New and improved pages on the
European Petrol Road Map Web Site - 2007

This page shows the updates that were made to the PetrolMaps website during 2007. With time, some of the links may no longer work if I have moved images to a new location (for example through splitting large pages), although most of the content of this website is permanent and can still be found by using its search facility. Special thanks are due to, among others, Richard Horwitz, Walt Wimer Jr and Jon Roma for suplying me with some of images on these pages.

Link to most recent updates

A Shell Touring set of Greek strip maps
At the end of the 1950s the Shell Touring Service in Greece issued a series of 4 basic maps, indicating the main tourist routes and briefly describing towns and archaeological sites on the routes in English. (Updated 30 December 2007)

Shell's map of Eisenstadt
At the end of the 1950s Shell issued city plans for several countries of Western Europe in a more or less common format. In some cases, such as Austria, all (and only) the provincial capitals were mapped, including the very small town of Eisenstadt, the capital of Burgenland. (Updated 30 December 2007)

Three 1950s Danish Shell Maps
Shell has been issuing maps in Denmark more or less continuously for 70 years. Three more examples have been added from the late 1950s: a national map, a map of the city of Aalborg, and an area map of Nordsjælland. (Updated 29 December 2007)

Two more from Nynäs
Nynäs was a Swedish brand acquired by Shell in 1981. Although a 1960 and a 1972 map have been shown on this website for many years, an image has now been added of an intermediate map, dating from 1965 and what is probably their final design, from 1982. (Updated 26 December 2007)

Fina in Luxembourg
A 1958 Fina map of Luxembourg has been added; this was simply a Michelin "yellow" map of the country (Benelux section 8) overprinted in two colours to show that it had been offered by Fina. (Updated 26 December 2007)

Cidisol (or Disolin)
Cidisol was the brand name used on Motor Oils by C.J. Diederichs Söhne of Wuppertal-Oberbarmen, although they may have used Disolin as the premium brand of petrol. Whatever brand was actually used at service stations they supplied, they did issue a Uniti-supported map of West Germany around 1953. (Updated 26 December 2007)

Caffyns
Caffyns is a garage chain in Southern England that can trace its origins back almost 150 years. Although these days it primarily sells cars, not petrol, it operated a chain of major branded service stations for many years, and issued a road map around 1979. (Updated 24 December 2007)

A BP city plan of Porto
In 1958 BP commissioned city plans of Porto and Lisboa (Portugal), printing just 5,000 copies of each and an example of the Porto map is now shown. (Updated 2 November 2007)

A French BP map of Spain
Across the Iberian peninsula, branded petrol was unavailable in Spain. However the touring services of the major petrol companies printed small scale maps of Spain and Portugal for distribution to their customers. A 1959 French BP map of Spain (Espagne) is now on display. (Updated 2 November 2007)

A BP map of the UK for international distribution
Most maps shown on this site were for distribution in the country in which they were produced. However there are a few exceptions which were produced for distribution through the companies' international touring services. I have recently obtained a BP map of the United Kingdom that I have never seen in Britain from a Canadian who received the map from BP around 1960. (Updated 1 November 2007)

Shell Road Atlases from Great Britain
This web site has been in existence for nearly nine years now, and I am delighted to have just added the 2,000th map image!
As Shell has been the most prolific issuer of branded maps over the past century, it seems appropriate to have added some more Shell maps to pass this milestone - so I have found no fewer than four Shell Road Atlases from Great Britain that are new to the site, although they date from 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1981, and moved the British atlases to a page of their own. For the record, this brings the total number of Shell images displayed to over 250, including those shown on the country pages as well as in the main Shell sequence. Although this is only an eighth of the maps displayed, in practice Shell was probably responsible for between a quarter and a third of all petrol company branded maps in Europe. (Updated 28 October 2007)

Tesco's 2006 Store Finder
Continuing the review of 2006 issues, a UK map booklet and Store Finder from Tesco has been added. (Updated 28 October 2007)

Total's latest Dutch map
Also for free distribution, like the two Dutch maps added to the 2006 maps page described below, Total issued a map in 2005 of the Netherlands, with reasonably good cartography from a name that is new to me: EMK of Deventer. (Updated 27 October 2007)

