Shops that sell maps

BarryD

I'd appreciate if people can advise where they buy their 'outdoor recreation' maps locally. In other words: outdoor shops, book shops and newsagents etc., rather than websites. I'd like to try and improve the service if possible.

I like to try and make sure our map publications are available locally for purchase but it isn't always easy to identify outlets who will stock. I'm principally interested in the Leinster region but bigger outlets elsewhere would be of interest.

The main ones I use currently in Dublin are:
Easons, O'Connell Street - in theory, other Eason shops.
Hodges Figgis, Grafton Street
Great Outdoors, Chatham Street
Outdoor Adventure Store, Liffey Street
Basecamp, Middle Abbey Street
53 Degrees North, Cabinteely and Blanchardstown

Outside of Dublin:
Blessington: Charles Camping and Blessington Bookshop
Enniskerry: Village Store and Windsor's
Laragh: McCoys, Glendalough Green, Celtic Crafts and National Park Info Office
Various other local shops.

I won't list in detail as I'm not trying to advertise etc.

Am I missing other obvious outlets? Are there places that you go to purchase maps, where I could improve the service. Thanks for any help you can give.

mickyellow

The National Map Centre on Aungier Street have a huge selection of Irish Maps. While most people use it for planning permission etc they also stock an excellent range of regional irish maps

BeardyGit

Great Outdoors and occasionally 53 Degrees Nth

RoryMurphyJnr

Tourist Offices?

Alun

mickyellow wrote: »

The National Map Centre on Aungier Street have a huge selection of Irish Maps. While most people use it for planning permission etc they also stock an excellent range of regional irish maps

I thought they closed down their shop a while back?

BarryD

Thanks for notes: Yes, National Map Centre on Aungier Street moved and then closed AFAIK a year ago - victim of the construction crash? Tourist Offices funded by Failte Ireland etc don't sell publications anymore - not sure if that helps visitors much, but I guess it cut administrative costs?

Alun

There's a bookshop chain called DuBray Books that has a branch here in Bray plus a few others. I know they have a map section so might be interested.

Regarding 53 Degrees North, I was in their Carrickmines store a week or so ago, and was rummaging in their maps section but don't recall seeing any of your maps there, apart from the Wicklow Way guide, which surprised me. Maybe they'd just run out.

Orion

Millet's on Mary Street, Dublin.

trellheim

Easons. They actually have a good stock of OSI and never enough of Eastwest's excellent maps ( Plug for BarryD ! ) . For rarer maps like Slieve Blooms etc ( the non-OSI one ) its catch as catch can . I spent a happy 4 hours in a map shop in Bristol a couple of months ago just browsing ( absolutely no comparison to anything we have )

TheBody

It drives me nuts when shops have a handful of maps. I always seem to have to try a few different shops to get a map I want.

Alun

trellheim wrote: »

For rarer maps like Slieve Blooms etc ( the non-OSI one ) its catch as catch can.

There's a decent map of the Slieve Blooms? Who publishes it?

BarryD

Thanks for all replies, appreciated. Re Slieve Bloom, I did make a map of the Slieve Bloom Way back in the 1990s but I'd regard it as very out of date now! The route has changed substantially and the other detail wouldn't be too good. A couple of thousand copies went to the recycling a few years ago

Alun

BarryD wrote: »

Thanks for all replies, appreciated. Re Slieve Bloom, I did make a map of the Slieve Bloom Way back in the 1990s but I'd regard it as very out of date now! The route has changed substantially and the other detail wouldn't be too good. A couple of thousand copies went to the recycling a few years ago

Was that map the same as the separate ones for each stage that are online on Irish Trails http://www.irishtrails.ie/Trail/Slieve-Bloom-Way/30/? Still infinitely more useful than the OSi map of the same area, however outdated.

BarryD

Well, they'd be the updated route with all the various changes etc. I might have a copy of the old one lying about - will stick it in the post to you Alun, if I find one. Slieve Bloom is one of the areas I was thinking of tackling in a detailed way but I don't think the sales would ever pay back the work & costs involved. It's not the most spectacular group of hills, though the valleys are scenic in their own way. Considerable cultural & historical interest though.

Alun

That'd be great Barry, thanks!

Judge

Alun mentioned Dubray above: as well as the shop in Bray, they are also on Grafton Street and in Dun Laoghaire, Blackrock and Stillorgan.

Two that haven't been mentioned yet: Hughes and Hughes have a number of shops and there is also Chapters on Parnell Street.

Given the potential use for mountain biking, would any cycling shops be interested?

I know you're only looking for bricks and mortar suggestions but have you considered setting up as a seller on Amazon Marketplace, Abe Books, etc. or seeing if The Map Shop are interested in stocking?

BarryD

Thanks for the various suggestions, will follow these up. Visited several retailers in recent days and stock levels of maps in general are often very low. Who knows in 10-20 years, what the future holds - it may not be possible to buy many printed maps at all. Where maps are still printed sales volumes will probably be low and it'll be more like purchasing a specialist book, higher cost etc.

hmmm

BarryD wrote: »

Who knows in 10-20 years, what the future holds - it may not be possible to buy many printed maps at all.

The current model of buying digital maps is broken - this idea that people will pay a once off large fee for a once off map which works on one brand and perhaps only one model of GPS is ridiculous.

I think/hope we'll see subscription models emerge which can be used cross-device, which hopefully would provide a steady income to map makers, including to people like yourself with specialist maps.

Alun

hmmm wrote: »

The current model of buying digital maps is broken - this idea that people will pay a once off large fee for a once off map which works on one brand and perhaps only one model of GPS is ridiculous.

I think/hope we'll see subscription models emerge which can be used cross-device, which hopefully would provide a steady income to map makers, including to people like yourself with specialist maps.

+1,000,000

It's not only that maps bought for use on one GPS model won't work on another, but there's virtually no overlap with an equally important market, i.e. that of being able to access the same maps on a PC for route planning / track archival and analysis purposes. You then end up having to buy two versions of the same mapping in different formats from different vendors which is ridiculous.

There are ways around some of these restrictions but they're both cumbersome for the non-techie and technically illegal.

Red Kev

Carrick-on-Shannon: Gartland's have a very good selection of the OSI maps.