There is one test that matters: walk five metres away. If you still recognise the place, it worked. If you do not, it makes no difference how accurate the data was.
We regularly get suggestions for places that mean a great deal to the person asking but that simply cannot be read as a relief. That is not a criticism of the place. It is a property of the terrain, and it can be judged in advance. Here is what we look at.
1. Elevation range inside the frame
What creates the image is shadow, and shadow requires slope. So a place needs real elevation difference inside the area that will actually be included, not somewhere nearby.
A mountain rising 800 metres above a valley ten kilometres away makes a powerful relief. A mountain rising 800 metres above ground that already sits at the same level all around it does not, because the difference inside the frame ends up small.
That is also why height is scaled up on every one of our pieces. More on that trade-off in the article on vertical exaggeration.
2. A clear shape seen from directly above
A relief is almost always viewed head on, which in map terms means from above. That makes the plan shape matter enormously: a bending valley, a peninsula, a lake with a recognisable outline, a coastline.
That is what the eye identifies in a fraction of a second, long before it interprets height. A place with both elevation range and a distinct shape in plan is nearly always a good choice.
3. Water is the strongest card
On several of our pieces, lakes and sea are cut away completely, down to the backing plate. The water then becomes a dark field with a sharp edge instead of a flat pale surface.
The effect is bigger than you would think. On the Åre piece it is lake Åresjön that makes you identify the place instantly, not the mountain itself. If your place has a lake, a river or a coast nearby, it is often worth positioning the window so the water is included.
4. The right width of window
This is the most common mistake. People want to include everything, and then everything ends up small.
Our square pieces typically cover around ten to twelve kilometres across. Double that and the impact of the elevation range is halved and the detail disappears. A good rule of thumb: whatever is meant to be the main subject should occupy at least a third of the frame.
What does not work
Genuinely flat terrain. Skåne, the interior of Gotland, farmland in the Mälardalen valley. Without elevation range the surface stays almost smooth no matter how much it is scaled.
A city. What makes a city recognisable is buildings and streets, not the ground underneath them. Our map designer currently gives you the topography, not buildings.
A single property. A house, a plot or a city block is far too small to produce any terrain shape at all.
If your place is flat
There is almost always a version that works.
If the place is on water: choose a window where the coastline or the lake is the main subject. An archipelago is flat but has a wonderful shape in plan.
If the place is inland and flat: choose a larger area where the big form of the landscape shows, a river valley or a ridge, rather than the exact point.
Or choose the mountain that belongs to the memory rather than the address. That is often what people actually mean.
When you order
In FRMD by You you mark the area on the map yourself and choose size and frame colour. After you order we get back to you within a day with a 3D model showing roughly how the piece will look, so the window can be adjusted before anything is built.
To see how a finished window can look, compare Helags with Etna. Two completely different landscapes, the same method.