My first map

[Justme]

Hello all,

Not sure if this is the correct place, but here goes.
Having started making my own map I have immediately run into some problems, mostly, where to place mountains and how to make climates have sense.

Below is my first sketch of the world`s continent and nothing more than that. it has the coastlines and I`m stuck.
I have a general idea on where I want mountains and jungle and desert and such ( see the 2nd picture ) but I have no idea if it makes any sense to place them where I want.





Since this is a top down map of the entire world I struggle with scale as well, is such a massive mountain range even logical/possible??

I have looked for tutorials or guides or any other form of help regarding maps on this scale but still struggle with it

I also want to have some form of barrier separating the island to the right with the continents in the middle (placed along the black line)



I was thinking of making this in the form of Mountains or simply permanent stormy weather/whirlpools etc but I was wondering if and how this would affect the climates around the world.

I hope someone here can help me with my many questions

Just me Out.

[Deadshade]

So apparently you are out for a world scale realistic map.
Then the first advice I'd have is to take an equirectangular projection : 2 wide and 1 high. This gives natural coordinates because you go between - 90 and + 90° vertical and - 180 to + 180° horizontal. Equator is right in the middle.
From there scales follow. F.ex for a Mars size planet (rather small) you have 11 000 km from top to bottom.
For an earth sized planet it would be about double.

And no, the mountains ranges would not be so big.
As to where to put them there is a whole story of plate tectonics that I won't go into. But you'd find them generally on the edge of continents following the coast (e.g Rockies) or on places where a peninsula is colliding with a continent (e.g Alpes, Himalayas)
Also how do you intend to do that ? By hand ? With a software ?

For your barrier you could have a line of several volcanic islands.

[Ascension]

Sea monsters work well to stop people from snooping too close to that island. Or if the inhabitants are cannibals or really really nasty mean pirate-types. If you want something more natural then the fog is a start, you could put in a long reef, a very active Mid-Atlantic trench, or a geologic hot-spot like the Hawaiian islands, or a methane vent sorta like in the Bermuda Triangle that sinks ships, or some sort of magnetic anomaly that messes up a compass, or (what makes most sense to me since it explains the fog idea) an underwater super-volcano like Yellowstone.

[johnvanvliet]

a few things

--- just an opinion
- take it or leave it

one
Are you using " MS paint "
yes with time a Rembrandt / Van Gogh / Picasso type person can create a masterpiece
But there are better photo / drawing programs out there and they are FREE


two
map projection

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_map_projections

for a full planet "equidistant cylindrical " also known as "Simple Cylindrical" works well with software
viewing the poles ??? there is a lot of projection distort

Mercator
???? poles are missing

for drawing "Miller" works
and it works if you are NOT going to use software to render it

have looked for tutorials or guides or any other form of help regarding maps on this scale but still struggle with it

look at real maps

The USGS has a nice collection
http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/maps
(i do too , but they are not in a format for easy viewing )

from looking at the first two images it looks as if you are using a "Mercator" projection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection

MOST maps of REAL planets tend to use "Simple Cylindrical" in what is called a "Planetocentric" mapping
( if it is the WHOLE PLANET )

180 degrees top to bottom and 360 degrees side to side
so a map with the width of 3600 pixels and a height of 1800 pixels has a resolution of ( 10 pixels per degree)
-- very easy to calculate the lat / long of an area


or a mix of two
like this one from the usgs's pigwad
http://astropedia.astrogeology.usgs....ation_full.jpg

I was thinking of making this in the form of Mountains or simply permanent stormy weather/whirlpools etc but I was wondering if and how this would affect the climates around the world.

as to climate

most planets and moons tend to rotate the same way
counterclockwise looking down on the North pole
-- the laws of physics and thermodynamics are to blame for this

this is why there are hurricanes and typhoons , counterclockwise and clockwise respectively

this also causes Prevailing winds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ea...ation_-_en.svg
this will have an impact on "rain shadow" deserts

[Justme]

Thanks for the answers,

Regarding the scale of the map, does this make more sense ( this is the equidistant cylindrical projection right? )


I`ll have a look at the plate tectonics and how they work.

@Ascension, I`ll probably combine some of those ideas. Maybe something like a "monster" infested area surrounding a massive (partially underwater) volcano range. will have to work on that

@johnvanvliet, at the moment I am indeed using MS paint since I`m still learning how to work with Photoshop.

Also, what did you mean with the poles are missing?

Thanks for the tips

[Deadshade]

Thanks for the answers,

Regarding the scale of the map, does this make more sense ( this is the equidistant cylindrical projection right? )

Yes it does. It is not equidistant because distances are not conserved but equirectangular - the rectangles Lat x Long have all the same size. And yes it is a cylindrical projection.
Your map looks now like that in equirectangular :


When ported on a sphere it does that :


And you notice that your central continent is (too ?) huge. It occupies almost a whole half planet. Perhaps that's what you want but I find it a bit too dominating and would break it up in smaller parts.
Also your planet has big Antarcticas on both poles so that it will be rather cold.

Last is that if you contemplate spending more than a few days with maps, you should go for GIMP (it's free).
That way you won't waste your time with a software you won't use anyway and your time spent on working with your map will also serve to climb the steep Learning curve.
2 flies with 1 stroke - It just saves time.

[johnvanvliet]

Also, what did you mean with the poles are missing?

in Mercator projection there is a nasty error built into it ( one normally ignored ) an INFINITY at the poles
I have been relooking at a map of venus i did a while ago so this data is fresh with me and a good example

so a real world example
a screenshot of my 64ppd merged reflectance radar map of venus
( simple cylindrical with the prim meridian in the center )
90 north to 90 south


mercator 45 north to 89.9 north


close up - the grid is at 5 degrees
45 to 85 north- the top gridline is 85 north


the bottom gridline is 85 north and the top if the image is 89.6 deg




as you approach the pole the height of the image starts to approach infinity ( ∞ )


so a lot of the time the area 80 to 90 north/ south are ignored and just called 90 n/s
or
not even mapped

a lot of the time 60 north to 60 south are used for a map in Mercator projection
with the two poles then shown in polarstereographic for 60 to 90

[johnvanvliet]

slightly different note
the scale mentioned above ( or what i would call proportions )
--- "scale" would be the pixels per degree --

from the proportions in the first map

assuming Mercator

it is about 81 north to 81 south for that width and height of the image
so using my mapping software this is what is will look like as a Simple Cylindrical map
90 north to 90 south



while a planet could be like that ( there is no reason it could not)
from a "artistic " point it is not fallowing the "rule of thirds "

so if it was something i was making
then
shrink the center continents and enlarge the pole area a bit


but

it is your map

[Justme]

@ Johnvanvliet
Looking at the images with new knowledge the center continents do indeed look to big, I`m going to change those a bit. and regarding the pole areas, do you mean expanding them in height a bit?

@ Deadshade, I`ll give Gimp a go as soon as I get home (is that also the program you used to give the map color? )

[Deadshade]

@ Deadshade, I`ll give Gimp a go as soon as I get home (is that also the program you used to give the map color? )

No I did that map with a very fast job in Wilbur (3D, fractal, realistic software) because I just wanted to demonstrate the scales and projections. I wouldn't recommend trying Wilbur right now unless you have steel nerves and plenty of time.
I think GIMP will be already enough (but GIMP like PS is not a 3D software).