Unamed World Map - Hoping for an at least somewhat plausible, earth-like planet.

[A Blood Red Fox]

I've been working on this world, and I've just gotten started on the mountains. I decided not to define the exact elevations and keep it general. Definitely not done.

I'm not really sure if what I've got so far is realistic though. It seems like I may have overdone the mountains? I'm not looking to make a super-volcanic planet or anything.

I'd very much appreciate any opinions and advice on it.

[Pixie]

First advice is to worry about the poles - that little bit of mountainous land on the NE of the map won't "add up" when you plot a north pole view.

Second advice is to use G.Projector (http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/gprojector/) or map.to.globe (http://maptoglobe.bitbucket.org) to be able to see your world from a number of perspectives.

Thirdly, ponder carefully how much level of realism you want to your world before making further efforts. Tectonics and climate will take some time to get sorted... or ignore it with a jolly jump forward.

[A Blood Red Fox]

Thank you Pixie for the suggestions\pointers.

I decided to redo that land, and I ended up deciding that I'd mostly skip over making detailed tectonic plates. I actually had some loose tectonics figured out but I lost the layer for it - no idea what happened. I also finished elevation I suppose. I also used Pixie's tutorial for climate, to figure out the ocean currents - though I can't be certain I did it right.

So, here's what I've got so far. I'm posting a Map that uses the Robinson Projection, a Two-Hemisphere map, plus a rectangular map that features the ocean currents. Again, any feedback is appreciated.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I tried map.to.globe, but it turns out oddly... the continents look much larger than on the two hemisphere map? Is that just normal distortion, or did I do something wrong?

[A Blood Red Fox]

Going by the same tutorial, I tried doing the winds and stuff. I'm far less confident that I got that part right.

[Azélor]

Here is what i think the oceanic circulation should look like:

I included the polar circulation. The dominant currents at this location should be flowing westward I think.

I'm reluctant to use colors since I'm not sure they make sense. From what I understand, some cold currents are not really cold. For example, in their respective winter, Santiago de Chile is 6 degrees colder than Los Angeles at the same latitude. They are both affected by a cold current but Santiago is much colder. The explanation is probably because near Chile, the water comes from the Antarctic current and the Californian current comes from central Pacific. Obviously the latter is not as cold. We also have ''fake'' hot current like the Gulf stream. He's not that hot and just like the ''fake'' cold current he mostly lowers the annual variation of temperature.

[Pixie]

Azelor, do you know this? http://earth.usc.edu/~stott/Catalina/Oceans.html

You might want to give it a read as well, Red Fox... Also, as for your wind maps, they're probably a good guess.


(As for Santiago vs. Los Angeles, I've been to Santiago this year, so I can tell you it isn't comparable to the California Coast. It lies over 100 km inland, cut from the shore by a wall-like ridge and right at the foot of permanently snow-capped Andean mountains, so that's where - at least most of - the 6ºC in difference come from)

[A Blood Red Fox]

So, as I've been revisiting ocean currents, I've been looking to reconcile my ocean current map with the one Azelor put together. But I'm bit unsure of some things. I was under the impression that currents followed the continental shelf rather than the actual coastline? I notice that in Azelor's version it doesn't seem to affect the currents.

Edit: Also, if a current is mostly horizontal, but does move northwards at the same time, is that a warm current? Or is it neutral temperature wise?

[Azélor]

The shelf doesn't affect the surface current at least. Deep currents is another topic, it's more complicated.

[Deadshade]

As far as atmospheric circulation is concerned, you may also look at my tutorial : http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=30482

[A Blood Red Fox]

Well, I revised my currents and I also tried doing a rough attempt at Pixie's method for rainfall... but it didnt' work out at all. I followed the directions as closely as I could but the result was really difficult to use - I can't really tell what I'm looking at. I may have to attempt a different method for rainfall, or modify it somehow. Not sure, I haven't figured out yet.