Mapping the Stories That Shape Our World

At Purple Lizard, maps are more than maps.

They help people navigate landscapes, discover what matters, and connect more deeply with place. The best maps don’t just guide, they shape experience. 

We partner with agencies, nonprofits, and organizations to design custom maps and wayfinding tools that are clear, engaging, and built for real-world use—supporting access, orientation, and user experience across landscapes.

With deep expertise in outdoor recreation mapping, geography, award winning cartographic design, and public land and trail systems, our work is deeply grounded in how people actually explore. Our special projects weave together historical, environmental, and cultural narratives that shape how we understand the world.

Purple Lizard Maps Special Projects 

At Purple Lizard, we know that maps are more than just another graphic.

They help people navigate landscapes, discover what matters, and connect more deeply with place. Unlike generic design or landscape firms, we understand that the best maps don’t just visually guide visitors they help shape their actual experience.

We partner with agencies, nonprofits, and organizations to design custom maps and wayfinding tools that are clear, engaging, and built for real-world use—supporting access, orientation, and user experience across landscapes.

With deep expertise in outdoor recreation mapping and public land systems, our work is grounded in how people actually explore and move through places.

What We Do

Custom Cartography, Wayfinding & Visitor Engagement 

• Trailhead media, informational kiosks, and wayfinding signage
• Outdoor recreation and visitor engagement mapping
• Trail system maps and foldable recreation maps

Narrative & Educational Mapping

• Historical, cultural, and environmental maps
• Community heritage and tribute mapping
• Maps for books, exhibits, and institutions
• Data-driven maps for education and interpretation

From research and design through print-ready production, we create maps that are both functional and engaging.

Why Purple Lizard

• 35+ years of cartographic experience
• Award-winning cartography used across recreation, tourism, and cultural projects
• Proven track record of collaboration with agencies, nonprofits, and institutions to bring best in class maps forward.

For collaboration inquiries or to learn more about our special projects, please contact us: info(at)purplelizard.com

Below is a sample of a graphic we did for Rider Park Trails.

Portfolio images available upon request. 

Informational Kiosks & Trailhead Media

Purple Lizard has a strong background in special projects that help state and local officials, land managers, and non-profits contextualize outdoor recreation and public land resources for broad audiences in trailhead media, and kiosk settings. 

From parks to trail systems, our kiosk and trail maps help visitors connect with the recreation opportunities and the surrounding history and environment, understand recreation assets and plan their adventures.

More about our special projects

Purple Lizard’s custom work builds on decades of award-winning cartography across historical, cultural, and environmental projects.

From large-scale atlases to narrative maps that bring overlooked stories to life, our portfolio reflects the same dedication to detail and storytelling that defines our recreation maps today.

The selected projects below span academic, cultural, and environmental collaborations with some of the nations leading cartographic institutions. They are just a few samples that highlight the breadth of our expertise and the power of maps to connect people with place.

Academic Special Projects by Michael Hermann 

 Historical Atlas of Maine

Authors: Stephen J. Hornsby and Richard W. Judd (Editors); Michael J. Hermann (Cartographic Designer)

This comprehensive atlas presents the historical geography of Maine from the end of the last ice age to the year 2000. Organized into four chronological sections, it tells the stories of the many peoples who have inhabited Maine over the past 13,000 years. The atlas features a rich array of newly created maps and graphics created by  Michael James Hermann, and offers a cartographic interpretation and visual record of the state's history that is unparalleled.

This atlas won a boatload of awards!

• Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography – American Association of Geographers, 2016
• Best of Show – Cartography and Geographic Information Society, 2016
• Best Book/Atlas – Cartography and Geographic Information Society, 2016
• Excellence in Publishing Award – Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, 2016

Purchase Link: University of Maine Press 

Champlain Map: "They Would Not Take Me There"

Authors/Cartographers: Michael James Hermann and Margaret Wickens Pearce; Translator: Raymond Pelletier

This award-winning map illustrates the travels of Samuel de Champlain as he explored what is now Canada between 1603 and 1616. It weaves together Native and non-Native experiences, negotiations, and strategies in the years before the creation of Québec City and New France. The map presents stories through a combination of Champlain's journal entries, imagined dialogues, and cartographic insights. The narrative was sourced directly from Champlain's journals, and the original Native placenames were researched and included along with their meaning. It is published in both English and French languages, with Wabanaki place names.

Purchase at: Canadian-American Center 

Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail

Author: Michael Hermann, James Eric Francis Sr, Margaret Wickens Pearce

This map illustrates Thoreau's three trips to Maine in 1846, 1853, and 1857 with his Wabanaki guides. Quotes from his writings are placed on the map in the locations he wrote them, and place names are shown with the current name, the Wabanaki name, and the meaning. James Eric Francis, Penobscot Nation Tribal Historian, collaborated on this project and wrote the Wabanaki Perspective on the map. This project was funded by Maine Woods Forever and the University of Maine. 

Purchase at: Walden Pond Shop

Maine's Ice Age Trail Down East Map and Guide

Authors: Halold Borns Ph.D. (Lead Scientist, University of Maine); Michael J. Hermann (Lead Cartographer, University of Maine) with Robert Marvinney Ph.D. and Woodrow Thompson Ph.D., Maine Geological Survey, Maine Department of Conservation.

The Maine Ice Age Trail Map and Guide is a self-guided eco-tourism map that leads the visitor to 46 stops to see and learn about the last Ice Age. It illustrates the edge of the glacier as it retreated 15,300 years ago. It was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Climate Change Institute of Maine.

This map is out of print but the Ice Age Trail has been put on-line here.

Extraterrestrial Cartography

We made the first digital version of the Map of the Moon for the National Geographic Atlas of the World. The previous editions were done manually using film. NGS provided the base image and we replicated the text and graticule using digital font placement.

Cod Coasts: Cultural Landscapes of the Cod Fishery

Maritime Canada is a favorite destination for Purple Lizard. We've been fortunate to have traveled all over Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We produced the maps, charts, graphs and contributed photographs to this project with Professor Stephen Hornsby of the University of Maine. 

British Atlantic, American Frontier: Spaces of Power

Purple Lizard created a series of maps for this book that reconceptualized the landscapes. North-up was not always used, instead the maps were oriented to the direction of travel to understand the landscape in the way the explorers found it. 

Great Ports of the Mercantile Era

It was an honor to design maps for Martyn Bowden, who is an icon among geographers. This project entailed working from Bowden's original sketch maps done in pencil, which were scanned and preserved as an edited base to then add typography and symbols for publication. A unique project working with a team of brilliant geographers and cartographers to bring this book to life.

Liquid Assets: Middle East

Purple Lizard designed maps and charts to illustrate statistical data in the Middle East. This has become a rare book among scholarly collectors.

Outdoor Recreation Race Maps

Purple Lizard Maps designed and produced course maps for the Leadville 100 for many years. We also worked with the Triple Crown to produce the event maps for the Eastern States 100, Worlds End 100k and Hyner 50k, all of which take place on our Pine Creek Lizard Map. 

Let’s Map What Matters

From narrative maps that bring history to life, to modern foldables and visitors trailhead kiosks that welcome visitors to their next adventure, Purple Lizard combines award-winning design with a passion for storytelling. Every project we take on is built to help people see, understand, and connect more deeply with the world around them.

If you’re looking for a creative partner to bring your vision to life, whether it’s a custom cartography commission, outdoor recreation media, or a community heritage project we’d love to explore if your project is a good fit for our custom cartography and design team.

Contact us at info(at)purplelizard.com to inquire about your project.