More 2006 Maps
Although it may now seem to be out of date as the first 2008 map is shown, I am still finding new petrol maps to add to the 2006 maps page, and intend to keep updating this page to show a cross section of what was published in a single year in the mid-2000s. The latest additions to this page include 5 Hungarian maps (from Shell, Mol, Agip and Tesco, although OMV was also selling maps, and almost certainly would have had some bearing a 2006 copyright date). I have also added two Dutch maps for free or low-cost distribution: a Texaco issue covering all of Benelux, and a dcb Tankpas map. (Updated 27 October 2007)

Recent Agip Maps from Eastern Europe
Agip is one the three main Western brands in Eastern & South-Eastern Europe (along with Shell and OMV), and has sold a number of maps in these newly liberalised markets. Although they have all been shown before on the country pages, four examples have been added to the Agip page representing the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. (Updated 15 October 2007)

Recent Hungarian Maps & Atlases
As promised, I have now added six of the most recent Hungarian maps to the Hungary country page (as well as upgrading another image on that page). The six maps come from Mol, Shell (2), Agip, OMV and Tesco. (Updated 15 October 2007)

Three Hungarian Tesco Road Atlases
Tesco has rapidly become the largest supermarket chain by sales in Hungary and now operates the sixth largest number of branded petrol stations in the country. As such it has started selling own brand spiral-bound atlases in its service station shops: there are three titles - Budapest, Hungary and Europe, and all are now shown on this site. These are the first of a number of recent Hungarian maps that will be added to the site over the next few weeks. (Updated 13 October 2007)

A ninth Esso map of Tunisia
Relatively few petrol company maps are known from North Africa, but one exception is for Esso in Tunisia, where maps are known from the 1930s to the 1990s. A ninth design has now been added, dating from December 1953. (Updated 23 September 2007)

A Shell leaflet for Italy in Olympics Year
Shell worked closely with the Istituto Geografico de Agostini (IGDA) in Italy, and they together produced a leaflet for motorists visiting the country in 1960 bearing the unlikely title of "maybe you know it already". This is now shown on the Shell Italy page, alongside the special Olympiad map of Rome that Shell produced. (Updated 23 September 2007)

Murco maps from 2008 - and 35 years earlier
The first 2008 edition map has now been added to the site; it is sold by the US-owned independent operator Murco and takes the form of a large spiral road atlas of Great Britain. A Murco sheet map from almost exactly 35 years earlier (ca1973) has also been added to the Murco page. (Updated 20 September 2007)

A Maxol map using Recta Foldex cartography
Although Foldex system maps were not uncommonly sold in most countries of Europe up to the 1960s, it is unusual to see more recent Recta Foldex maps outside of France. However in the early 1990s the independent Irish company used a Recta Foldex map of Ireland inside custom card covers. (Updated 10 September 2007)

Two 1989 Shell maps of Belgium
There have probably been more different Shell maps of Europe than of any other brand, and as a result some of the more day to day Shell issues are not shown on this site, whereas almost anything from a small company is shown in detail. So it's pleasing to add not one but two very different Shell maps of Belgium & Luxembourg, both of which appear to date from 1989. This is possible since one is a Dutch issue and the other was produced domestically in Belgium. (Updated 6 September 2007)

An earlier OK map of Denmark
OK, the co-operative chain, has operated in Denmark since at least the 1970s, but the earliest map shown up to now was dated 1997. A late 1980s example has now been found, helping to show how OK moved away from rural service stations to unmanned stations attached to supermarkets. (Updated 3 September 2007)

Shell and Esso maps from Ireland
With work on the website resuming after a summer break, I am pleased to be extending the page on Irish maps, by adding two extra maps from Shell (ca1948 and ca1990) and one from Esso (1993). The later Shell and Esso maps used cartography by the AA, the older Shell map used Foldex. This is the first known Foldex issue from the country... (Updated 2 September 2007)

A Foldex Shell map of London
...but Foldex maps of Britain from the late 40s/early 50s are much more common. Until recently, though, it was thought that all Shell's Foldex maps from the UK and Ireland had red covers, unlike the rest of the Europe, where later Foldex maps have red and yellow covers. But now a red/yellow Shell Foldex map of London has been discovered - in Uruguay! This was distributed by the local Shell company for the 1948 London Olympic Games, which raises some interesting questions. (Updated 2 September 2007)

A 1920s BP Guide and two 1950s BP Pictorial Maps
Three additional maps have been added to the BP Britain page. One dates from the 1920s, which is a 124 page guide to South East England, around half of which is in a map section. The other two are Pictorial maps of the Lake District and The Vale of Avon, probably given away by filling stations. (Updated 30 June 2007)

SVG
SVG is the name used by regional traffic cooperatives in Germany that support the transport and logistics industries. The group has traditionally included a bank and insurance company, but the most visible part of the business has been for fuel payment cards, which were widely used by commercial vehicles. As an adjunct to this business, some of the regional SVG operations also operated service stations (a bit like US Truck Stops), mainly close to autobahn exits. Two maps from SVG have now been added to the site; one from the 1950s that shows all their petrol station locations, and more recent one from the Rheinland-Pfalz affiliate that focus on their banking operation as well as the service stations. (Updated 27 June 2007)

A map issued jointly by Total and the Autoroutes du Sud de la France
Rather like the recent Shell map of France that lacks obvious branding on the cover, Total worked with the Autoroutes du Sud de la France to distribute a map of all French autoroutes (motorways) in 1994-5. This map covered the entire country marking main roads and Total stations adjacent to limited access highways as well as autoroutes.
I have taken the opportunity to split the Total page into two; as well as the main page providing a summary company history and showing French maps, I have split off the Total maps from other EU countries onto a second page. (Updated 23 June 2007)

Four more brands from former Yugoslavia: Jugopetrol, JPK, INA and NIS
With the return of peace to most of the former Yugoslavia, tourists are retuning and maps, both old and new, are trickling out. The Jugopetrol map probably dates from the 1970s when it was the country's second largest oil company, and the dominant force in Serbia. The other three maps come from the past few years, since the dismemberment of the country. INA, dominant in Croatia of over 40 years, has issued a locator map; JPK, from the smaller republic of Montenegro has issued a map of its own state; and NIS, which acquired the former Jugopetrol assets in Serbia and is now the largest firm in the country, has joined forces with the national Office of Tourism to produce maps of Serbia in a number of different languages. (Updated 16 June 2007)

Two Wordsearches
This website has always tried to entertain, so I am pleased to have added two wordsearches to the quiz page. One contains 24 words or short phrases of the main features commonly shown on road maps. The second, which is playable in easy and more difficult versions, lists 40 brands of petrol or oil that have maps shown on this site. The harder version doesn't show you the list of brands for which you are looking. All the wordsearches link to full solutions, in case you get stuck. (Updated 16 June 2007)

A 1983 Texaco Map of Denmark
1980s Danish maps are not that commonly found, as they were generally sold rather than for free issue, and so produced in smaller quantities. A Texaco map from the era has now been found that was originally sold for 8kr. (Updated 10 June 2007)

Recent Norwegian Maps
Both Shell and Statoil issued a road map of Norway in 2004, utilising Folia cartography. These have been added to the Norway page. (Updated 2 June 2007)

Heidemann & Pelzer
A pre-1939 Uniti style map has now been discovered from Heidemann & Pelzer Brennstoffe of Bochum, Germany. (Updated 10 May 2007)

An almost anonymous Shell map
Most petrol company map issues clearly show the logo of their sponsor. However a recent (2004) Shell map of France lacks any obvious Shell branding, though it does carry an advert for a Shell Card on the reverse. Nonetheless, this map carries (in very small print) the message that it was made for Shell. (Updated 14 April 2007)

Fanal's 1978 map series
Maps from the Stinnes Fanal group are relatively hard to find (and indeed, on the Fanal page until now only one of the eight maps shown was from my own collection). So it's not very surprising that a completely new series of Fanal maps has now surfaced, dating from 1978-9, and using Ravenstein cartography for the first time among Fanal maps. (Updated 31 March 2007)

