Laser cut topographic maps from real elevation

1. Frame ringWalnutRing on top carrying the place name
2. Terrain sheetsBirch or basswood plyOne sheet per level, each cut along its contour, glue guide scored
3. WaterlineBlue acrylicAdded when a lake is in the frame
4. Base platePlySolid bottom the stack sits on

Elevation data is a grid of heights. Slice it at even steps and each slice is a contour: the outline of everything above that height. Cut each contour from its own sheet, stack them, and you have the hill. MappSmith uses Copernicus DEM elevation (in metres) and does the slicing for you in the Terrain & Depth panel.

1. 01Frame a hilly areaFrame mountains, a valley or a ridge, and apply.
2. 02Choose TerrainOr Both, if a lake is in the frame: the ground builds up and the lake cuts down in one stack.
3. 03Set layers and sheet thicknessThe panel shows how many sheets you will cut and how tall the stack will be.
4. 04Create the relief, then finish itAdjust edges, smallest piece, glue guides and the frame. Each change rebuilds the preview.

There's a middle path. "Detail lines per layer" engraves 1, 2 or 3 extra contour lines on each terrain sheet, so you get more detail without cutting more wood. The Topographic map style also scores elevation contours on a normal street map's land layer.

• Edges: Smooth, Natural or Sharp. Pick how crisp the contour edges look.
• Smallest piece: leaves out pieces and holes under a size you set (0 to 15 mm), and shows how much ground that is at your scale. This is where you lose the specks that would get sucked into the exhaust.
• Glue guides: a light scored line on each sheet showing where the next one sits. Scores go on their own layer, never the cut layer, so a sheet is not sliced along the outline of the one above.
• Frame: "Every layer" for solid walls, "Top layer only" for a ring with open layers below, or none.

One hobbyist's first topo map came to about $50 in materials, $300 in laser time at a shop, $40 for the frame, and "about 3 weeks of evenings." Most of the evenings were the file. That's the part MappSmith shortcuts. The cutting and gluing still take what they take.

Clamps squeeze out more glue than you think.

The Shamblog, topo map build

Glue thin and even, weight the stack, and dry-fit first. For color, a hypsometric stain (darker low, lighter high) looks great. The preview's color ramps (Hypsometric, Woodgrain, Contour, Slate, Ember) only tint the screen, so you can test a look before you stain.

A topo map needs height to work with. Frame a flat farm county and you get two or three sheets and a pancake. Frame a mountain, a canyon, a ski hill or a lake in the hills and every level tells you something. If the Terrain button is greyed out, there's no elevation data in the frame: move or widen it.

• Home mountains and national parks. Instantly recognizable, and the buyer has stood on them.
• Canyons and river valleys. The drop reads as strongly as a peak, and the river can be cut through to a blue base.
• Ski hills and trail systems. Pair with a GPX route so the run or the hike sits on the real slope.
• A lake in the hills. Use Both so the ground rises and the lake drops in one piece.

Then do the stack math. Our math: 24 sheets of 3 mm stock is a 72 mm stack before the base and frame ring. That's a deep shadow box. Fewer, thicker sheets read bolder. More, thinner sheets read smoother but cost more glue-ups. The Terrain & Depth panel shows the height as you change either one.