Review on RMC 32" X 50" Signature United States USA And World Wall Map Set (Laminated) by Cody Henry

The most important parts of any map are accuracy and detail, and these maps strike out in many small ways. I use these maps for my homeschooled kids, and they frustrate me to no end. The lamination is fine, and at a glance, they are wonderful. But the details cut corners everywhere, and anyone well acquainted with geography will get irritated.Is there any reason NOT to have a key for the world map? Or why some countries are in small print with large bold letters for their capitals (which is the country name? kids will never be able to tell). Or why some smaller countries don't have their capital marked at all, while other small dependencies (like New Caledonia) have a capital marked, but no indicator that they are actually a French territory? Most small islands have no indication of who owns them, which is a major detail and would be easily correctible. Many small islands that are part of a nearby country are unexplainably in a different color, adding to the confusion (Is this someone else's territory? Are they independent?). And with all the colors that are available to a map-maker, why on earth are some countries that share a color touching each other? (this happens twice in Africa, an unforgivable error on any map). Large areas have no towns marked at all. I grant that there are no major cities in Greenland, but would it kill you to use some of that dead space to indicate where there is human life? Meanwhile, they took the trouble to include all the detailed underwater topography, as if that is an integral part of a political map. All that does is obscure most of the island nations in Oceania.The US map is slightly better, but suffers from similar sloppiness. It includes a key (which is an improvement) but it is incomplete (why are some town dots circled? the key has no answer.) I've seem some dots for towns that are completely unlabeled. The same sloppiness can be found on the island colorings again (why are some of the islands in Puget Sound a different color from the rest of Washington? Why on earth are the Outer Banks yellow if the rest of North Carolina is red?) Some islands are pink and unmarked; the eastern part of Virginia is a different shade of green from the rest.Again, if you just want them as more of a decoration than a teaching tool, they are fine. But if you have an eye for detail at all, it will annoy you every time you look at them.