← Blog · 2026-11-02
product strategy · maps · retail
Political and physical globes look similar in a photograph and behave very differently on a shelf, in a classroom and in your compliance budget. Here is how to decide what to stock.
A political globe shows countries, borders and place names against a largely uniform ocean colour. A physical globe shows terrain — relief shading, elevation colouring, deserts, mountain ranges — with borders either muted or omitted.
Both are printed from approved map data and both carry a map review number. Neither is a variant of the other: they are separate editions.
If your customer is a general retailer, political is the safer default. If your customer is a specialist educational or design-led buyer, physical carries more perceived value.
This is the argument that decides most ranges. At 20 cm and below, physical maps turn into colour fields and lose their teaching value, while political maps still show readable country names. Above 30 cm, physical maps come into their own because there is room for detail.
Physical printing is not inherently more expensive to produce, but it is easier to sell at a higher price because the surface looks more complex. Political globes compete more directly on price, especially in school tenders.
Every map edition requires its own review. Two map types in one language means two approvals; two map types in three languages means six. If you are building a multi-language range, decide the map types first and the languages second — the other order multiplies your paperwork.
A practical mix for a first container: one political model at your best-selling diameter, one physical model one size larger, and one decorative or antique finish as the margin item. That covers tender-driven demand, education-driven demand and gift-driven demand without carrying dead stock.
Put both maps side by side on the same sphere size and photograph them at the distance a customer would actually stand. Most buyers discover their preference in that photograph, not in a specification sheet.
LEQI holds map review approvals across French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Arabic editions, in both political and physical versions. See the approval list or ask which editions are available at your target diameter.
For gift and home décor channels, antique and decorative finishes usually outsell both, and the underlying map type matters less than the finish. Between the two plain options, political maps read better at small diameters because country names and borders remain legible.
Yes. Each map edition is reviewed separately, so a political globe and a physical globe in the same language carry different approval numbers. Budget for two approvals if you want both in the range.
Yes, provided each model meets its own minimum order quantity. The limitation is production switching, not shipping — each map edition is a separate print run.
Political maps for teaching borders and countries; physical or terrain maps for teaching landforms, climate and elevation. Many school suppliers carry one of each rather than choosing.