1
general::
Make famous, publicize, as in The incident got on the national news and put our community on the map. This expression, alluding to a locality that formerly was too small to put on a map, dates from the early 1900s.
American Heritage Idioms
2
general::
Phrase(s): put something on the map
Fig. to make some place famous or popular. • The good food you serve here will really put this place on the map. • Nothing like a little scandal to put an otherwise sleepy town on the map.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs