Quote Originally Posted by Hai-Etlik View Post
Yes, there's always going to be distortion, and it's good that you know that as it's one of the things a lot of fantasy map makers with a background in graphics rather than geography have trouble understanding. That doesn't mean that they are all equally good for all situations. If you have a restricted extent, you want a projection that minimizes distortion within that particular extent. In this case, I'd probably go with a Conic. Equidistant Conic is simple and was known as far back as Ancient Greece, and I happen to have an Equidistant Conic Graticule Generator.
thanks for that. If you don't mind my asking, what would make a conic projection better than others with this map? is it scale or the area that the map occupies on the globe (closer to poles as opposed to equator?)? also, the repost of my map with the red graticules seems too curved to my eyes, especially round the bottom, where they move south of the equator near the corners. also, the curve of the latitudes towards the north mean that I'll have to reshape the map as climate bands have changed considerably from what i had envisaged - the skin i have created for the globe is equirectangular and this portion of the map is currently fixed on it. is there an easy way of finding the projection best-suited to this region, or for calculating a conical projection based on the equirectangular projection i have created for the world map? also, Im just assuming that equirectangular is the best projection for a map designed as a skin for a 3d globe - using the 3d sphere command in photoshop. is this correct?

I've also noticed that your planet seems a bit big. Based on the scale and spacing of parallels on the new map, I get a radius of 12,356 km compared to Earth's radius of only 6,371 km. If it has a similar density to Earth, it should have close to twice Earth's surface gravity, 19.02 m/s˛. Assuming I didn't make any mistakes in my math.
I'm still in the process of reviewing scale (things like mass and density aside, inconsistencies of which i will unapologetically waive due to the reality of the worlds' mythology). in a nutshell i want a large distance between cities and settlements (a means of fomenting corruption and a 'frontier' character) of course the world was not always like this, ending up like this after a diminishing of civilisation and culture, with many ruins peppering the hinterlands between settled areas. anyway, i digress. basically i wanted this region of the map to range from subtropical in the south, to arctic circle in the north, which covers around 10 deg - 65 deg lat, which plays a large role in determining the scale. any thoughts?

thanks again for the interest and any feedback