Map making

[Kaptn'Lath]

That's a nice map, and you got it much more accurate. I like the clean look of it, easy to navigate and read. No stepped toes like i said i just whipped up a quick one just i case Cheo didnt get another map befour his next session, i totaly expected to see a better map come along, its all for Cheomesh.

[Cheomesh]

Now, in the experience of you guys as Cartographers, how can I improve the core design of my map?

M.

[Gamer Printshop]

No really big issues. There's that city on the coast, apparently your largest population area, yet, there is a river to the west of it. Shouldn't the coastal city be located at the mouth of that river - so the city can have a volumous fresh water source?

I would do a number of things to all your cities. Although I placed dots - the standard for a city location on many maps, I would prefer to place a building symbol representing a major structure in that city/town/village to represent it. Or, if noble houses are located at each city, then heraldric symbols placed denoting the Knight or Baron's house located there.

Look at the city symbols I used in my Archean Trade League map in my previous post, to get an idea on the former of using building symbols.

The geology, though simple is believeable, so there is nothing wrong with your coastline, river placement, mountain locations or forests - its all very realistic and probable.

I haven't read your homebrew thread entirely, so I don't know your geo-political system regarding provincial borders and what not, or who leads the towns, etc.

That's about all I got!

GP

[Kaptn'Lath]

No really big issues. There's that city on the coast, apparently your largest population area, yet, there is a river to the west of it. Shouldn't the coastal city be located at the mouth of that river - so the city can have a volumous fresh water source?

I ended up moving the icons to nearest logical location, but that did end up changing the map. However it all started by looking at that main city so close to that river mouth... i had to :)

The map area is localized enough that what you have works just fine. A nice simple coastal vale between a fork in the mountains, with rivers emptying into the sea... looks good to me.

I saw a thread at the CartoGuild about using city icons from Civ 4 and League of Nations PC Game Mods Communities as town and city icons. They looked great.

[Gamer Printshop]

Agreed, its just I stayed to his original map design as much as possible - though I did prefer to move that city and what not.

For instance those towns near the rivers, for the same reason as putting the city at the mouth, shouldn't those towns be located on the rivers, rather than a few miles away from them?

Communities need a steady watersource to survive and grow. Springs may exist, but that will only keep a small village alive. Towns and cities need rivers and lakes, or something like an aqueduct bringing steady water source from somewhere else.

GP

[Kaptn'Lath]

Agreed, its just I stayed to his original map design as much as possible - though I did prefer to move that city and what not.

For instance those towns near the rivers, for the same reason as putting the city at the mouth, shouldn't those towns be located on the rivers, rather than a few miles away from them?

Communities need a steady watersource to survive and grow. Springs may exist, but that will only keep a small village alive. Towns and cities need rivers and lakes, or something like an aqueduct bringing steady water source from somewhere else.

GP

Trade and movement of goods is important too, and defensive ability (hill tops, shrubs, ect). A river on one side is one less town wall to build ;).

[Cheomesh]

Very true on the water sources.  The dots don't denote the exact exact location of the villages, and it was also done in MS paint on a hurry.  Moving the locations around a bit should be fine (My mind totally slipped on the city's need for the river).  The only towns that really need to be in certain places are the ones near the mountains (the roads going to the mountains are passes), those villages IN the mountains, and the one at the crossroads.

Technology wise these people do have aqueducts, and what they call the "Auger Screw", aka the Acrhemedies screw.  Wells supply water to the village at the crossroad, and the one NE of that.

I haven't read your homebrew thread entirely, so I don't know your geo-political system regarding provincial borders and what not, or who leads the towns, etc.

I'll be making a more official call on that tonight, as I have made a few small changes to society.

M.

[limetom]

A very simple map I made using Inkscape:

[Jürgen Hubert]

Nice to see the blur effect of Inkscape in action...

[limetom]

Nice to see the blur effect of Inkscape in action...

If by "action", you mean "Oh God why is my computer running so slow?", then yes.  :-p

[Cheomesh]

Here's an updated edition, though you may have to save and rotate it...photobucket unrotated my version.

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a54/comnder09/?action=view&current=untitled-11.jpg

M.

[Ghostman]

If I'm interpreting the map symbols correctly, there's a river flowing from the mountains on the bottom left of the map that forks in two. Rivers don't usually behave that way, except in the deltas of very large rivers. Were a fork like that to form in nature, one of the outflows would eventually dry up until only the other one remains. Of corse, in a fantasy setting any natural oddity can be explained away by a supernatural cause.

[Cheomesh]

You are most correct; I think I intended to shift that river over at one point and simply forgot.  I also fixed that river that flows through Aedre -- it should curve and flow through the capital city, not into another river.



M.

[LD]

Nice map Limetom.

On an off-topic idea- are you on the dwarf fortress message boards- someone there uses basically the same avatar...

[limetom]

Nice map Limetom.

On an off-topic idea- are you on the dwarf fortress message boards- someone there uses basically the same avatar...

Not me.