Introduction to European Petrol (Gasoline) and Oil Road Maps

Not all petrol company map issues carry the company branding on the front cover. This French cartoguide from 1975 covering Bourgogne Rhone-Alpes only had a small Shell logo on the reverse, even though it was prepared uniquely for the company. However most cartoguides were sold in sets of 15 maps in a plastic wallet that did carry the Shell pecten.
In contrast, the Finnish Touring Club map from 1939 carries the symbols of Shell, Esso and Mobiloil. It acknowledges their support in funding the preparation of the map which was available free of charge, and notes that Shell and Esso service stations may be found in "every more important place". Many other maps carry advertising for one or more oil companies.

A proper petrol map must show roads and towns, including ones in parts of a country where it has no service stations. The 1999 Metax location map of Denmark (left) fails the test of being a road map, but the extract from a DK brand booklet of the previous year (right) passes, as it is a usable road map.

(shown at 2/3rds scale)

Maps can exist in the form of hardback atlases (BP, 1982 Britain, far left), location booklets (Statoil, 1997 Denmark), and Cruising Guides for boats (Esso, ca1956 Norfolk Broads). It's doubtful that a map of the moon could qualify! (National Benzole, 1981)

Apart from some isolated atlases issued by Pratt's Perfection Motor Spirit as long ago as 1904-5, the first branded maps in Europe date from around 1930, as in the Belgian Texaco map shown left. Except in Germany, relatively few maps were issued before the War. The peak period for maps was roughly from 1952 (when the Esso Touring Service started) to 1972 (the first oil crisis). Most companies continued to issue maps through the 1970s and 80s, but the cover price rose sharply so fewer copies were printed and sold. A few companies, mainly in Scandinavia, Benelux, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland still sell branded maps, as shown by this 2013-4 Aral atlas (which was on sale in service stations in summer 2012), alongside a range of sectional sheet maps, a boxed set of maps and two other Aral branded atlases.

The pie chart above gives a very approximate indication of the relative frequency of branded maps in Europe.

Unlike in the USA, where there over a dozen very common brands, in Europe Shell and Esso dominated the market for maps, even though they each only had about 15% of the petrol stations. Over 200 brands are known to have issued maps, including ones as small as the five-outlet Belgian brand, OTA which published this Belgian map in 1987. All known names are listed with links to pages describing them on the BrandsList page.