?lrm_no=177#top
preview image: http://62.25.96.208/products_new/landranger/bigmap.cfm?lrm_no=177

For any of these, the flat versions should be easy to obtain in the
UK. Try your local map dealer (or Stanfords or OS). Outside the UK,
many map dealers stock the folded version.  Find one at
http://www.maptrade.org/index.cfm?sectn=memb&men=7&id=All%5Fmembers%2Ecfm.

Stanford's, OS, and A-Z all do custom mapping, too