Written by Bjørn Erling Fløtten, Trondheim, Norway. Updated 18 June 2025.

Printing the Norwegian M517-AIR 1:250000 aviation maps

The M517-AIR maps are no longer available in ordinary sales channels. The digital originals are available online however. This article explains how you can order prints yourself of these maps. The price is around 500 - 700 NOK (including VAT) pr map printed on "Tyvek" (see below).

The price depends on volume of course. Please note that I would be happy to help with coordinating multiple orders into one in order to save some money.

Source: avinor.no/en/ais/m517-air/. Please note the terms and conditions for using the maps, especially that they are "for military use only".

The maps are 11654 x 15904 pixels at 400 DPI (dots pr inch). This is equivalent to size 74 x 100.99 cm.

Preparing maps for print

First step: Decide what maps you need. In my case it was "Trondheim", "Otta" and "Oslo".

It is cheaper to combine the maps into a single file before ordering prints. This demands basic computer user skill, including being familiar with the command line interface in Linux or Windows. Start with downloading the ImageMagick application from imagemagick.org. This is a free, open-source software suite, used for editing and manipulating digital images.

The following explains the process for combing the maps called "Trondheim", "Otta" and "Oslo" into a single file. It assumes that you have already downloaded the maps. The filenames are those used for AIRAC cycle 2025-05.

Since Otta is in "landscape", not "portrait", it must be rotated 90 degrees first:

  magick convert M517-AIR_Sheet06-Otta_2505.tif -rotate 90 -compress Zip M517-AIR_Sheet06-Otta_2505_Portrait.tif

You might get warnings like:

  WARNING: The convert command is deprecated in IMv7, use "magick" instead of "convert" or "magick convert"

and

  convert: Unknown field with tag 33550 (0x830e) encountered. `TIFFReadDirectory' @ warning/tiff.c/TIFFWarnings/927.

This can safely be ignored.

Note that the file size will probably become a little bigger. This is assumed to be related to the level of thoroughness of the Zip compression chosen. Note that instructions given here operates with lossless compression so the actual map quality is not affected.

The three maps can then be combined into one with:

  magick convert M517-AIR_Sheet08-Trondheim_2505.tif M517-AIR_Sheet06-Otta_2505_Portrait.tif M517-AIR_Sheet04-Oslo_2505.tif +append -compress Zip TOO.tif

Note how this results in a map of 74 cm width which is compatible with the "Tyvek" option described below with a roll width of 91.4 cm.

The resulting filesize should be around 450 MB. Note that there may be upload limits of the actual printing service that you chose to use. CopyCat mentioned below has a limit of 500 MB for instance.

Ordering

Suggested printing service copycat.no

I have used their Trondheim office. They also have offices around Oslo.

Everything bigger than A3 is roll printed. You pay per square meter printed. Some options are (ordered by increasing cost):

  1. Technical drawing paper 75g, width 84.1 cm. This is suitable for folding. But it is NOT suitable for printing maps due to maps having 100% coverage of ink. The paper is simply not able to soak up all the ink properly

  2. Poster paper 180g matte, width 100 cm. Not suitable for folding.

  3. Poster paper 240g glossy, width 100 cm. Not suitable for folding.

  4. Tyvek, width 91.4 cm. This feels like paper and can be written on like paper. But it is actually plastic. It is not affected by water and it is also tear resistant. This is the most expensive option, but definitely also the recommended one.

With CopyCat you can upload the resulting TOO.tif file from above to copycat.no/kontakt/kundeservice/tilbud. Suggested text for ordering (In Norwegian) is:

  Ett eksemplar, printes på Tyvek. 

  Leveres sammenrullet (ikke brettet). 

  Hentes i Prof Brochs gate.

  I tilfelle dere har spørsmål angående copyright / opphav: 
  Dette er offentlig publiserte kart fra https://avinor.no/en/ais/m517-air/

I guess that the last explanatory sentence may be in order :)

Do not expect 100% correct scale

When you order prints yourself you are probably more apprehensive about correct scaling. You can use your (aviation navigation) plotter to verify the scale. Be aware however that a map will never have 100% correct scale everywhere. This is due to the impossibility of projecting a 3D sphere onto a 2D surface.

If you have older charts lying around and want to compare with them you must also keep in mind that M517-AIR has changed from Transverse Mercator projection to Lambert Conformal Conic. This means that discrepancies will also differ (in location and amplitude).

As a rule of thumb, you can expect discrepancies of up to 2%. Perfect scale should be found at the standard parallells at 35° and 65°. This means that scale is best around Brønnøysund, but gets progressively worse the further you move south (or north).

The latitude minutes are very easy to verify since they are always 1 NM apart. For the longitude minutes anything along the 60 degrees latitude is also easy to verify since cosinus of 60 degrees equals one half. This applies to sheet Oslo, Rjukan and Bergen. For other latitudes calculate the cosinus first.

In order to make sure that the printing process adequately preserves the scaling you can also count pixels in the TIFF-files. With perfect scale latitude minutes should theoretically be 116.7 pixels apart (400 DPI at scale 1:250000 gives 116.7 pixels pr minute).

Updated 18 June 2025.

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