Questions tagged [map-making]
For questions that have to do with the science or practice of drawing maps. If the question has to do with making maps this tag is a good fit. Note: This tag is about creating maps of physical features, not creating the physical features themselves nor using the maps for navigation. For that see the geography tag or navigation tag..
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Destruction by design - how best to go about crafting a ruined landscape?
Ruins of many kinds are a staple of stories whether for games or tales of high adventure. My question is about the design process behind such structures: should one start with a city or building and ...
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How do I convert part of a south pole map to a mercator projection?
I do not know the name for the technique I am looking for, but I am essentially trying to take this map:
And have it distorted into a mercator projection to complete this map:
A program that allows ...
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Early Draft Map [closed]
I am developing a small (semi fantasy) medieval town and sketched out the basic topography. I sketched layers free-hand on acetates to separate terrain, roads, etc. The areas in boxes are where I see ...
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Gall peters projection -- politically correct or incorrect? [closed]
Question: Why is the Gall Peters projection considered politically correct?
I've thought about this for some time, and to me, it seems to be more politically incorrect than correct. This is because ...
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What tools can I use to draw a battle map?
I want to draw a battle map for the cover of my book.
By battle map I mean an image like this:
What tools can I use in order to draw such map easily?
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How realistic is the placement of the cities and borders on my map?
I need some help with the placement of the cities on a map of one of my continents. I'm not looking for opinions, but more for a reality check on how realistic it is in terms of where things are and ...
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How to create accurate map with white spaces?
Several times I had idea for a medieval-like world where the people living on the planet did not discover all the world yet.
I know the first two steps:
Create a map of whole world, for worldbuilder'...
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A water cycle in an underground setting
The ozone layer depleted beyond reasonable levels and life on the surface has become impossible and life migrated underground in giant caves connected together by tunnels.
Some of those caves have ...
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Which minerals are needed to make a sustainable medieval country?
Which minerals (iron, coal, copper, etc.) are needed in the same country to make it sustainable (medieval age)?
For example: A country is made in the middle of a gigantic island (like a little ...
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World Map - How can I tell if the Ecosystems are realistic?
I'm trying to create a world map for my fantasy novel. My problem is that I love designing things, and I'm finding myself bogged down with figuring out how desert A got where it is, and how plain B's ...
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Explaining uphill rivers scientifically?
I see this in so many maps. Normally, the water flows downhill because of gravity but here it is the opposite, rivers will go above the hills. When you mention this incoherence, the authors refuse to ...
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Creating a “Zelda: Breath of the Wild”–style topographic map?
One of my favourite aspects of world building is creating maps and I've done a few in various styles over the years ranging from traditional hand drawn style fantasy maps to more realistic satellite ...
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Star System/Galactic Map Creator?
I was wondering how people generated star maps/galactic maps for their world, I've been struggling to find any tools.
Thanks!
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How can I indicate a third dimension on a map of outer space?
I'm working on a map of several star systems (with the stars, planets, etc. not to scale with the map), and I'd like to show that they don't all lie in the same plane. Some orbits are perpendicular to ...
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How can I do programmatic generation of fantasy maps?
I found this twitter bot https://twitter.com/unchartedatlas posting maps that look like they came from a pulp fantasy novel.
Any idea on how they are done?
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Encrypting maps
Encrypting texts is a very old technique, which is known already from the time of the Romans, if not earlier. Now a simple text cypher is easily done with low-tech means, as long as those trying to ...
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A Clear Map of Lake Makgadikgadi [closed]
In prehistoric times, the Makgadikgadi pans were part of the largest lake Africa has ever seen. Covering 250,000 square kilometers (96,500 square miles), it was far larger than present-day Lake ...
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Is there a method of generating a simulated region of a world with bathymetry?
I would like to generate a relief map of a portion of imaginary world which would be about the size of Europe. I do not want to define the outline of land masses or bathymetry myself; I want the ...
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"Globe to draw on" software?
Looking for a desktop application that lets me draw on a sphere with my mouse, which I find very much needed for geography on a whole planet.
With a world grid and showing coordinates and all, ...
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Can I map the location of my convenient store inside a wormhole?
Set in the distance future probably a type 3 civilization on a Kardashev scale, I plan to setup multiple chain of convenient stores at many wormholes where there are heavy traffics, how can I create ...
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Which map projection would result in an accurate visual depiction of a mega crater?
Would a large, I mean large, impact crater on a spherical world be noticeably distorted on maps using different projections? Eg mercator, hanmer-aitoff, equidistant Etc.
Side question - Would there ...
