World of Maps – Ottawa, Ontario - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

World of Maps

Ottawa, Ontario

A rare venue to buy specialty maps. 

View all photos
It's a nice looking store, the winters are just gross in Ottawa meganbystricky (Atlas Obscura User)
53
146
Top Places in Ottawa
Ottawa Jail Hostel. (Wikimedia Commons)
Ottawa Jail Hostel
Ottawa, Ontario
'Maman'
Ottawa, Ontario
Hogs Back Lockstation
Ottawa, Ontario
 See All

“Who even buys maps anymore? Everyone has phones!” Lots of people, it turns out.

Opened in the fall of 1994, this oddity in Ottawa’s Wellington West shopping district has been helping adventurers not die while doing awesome (dangerous, fantastic) things for almost 30 years. Long enough, in fact, to be one of the first small businesses in Ottawa to have an online presence.

World of Maps supplies travelers and curious minds with early cartographic facsimiles, maps of the Milky Way galaxy, and even a flat-earth map for those always questioning reality. A sliding wall showcases the most popular maps for easy perusing.

Maps aren’t the only treasures to find inside. Shelves are teeming with books on niche topics like ink-making, foraging, and how to read the night sky, while funky globes spin and illuminate the shop beside old-style navigational tools like compasses, sextants, and “the eye of time.” Even professionals can find something inside, with air and nautical charts, logbooks, and topographic maps.

Really just a great place to get lost in.

cartography maps shops
Community Contributors
m
Added by
meganbystricky
Published
June 14, 2023
Edit this listing
Make an Edit Add Photos
Nearby
Civic Pharmacy Sign
0.77 miles
Vietnamese Commemorative Monument
0.92 miles
Central Experimental Farm
1.10 miles
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
Near This Place
The renovated Civic Pharmacy sign, as seen in 2020.
Ottawa, Ontario

Civic Pharmacy Sign

This illuminated sign was the first of its kind in Canada and remains a vestige of the Atomic Age.
The Vietnamese Commemorative Monument in Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario

Vietnamese Commemorative Monument

A 1995 memorial acknowledges the tremendous contributions of Vietnamese refugees to Canada.
Central Experimental Farm with the city of Ottawa in the background.
Ottawa, Ontario

Central Experimental Farm

A sprawling Victorian farm that has been surrounded by a capital city is one of Canada's greatest treasures.
Family of mammoth replicas.
Ottawa, Ontario

Dinosaur Crossing Signs and Statues

These prehistoric replicas were based on actual skeletal remains.
Related Places
Suzhou, China

Map of Pingjiang

You can still find your way around Suzhou with this 800-year-old stone map.
South and North America
London, England

'The World Turned Upside Down'

Soon after its unveiling, this giant inverted globe sparked controversy and was vandalized.
Pune, India

Zero Stone of Pune

One in a series of historical markers from the massive 19th-century undertaking to map all of India.
Waldseemüller’s 1507 World Map
Washington, D.C.

Waldseemüller’s 1507 World Map

This groundbreaking 16th-century map is known as "America's birth certificate."
In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

From Around the Web