Innovative solution for relief printing without limiting heights

Abstract. By following technological developments in 3D printing, IGN experimented in 2015 with an ink jet-based relief printing solution, proposed by the Océ company. The first result was presented at the International Cartographic Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 2015, for the Belle-Ile map. The proposed technology solved several essential needs for relief mapping: high printing resolution, large size, colorimetric respect, ... But it still faced two problems: still high printing costs for the general public (compared to the prices of thermoformed maps produced in multiple copies) and still limited printing heights (less than 2–3 cm). In 2022, IGN proposed an innovative solution to overcome the problem of limiting printing heights, without increasing production costs. The new solution combines the previous ink jet relief printing technology with the Stratoconception® technology existing in the 3D printing domain. The solution is presented in detail in this paper with an example result.