Looking for assistance getting started (Historian)

[ajcsiv]

Hey there.

I'm currently reading through the forums, searching for any and all tutorials you guys have linked previously and hunting for software recommendations, however I figured I'd write out what I was looking for somewhere. So here goes.

I'm looking to make historical maps (rather than fantasy ones) for use in my work as a historian. I want to be able to create filters so that I can turn on and off things like political borders, battle sites, little information boxes that you can hover your mouse over, etc. I currently have little to no knowledge of map-making (beyond what I've started reading on these forums), and I am very invested in getting maps that are not only accurate to real-world landscape, but also preferably can have modern cities turned off so that I can input reconstructions of historical cities etc.

2D maps and map-making is fine, but I would kick myself later if I didn't actively search for 3D software and tutorials now.

I am probably skipping a swathe of things that I might want or need to learn simply from lack of knowledge of the field, so any and all advice or assistance is appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

[johnvanvliet]

I'm looking to make historical maps (rather than fantasy ones) for use in my work as a historian. I want to be able to create filters so that I can turn on and off things like political borders, battle sites, little information boxes that you can hover your mouse over, etc. I currently have little to no knowledge of map-making (beyond what I've started reading on these forums), and I am very invested in getting maps that are not only accurate to real-world landscape, but also preferably can have modern cities turned off so that I can input reconstructions of historical cities etc.

have a look at GIS software ( Geographic / Geographical Information System)
Qgis is a free GPL software

http://www.qgis.org/en/site/

a bit of WARNING!!!! on 3d software

i use Blender it also is free under the GPL license

images are small
a 3d mesh made from that image is HUGE!!!!

a good example would the many 3d renders of the minor planet "Ceres" i create
the heightmap is 2.2 meg for a 1024 x1024 pixel image)
A good quality 1314x1314 girded mesh made from that is 280 meg
example:
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...dpost&p=228058

one more -- i REALLY!!! need to finish this
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...919#post271919
the mesh used on Middle earth is 609 meg

you will use up drive space VERY FAST with 3d

[ajcsiv]

Duly noted. Ensure have significant drive space before engaging in 3D projects.

How capable are programs such as Blender at taking a 2d image and rendering it into a 3d one? Such as the LOTR example you provided. Did it identify the mountains and then apply height itself (which you modified) or did you have to do all of that yourself?

[johnvanvliet]

blender by it's self really can not convert a single image into a 3d one
other tools are needed for that
i use a custom bit of code for what is called " Shape From Shade" for single images

and code for "shape from motion" ( bundler, with a blender plugin) for a few images taken in a specific way

and Stereo pipeline( from NASA/JPL ) for stereo image pairs


The Blender render engine is a ray tracer ,so for most things it is rather good
PIXAR's - Renderman( free for non commercial) is a bit better but it is meant for running on a big cluster of computers
https://renderman.pixar.com/view/renderman

For the LOTR map the Height map was used as a displacement map for a mesh ,the brighter the pixels are higher the mountain is.
For a 2d HeightMap - the x,y,and z values for the mesh are the image .
the Z access in the mesh ( height) is the brightness of the pixel .

[Midgardsormr]

You may also wish to check in with the forum at cartotalk.com
They will likely be more help with the geography part, where this forum tends to place more emphasis on the artistic end of things.

[ajcsiv]

Thanks both of you!

I'm currently looking into starting with GIMP, but I've not seen anything in GIMP that far that lets me drop in things like pins with pop-up boxes or anything when you hove the mouse over them. Is there a separate program or a plugin that does that?

[johnvanvliet]

the name if the program is
G.I.M.P. ( GNU Image Manipulation Program )
it is a PHOTO editor

it is not a program to make online dynamic web pages ( or things like that)
it dose not make animated web page style menus

for things like that

you use a web server like Apache and a CMS that uses java-script or Ruby , or Flash ( but flash should be dead!!! and long buried 6 ft under ) so HTML5

or a java jar in a java vm or browser

[selden]

Have you considered creating overlays for Google Map?

Here's a tutorial: http://serc.carleton.edu/eyesinthesk...ting_data.html

[Rythal]

Hey ajcsiv, in addition to all the things already mentioned, you should consider d3.js, as it's pretty much the standard library for data visualisation on the web nowadays. There is also a ton of tutorials on implement, but you'll have to learn a bit of code (it'll help you in the long run though!).

Here are some resources
https://maptimeboston.github.io/d3-maptime/#/
https://datamaps.github.io/
http://www.d3noob.org/2013/03/a-simp...explained.html

Hope that helps!