The precise reasons why Tomasik created the map are unclear. It is known that Polish soldiers created an outline map of Poland on the ground at Douglas in Lanarkshire in 1940, in the very camp where Tomasik was stationed after arriving in Britain. It is also known that he was fascinated by a large scale-model map of Belgium, which he saw at the Brussels World's Fair of 1958 on his way to visit relations in Poland. This map appears to have been the direct inspiration for the map at Barony Castle, though it is also possible that the wartime model may have been an influence. Tomasik seems to have regarded the Barony map primarily as an added attraction for his hotel guests, expecting it also to draw sightseers. However, he is also on record as having said to hotel patrons that he wanted to show the country the Poles had defended during the war and was planning to invite George VI's consort Queen Elizabeth to open the map officially. He told them that the map was to be his legacy, describing it as "a gift to the Scottish people" for the hospitality the Scots had shown the Poles during the war years. Tomasik died in 1991.