Globe imagery / Telstra – dmob Design

Dave Marriott from dmob design in Australia had a 33-inch-diameter plexiglass globe with electronics inside, which he wanted to place map imagery on to illustrate the reach of an undersea cable company.
In order to print that imagery, you have to create “gores” or wedge-shaped slices, cut them, and apply them to the sphere: 

I used Blue Marble imagery from NASA combined with shaded relief for the oceans based on Natural Earth’s data.
Dave had the gores printed, trimmed them, and applied them to the sphere. Voila! A globe!