A lot of our maps don't have them. Are we not using enough special symbols?
A lot of our maps don't have them. Are we not using enough special symbols?
Venus Public Transit, Map Of Ceres, Jack Vance's Ports Of Call & Lurulu ... why do I only have 3 maps here?
More special symbols! More keys and legends! I think that most people overlook this part as they're just using simple dots for things and then they run out of free space to put a big square in a corner to help peeps figger out what's what. I know that I've been guilty a time or two of forgetting one and now that I think about it I forgot to put roads in my key for my latest map.
I'm also thinking that sometimes we get so focused on making a pretty map that we forget all of the informational stuff that we need to put on an image...think of how many times you've heard "what's the scale?"
Maybe we need to make a checklist and put it in a sticky "Things every map needs to have".
1. a map
2. a scale
3. a compass
4. a key (for roads, towns, borders, parks, airports, etc)
5. a legend (for terrain features like forests, mtns, swamps, etc)
6. cartouche (box to contain the above info)
Optional
1. title
2. frame
3. grid
4. artists name, date, etc
I may have gotten key and legend backwards here but you get the idea.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
Dammit, I thought several times, "I need a scale on this Map Of Ceres" ... and I never put it on! Well, at least I have the planet's radius, so the scale is indicated to some degree. But still. Meh.
I had no clue there's a difference btwn Legend and Key. Hmm.
Venus Public Transit, Map Of Ceres, Jack Vance's Ports Of Call & Lurulu ... why do I only have 3 maps here?
I don't really know either...just seems kinda weird to lump them all together under one name. Maybe someone who does those real world maps can answer that, I know there are a few here.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
Venus Public Transit, Map Of Ceres, Jack Vance's Ports Of Call & Lurulu ... why do I only have 3 maps here?
All of mine get a scale and a compass before declaring complete... unless they're battle maps... and even some of those get a scale...
As for a Key... when I finally finish a map well enough to have roads and such on it... yea I'll probably ad that... right now my maps don't even always have borders...