Best program to redraw an existing map?

[Madmaxneo]

The dimensions of the file are: 60" wide by 58" high, Resolution export:96 dpi with a bitmap width of 5815 and height of 5647. The format is png. I am using true color + alpha. And this is only a small portion of the overall map. I was going to attempt to do the entire city and use it on Maptool. But I will have to do it in pieces. Even now it isn't turning out that great. One of my players has said that there is a way to do it in Photoshop where you don't loose that much resolution when you zoom in like I need to. But he said I would need photoshop to do that. I'm not sure if Xara can do this or not. Am I asking for to much with the size of this thing?
The final file size of this one is 22.4 MB. The resolution I have it set for in my art board is 5814 pixels x 5646 pixels. I hope that is what you meant by the resolution of what I am using. I did convert to jpeg and get a much smaller file result but the poor quality is still there, and little worse. This is only one small part of the city so it looks as though I will not be able to do the whole thing in one map, I will have to do it in pieces.

Bruce
Bruce

[Madmaxneo]

Bad edit correction

[Gamerprinter]

If the texture fills you used were 96 ppi to start with, and if you enlarged the texture to fill the shape, there could potentially be some loss of detail when zooming in. Most of the photo-realistic textures I use in my maps are from cgtextures.com, most of those textures are fairly high resolution.

That said, I don't think the export filter to PNG with Alpha channel format is any different no matter what software was used to export it. PNG is PNG. If MapTools can accept PSD files, which are Photoshop native format then it might be possible to zoom in with better clarity (I don't know if that is true).

Since you have enough posts, why don't you send me a PM, and I'll give you my email address so you can send me your XAR file. I have Photoshop and I can work with the PNG Alpha channel for you to see if it provides any better results. You could also use a trial of Photoshop if one is available and do it yourself - opening and exporting a file should be an easy task in Photoshop (for that matter you could do this in GIMP).

Again, I don't think there is a difference. I am a graphic designer with my own studio and digital print shop with 30+ years experience in the industry and using graphics software, so aside from cartography, I know what I'm talking about. If however, there is something brand new in the most recent version of Photoshop, perhaps it can do as your player suggests, but I doubt it.

As an aside, I know another long time member at the Guild, who is a devout user of MapTools, and the map files he works with are preferrably 200 ppi. I know that would slow potential uploads to your player's PCs, but he too likes clarity of detailing in zooming in, and his solution is higher resolution to start with.

[Madmaxneo]

Is it possible with Xara to create vertical lines in a shape? Think of the white house dome, but from a top down view. I am trying to create some domes in my maps that have an effect much like that. I know with the contour tool I can create a dome with horizontal lines, but is there a way to do it with vertical lines?