I have downloaded the trial of Adobe Illustrator but I couldn't make head nor tail of it. I hope Drawplus is easier to get started with.
I wanted to begin this project so I have gone ahead in Photoshop while I experiment with the vector programs.
Function over form is the idea at the moment, although I am planning to add some decorative art like Ravs has done in his "city madness"
I made a fill layer and then erased the non-building parts. Followed by a find edges filter, 1px drop shadow and a 1px black stroke. It was pretty quick and easy to get this far. I think about 90-120mins so far. The labeling will take some time but the map should be quite usable by the weekend.
I want to name the streets of the main grid as 1st street, 2nd street etc and have intersecting avenues numbered as well. I will give the alleys names to suit their uses.
Any of you language buffs out there have an idea for pseudo Germanic-dwarven words for "big street" and "small street"