Back in 2005 we started working on a map of San Juan Island, part of a group of islands with the same name in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in Washington State. The islands are a popular vacation destination near Seattle, with nature as the primary draw. Orcas and other whales are plentiful in the islands as well as numerous birds. The islands are also popular with artists and nearby are the tulip fields of the Skagit River Delta.

The local Windermere Real Estate office in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island asked us to create a map they could share with visitors, with the requirement that it showed and labeled EVERY road on the island for the purposes of real estate as well. We created that map and it quickly became the most popular map of the island, going through several printings. That success in turn led to us creating maps for 2 more of the islands in the group, Orcas Island and Lopez Island, both maps becoming just as popular.