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How To Create Your World WITHOUT Building From Scratch
I know that there are many questions about where to go to actually build your own world, where you can actually be your own god, totally visualizing your world's geography, geology and climate.
But ...
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How can I create a map of an underground city?
This question is, like How long will it take to form a new dialect and language in underground steampunk London?, part of an experiment I'm conducting on Worldbuilding. I'm temporarily switching gears ...
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How can the entire universe be mapped?
Inspired by Mapping the far side of the galaxy, I wondered how it would be possible to create a real-time map of the entire universe. As that question dealt with the issue of a one-time travel to the ...
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How far can one see off into the distance when up high? [closed]
This may seem like a strange question but when I am running pen and paper campaigns and the party enters a new area from somewhere high up (like a mountain overlooking a city) I am always unsure about ...
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How would you create a map based upon scent (or other senses)?
Human's primary sense is sight. Therefore our maps include icons designed to represent various sights.
Scale maps include reference scales and accurately represent to the distance between the visual ...
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What would the Mercator projection look like if the north pole were in a different spot like in Hapgood's Planet? [closed]
This scenario is based on the out-of-date Earth crust displacement theory of Charles Hapgood. Before the theory of plate tectonics was accepted, he said that the poles physically moved over millions ...
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What is a good reference size for a settlement?
I have been sporadically building a particular world, mainly by developing its cultures with events (often paralleling Earth history) and individuals, rather than shaping the cultures beforehand. One ...
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What are mapping or diagramming techniques that would be valuable to someone mapping a planetary system?
Basically, it's a question about creating maps or diagrams.
In particular, we on Earth are used to maps showing variation over distance & location. The problem with space that is everything is ...
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Is it possible to change the ocean levels after blowing up a continental land bridge?
I am somewhat new to worldbuilding so forgive me if I am not as clear as I could be.
I have created a continent, but for relate-ability sake, imagine the US and Mexico, but where the Yucatan ...
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The cardinal directions on a flat world? [closed]
This is a simple question.
What would a civilization on a flat world call the directions on a compass?
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Ratio between planet-size and terrain elevation?
Let's imagine we have an algorithm that produce an elevation-map for a sphere. I wonder if the ratio between the planet radius and the delta between the highest and lowest altitude is a constant or ...
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Looking for a map of mythological Ancient Greece [closed]
Does anyone know of a decent, detailed map of ancient Greece? I'm writing a series using Greek myth as a springboard, but I'm having a hard time on Google finding anything useful.
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Why do the terms "large scale" and "small scale" seem to swap meanings? [closed]
Sometimes when someone says a map is "small scale", it seems to mean a map shows a small area, but the things are drawn large as a result, and other times it means the things in the map are shown much ...
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Architectural encoding of maps
Picture a band of explorers deep underground in huge dwarven underground complex they have been exploring for what to most of them feels like an eternity. They come to hub like chamber with a dozen or ...
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How to make a planet map?
I have to make a map for two planets. For booth two I already have an idea about what they look like, but I don't know how to draw them. They don't need to be really clear, however they should make ...
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What software can help me render a planet . . . from space?
So, I'd like to make a rendering of my world to see what it would look like from outer space. I have the map drawn up, and the various features (mostly) designed. Think about it like taking a series ...
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Default map projection
A lot of people making maps for their worlds forget to consider the projection they are using when they start mapping but often need to deal with the issue later. If no projection is chosen, I usually ...
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How to navigate without magnetism?
Suppose a team of explorers touched down on an Earth-like planet which do not generate its own magnetic field and there are always a thick layer of cloud covering the sky at all time. My question is ...
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Graphically represent (map) multiple spatial dimentions
I would like to create a 3D map that can represent a universe with more than 3 spatial dimensions. The humans who use the map can only normally interact with 3 dimensions (and time) but in my world ...
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What is the distance between large settlements?
Is there a theory, model, technique that could help when placing cities on a map, instead of placing them randomly?
I have an estimate of the population for a given territory so I know more or less ...
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What is the most efficient data-structure to store planet elevation? [closed]
Planet elevation maps can be quite big, zooming in/out can be quite costly.
I wonder if there is a most efficient data-structure used to store elevation maps such as quad-trees or any tree-based ...
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Method for creating aerial visuals (photography) for fake landmasses
What is the best method for creating a visual that mimics aerial photography for a fake island. The desired quality is USGS standards for actual aerials, preferably 2 foot aerials. The end product ...
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What are the known algorithms to create a planet with a subterranean cave network?
I know a few algorithms to build an elevation map for a planet, but most of them do not take into account the underground aspects of the planet (caves, tunnels, ...).
Are there any algorithms to take ...
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