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Thread: A couple of questions: Need Earth Maps

  1. #1
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    Post A couple of questions: Need Earth Maps

    I'm working on an ambitious project, mapping an entire globe for my campaign setting. It is based on a projection of earth 50 million years in the future. I've already done a ton of work on it, but now I'm getting down to the nitty-gritty things, like placing rivers and lakes and mountains.

    I'm largely able to do this by looking at Earth maps; erosion only changes so much, and as long as the region hasn't had massive tectonic shifts things will remain fairly similar.

    Right now I'm mainly looking for a map which lists mountain peaks.

    Also, I'm in need of some advice on what level of detail I should show on a map which is a 2,000 mile by 2,000 mile square (I'm doing it in 200 dpi in a 10 by 10 inch canvas). I'm looking to make both a satellite style map and a hand drawn "in world" style map.

    Thanks all.

  2. #2
    Administrator waldronate's Avatar
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    Something like http://www.scotese.com/future.htm right? According to that map there will be some pretty substantial changes in climate as the major landmasses start to rotate away from the north pole.

    In any mapmaking endeavor, the first question is "why am I making this map" followed closely by "who will be using it and for what purpose?" A trade map, for example, will focus on trade routes, areas of likely difficulty on the trip, and supply depots. A travel map will focus on places to rest and scenic areas. A taxation map will focus on taxable items such as property boundaries and perhaps buildings. And so on...

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    Publisher Facebook Connected bartmoss's Avatar
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    Even if it sounds dumb: Google is your friend. For maps, don't forget to check Wikipedia and the CIA World Fact Book.

    3200x3200km is a continental map, really, so I am guessing you should just look at any map of North America or another continent and see what type of map features they have.

    Also, there are some predictions on what earth might look like. For example:

    http://www.scotese.com/future.htm

    Which is actually +50 MA, so should be a good source for you.

  4. #4
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    Oh, I've already established the map, I'm way beyond that. I'm uploading the current map (I'm not sure the rivers will show at this compression); it's only one hemisphere of the world, but that's because that's the only part of the world that I'm caring about at the moment.

    It doesn't follow the scotese map exactly, but I did use that for a lot of inspiration. I took some liberties where I thought it would look cool (like I actually opened the African rift, even though the website said it wouldn't; I needed to do it to try to hide Africa's shape a bit more).

    Right now I'm working on detailing things. I know the elevation (that layer is at 50% opacity in the uploaded map), but that doesn't help me identify where the individual peaks are (there will be erosion, but I don't think entire mountains will be gone). I've also done a lot of comparisons of earth climate and vegetation to establish the locations of my setting's biomes. At the moment I'm having a difficult time placing mountain peaks; I know where the ranges are (especially the new ones), but I can't find a useful map (my Google-fu is weak).

    I'll poke around at what maps during the middle ages looked like for my "in world" map. But my maps are being made primarily for my use and my player's use: travel distances, cities and towns, terrain type, landmarks, and national boundaries are going to be the most important things.
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  5. #5
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    Just going to give this a little bump.

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