Forcing static member initialisation
class MyClass
{
  static MapType s_myMap;
public:
  static const MapType& getTheMap()
  {
    if (s_myMap.empty())
    {
      // Populate the map
    }
    return s_myMap;
  }
};

class MyClass
{
public:
  static const MapType& getTheMap()
  {
    static MapType s_myMap;
    if (s_myMap.empty())
    {
      // Populate the map
    }
    return s_myMap;
  }
};

struct MapInitData
{
    char const* key;      //  Or whatever type is needed.
    char const* value;    //  Or whatever type is needed.
    operator MapType::value_type() const
    {
        return MapType::value_type( key, value );
    }
};

MapInitData const mapInitTable[] =
{
    { "key1", "value1" },
    //  ...
};

MapType const ourMap( begin( mapInitTable ), end( mapInitTable ) );

SomeGlobal object = MyClass::getTheMap();