Every Pictor poster starts the same way: with a city name and a radius. We pick a centre point, draw a circle ten kilometres across, and ask OpenStreetMap for everything inside it.

What we pull from OSM

OpenStreetMap is the Wikipedia of maps. Thousands of contributors add roads, buildings, parks, waterways, and landuse data for every city on earth. We query it for:

  • Street networks (motorways down to residential roads)
  • Water features (rivers, canals, lakes, coastline)
  • Parks and green spaces
  • Buildings (in dense cities where they add texture)
  • Landuse (industrial, commercial, residential zones)

Each layer gets styled differently. Roads get widths based on their classification. Parks get filled shapes. Water gets a solid block of colour. Buildings get a subtle outline where they add to the density.

Turning it into a poster

We use a Python script that runs on a small VPS. It renders the map using Matplotlib, applies the colourway palette, and outputs a 300 DPI PNG. The script handles about 50 cities and 11 colourways. Each combination takes about 90 seconds to render.

The datacard at the bottom of each poster shows the city name, population, area, coordinates, and a legend. It is not decorative. It turns the map into something you can look at and learn from.

Print-on-demand

We do not hold inventory. When you order, the file gets sent to Gelato, our print partner. They print it on 200gsm archival matte paper and ship it from the nearest production centre. No warehouse, no unsold stock. Zero waste.

The matte paper matters. Glossy paper reflects light and makes the map look cheap. Matte absorbs light and gives the print a tactile, archival feel. It is the same stock used by art galleries for limited edition prints. See the full collection.

Why open data matters

Using OpenStreetMap data means we can map any city in the world. We are not limited to licensed map data, paying per tile, or restricted by API quotas. If a city exists on OSM (and almost all do), we can render it.

The trade-off is that OSM data quality varies. Some cities have meticulously mapped every alleyway. Others have only the main roads. The best posters come from the best-mapped cities: London, Paris, Tokyo, New York, Barcelona. The ones where the data density matches the urban density.

What we are working on next

Better building rendering. More colourways. A proper generator where you can pick any city in the world, not just our curated list. The technology is there. It is just a matter of building the interface.

Try the generator.
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