About the Cartographer

My name is Will Robertson and I created Basin and Range Mapping with the goal of making beautiful outdoor recreation wall maps. The name Basin and Range refers to the physical geography of the western United States. The term is the most iconic description of the Intermountain West, and is the largest of the five Geologic Provinces of the western U.S.

Outdoor recreation has been a lifelong activity for me. I learned to ski at Badger Pass Ski Area in Yosemite National Park when I was five years old. I was lucky enough to hike Half Dome when I was thirteen. I started mountain biking when I was sixteen. While getting a B.A. in Geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I hiked many 14ers and guided mountain biking tours on the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park. Outdoor recreation was the main influence for my move to Montana in 1992.

I started making maps in 1995, and have won several awards for cartographic design, including three Best Recreation / Travel Map awards, in the Cartography and Geographic Information Society’s annual Map Design Competition.

There were two ideas which I wanted to see for large outdoor recreation maps. One was a map made for locals which shows where people recreate within a few hours of their home. This turned out to be the large trail map series. The other idea was a multi-state map for trip planning which shows all outdoorsy destinations. This turned out to be the regional U.S. map series.

The cartography for the maps is the result of experimentation over a six year period. Outdoor recreation was the original purpose of the maps, but it was important to also make them beautiful enough to hang in a home as art. They incorporate artistic styles which I’ve never seen on any other maps. As a map lover, these are the maps I want on the wall in my home.