50 maps from 50 years of the EU
As today, 25th March, is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the predecessor of the European Union, I have decided to commemorate this by a page showing a map from each of the 50 years. All the maps are from companies based in the EU at the time the map was issued. (Updated 25 March 2007)

More Maps from Ukraine
In February two A5 atlases were added to the site from the Ukraine. I have now added a third such atlas (which has been shown on the Elf page for some years) as well as an OKKO branded sheet map of the country. (Updated 25 March 2007)

Delek
Two maps from Delek, the Israel Fuel Company, have been added to the Southeast Mediterranean page. This is the 200th brand to be shown on the website from Europe or the Mediterranean region! Delek has also recently acquired the Texaco chain in Benelux, so there may yet be European Delek maps... (Updated 24 February 2007)

BP Touring Service items from France and Portugal
In the late 1950s BP established an extensive touring service, and printed a special cardboard folder for its French touring items. This is shown along with some typical content: a large format map of France and a booklet showing 8 tourist routes radiating from Paris. A 40 page Portuguese booklet giving "Notes on the land, its people and peculiarities", dating from 1959, has also been added to the Touring Service Page. (Updated 24 February 2007)

Maps from Ukraine
A page has been added for Ukraine, as at least two companies have recently started selling branded road atlases of the country (or in one case, the Carpathian region of the Ukraine). (Updated 7 February 2007)

A Shell map of Finland from 1984
Although I try to give a reasonable overview on the country pages of the range of maps available, there are inevitably some gaps, especially in the late 1970s and 1980s for countries less popular with UK tourists (or businessmen). Finland falls into that category, so I am pleased to be able to add a 1984 Shell map, filling in a large gap between the early 70s and mid 90s for this brand. (Updated 31 January 2007)

Aral's Auto-Reisebuch
Aral have regularly published road atlases in a variety of formats to complement their extensive range of branded sheet maps. I have now added an example of their Auto-Reisebuch of West Germany from 1984-5, when it took the format of a copiously illustrated hardback book. (Updated 31 January 2007)

Jet Unleaded and Eastern European Maps
I have made a major update to the Jet page to add a late 1980s British map promoting the (then) newly introduced unleaded petrol, as well as two more maps from Poland and two from the Czech and Slovak operations. At the same time I have updated the history to include the recently announced deal with Lukoil. In all 5 additional maps are shown, although two have previously appeared on the country pages. (Updated 27 January 2007)

More Recent Igol Routes de France
Igol is the brand name used by a group of loosely affiliated French independent lubricant companies. They have issued maps and booklets showing their sales locations periodically, and two later examples — dating from 1992 and 1996 — are now shown. (Updated 27 January 2007)

Esso Guide to Northern Scandinavia
In the late 1950s Esso produced a multi-lingual map guide to Northern Scandinavia. (Updated 25 January 2007)

BP Touring Service Guides to Paris and the Netherlands
In 1958 the BP Touring Service produced a trilingual leaflet about Paris, including two basic maps, and a 48 page booklet called "Welcome to the Netherlands". (Updated 16 January 2007)

Shell Touring Itineraries from Bolzano
Also in 1958 the Shell Touring Service produced a series of 10 leaflets providing suggested round tours from main Italian cities, including Bolzano. (Updated 16 January 2007)

Kroon Oil
Kroon Oil is a Dutch independent lubricant manufacturer, whose products are commonly found in car spares shops; a 1996 Falk-plan map of Belgium has now been discovered. (Updated 3 January 2007)

Introduction to German Independent Brands
I have added a new introductory page to German independent petrol distributors, including a table listing all those known to have issued road maps, and the brand used on those maps (which may be a major company brand used under licence). This page also carries examples of maps for the first time carrying just the logo of the two main trade associations for German petrol companies: Freie T and Uniti. As part of the tidy-up of German independents, I have split the page for 1950s and 1960s brands into three: one page covering A-G brands, one for H brands and one for the rest (I-Z brands). (Updated 1 January 2007)