Is there a quick and easy way to use a standard 8 1/2x11 printer to "mosaic" maps into large images? Or would it just be easier to buy a printed map of the size I need? I'd like to make a map of the Midwest showing a roughly 500 mile radius from my current location with the final size being something like 5' x 5'.
You could go to Google Maps or Google Earth and use the F11 full screen toggle and then hit the print screen button to take a snapshot of the zoomed in view of a quadrant you want and then paste it into paint or paint 3d, hit the crop button, and then hit the done button. Then save it as a jpeg. Pan over to the next place you want to scan without zooming in or out and take another print screen snapshot and repeat. everything will be to scale and you just have to overlap and line up the pages and tape them together after you trim off the white boarders. It won't be pretty, but it will work. 
I would make a small loop of scotch tape with the sticky side out and tape the backside of corners of the overlaps to the sheet below and after the entire map is made, flip it over and tape the entire seams on the backside so that no tape shows on the front and it looks a little better. If you use Google earth, you can save an image without having to use the print screen button and the Paint program and you won't have the trim off the text on the top of the Google map image that is shown below.
Google Earth View
Easiest way would probably take the files to a copy-shop that has a Canon color copier. Have them printed out in "tile" mode, and tape them together as Volvoheretic described. I can't remember how karge you can tile out, but 5x5 should be doable. No idea if other copier brands do this. Some places also have large-format printers that could do it without the assembly.
Look in the settings of your printer. A decent one lets you adjust the scale and print tiled automatically. But you need either a high res image or everything needs to be in your zoomed out view.
If you can get it as a pdf file, Adober Acrobat Reader will let you print any pdf file tiled. In the print window go to the "paper size and handling" section and choose "poster". Change the Tile Scale setting to get whatever final size you're looking for and print it. You can do this to scale up a small page or to break up a large page that you otherwise wouldn't be able to print at proper size.
I can produce something like this for you but it would largely depend on the data necessary to view. Do you need aerials, street maps, etc?
what are you using the map for? Serial killing? Bank robbery?
pheller said:I can produce something like this for you but it would largely depend on the data necessary to view. Do you need aerials, street maps, etc?
what are you using the map for? Serial killing? Bank robbery?
I posted a thread a week ago or so asking how you'd make an app that would plot the location/city of your saved FB Marketplace items. I'm wondering how hard it would be to just do it analog and adhere the map to a corkboard then put a colored pin/tag on the city for every item you have.
You could try using https://rasterbator.net/ It takes your image and create a bunch of tiles (rasterizing) you can print on a normal printer.
If you or someone you know is a AAA member, go to their local office and see if they have a free map that covers the area you are looking for.
https://www.usgs.gov/products/maps
They have free downloads and you can make your own grids, download topographic maps at various scales and print them at home, then tape them together. Depending on the detail you want, it might get bigger than 5'x5'. A lot bigger. I have only skimmed over the sight and don't know exactly how it works. It is open source so any print shop could print them out for you with no copyright issues. I also think that you can save them as a PDF. The largest size my local shop can print is 48" x any length.
In reply to stroker :
Are you looking to map things as a way of planning a route to purchase stuff? Like the most efficient way of picking up 20 different items?
Personally, I'd just use Google Earth and enter "Pins".
pheller said:In reply to stroker :
Personally, I'd just use Google Earth and enter "Pins".
You just need a 65" flat screen for viewing.
That's the beauty of scale. You don't need to see the specific location, you're looking for approximate distribution and some way of planning the most efficient route.
I work with data spread across hundreds of miles all the time. I zoom to specific sites when I need to know the details, but when working across a large area, I'm more interested in trends.
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