Maps are usually made of paper. Then there was something else. How could anyone carve out something so detailed from a wood? Yes, that's right... everything is possible. You might want to check out these topographic maps dubbed as Below the Boat, which literally means that they reveal the world below the boat, primarily prominent locations such as Nantucket, Long Island Sound, the San Francisco Bay.

What the artists have to say:

Starting with a bathymetric chart (the underwater equivalent of a topographic map), the contours are laser-cut into sheets of Baltic birch and glued together to create a powerful visual depth. Select layers are hand-colored blue so it's easy to discern land from water, major byways are etched into the land, the whole thing's framed in a custom, solid-wood frame and protected seamlessly with a sheet of durable, ultra-transparent Plexiglas.

[via gessato]