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!