How to represent nomadic people

[John Paul]

Sorry if this has been asked or is the wrong place to ask. I was wondering how you would represent a nomadic people on the map. Just text or is there a certain way of doing so. sorry new at this!

[Mouse]

Hello John - Welcome to the Guild

I suppose the answer to your question would depend a lot on what kind of map you were drawing.

If it was an isometric map - one that shows mountains and trees and things like that from a side perspective rather than a top down one - I would probably use a Bedouin tent symbol to indicate the centre of an area that is more frequently used. On a more conventional OS type map I'd probably mark the area with a dotted line, a shaded area, or both, and add a label to it.

On either kind of map I'd probably also mark the more heavily used trails between the major camp sites - as trails.

[John Paul]

Awesome thank you!

[Mouse]

That's not a definitive answer, by the way. That expert label with my name? You get one of those as soon as you've made 1000 comments, so really - I'm an expert chatterbox!!!

It might be worth waiting to see if there are other more knowledgeable people with better ideas than me before you take my words as any kind of 'absolute'

[Chashio]

Yes, what Mouse said. Also... Here's a nice example by Lingon, for pondering: https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...l=1#post298360

[jbgibson]

Lingon's notation is awesome. Seems like I have done a map specifically to show a migrant peoples' range, and I just shaded two areas and indicated they were summer vs. winter ranges with text.

[jbgibson]

another fun option- if you like patterns- is to overlay symbols or crosshatching at a low enough intensity to not interfere with any features you consider more important. A natural progression could indicate a sequence of first here then there, like maybe vertical, slant right, horizontal, slant left...

[srt]

Yes, what Mouse said. Also... Here's a nice example by Lingon, for pondering: https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...l=1#post298360

I really like this, both aesthetically and in terms of accuracy/information conveyed! Thanks for linking to that post.

I've never had a regular system for dealing with nomadic people. Usually when I'm drawing maps they're meant to be made in-universe by settled people, so nomadic peoples' territories are usually on the edge of the map anyway and often only vaguely defined. I would use things like dotted or dashed borders to indicate approximations. If you were going to use symbols, maybe you might show the symbols in different colors at different places, indicating where the group could be found in different seasons? (eg north in the summer, south in the winter, that kind of thing).