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  • Showing only topics in ~creative with the tag "maps". Back to normal view / Search all groups
    1. Need help making an atlas-styled map without ultramega distortion

      Hey, tildes - cqns here. I know tildes ain't never do me no wrong (apologies for the heavy colloquialism), but I've been working off and on with a worldbuilding project for the past decade and a...

      Hey, tildes - cqns here.

      I know tildes ain't never do me no wrong (apologies for the heavy colloquialism), but I've been working off and on with a worldbuilding project for the past decade and a half. Some four years ago, I finally hunkered down and created a world map completely from scratch. Due to my extraordinarily high standards, I couldn't help but slowly figure out that there was a lot of things wrong with it after I went through the effort of making it, so I ended up redoing it several times over with additions and subtractions, still feeling like there was something missing.

      Turns out, my hunch was correct. Long story short, I found a website called World Orogen that procedurally generates a planet within a certain degree of "realism". Tweaking some settings, I came across a design that was good enough for working on outside of the website, in which I was beset on another issue that quickly spiraled out of control, and I found myself completely out of my depth - map projections, which is a rabbit hole all on its own, and I could only understand the bare minimum basics, such as lat/lon, but that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge. Seriously.

      Undertaking this next phase of the project would eventually (and I do say "eventually" because I haven't even gotten around to it yet) lead me to making individual isolated continent maps like how one would find in an atlas. I have asked the Orange Alien Website for tips on r/mapmaking, and while I did get some nudges in the right direction, I'm still attempting to wrap my head around the programs they had suggested. QGIS and G.Projector being the areas of my focus. It's hard enough for me trying to fathom the extensive features of QGIS in general, and as for G.Projector, it comes with its own kind of clunkiness that I'm slowly getting used to. My ultimate question here is...how would I go about finding a map projection to ensure size and area accuracy (because both are apparently different) of all of my continents?

      For reference, I have included the map in question so that if anyone wants to give it a go and offer up a solution.

      Catbox Link

      24 votes
    2. What are your favorite imaginary/fictitious maps?

      (Only took me 2 months /s). Also this map is by no means a complete list. Santa-pocalypse: What if santa was (a tiny bit more) realistic? A timeline where Santa delivers his presents via quantum...

      (Only took me 2 months /s). Also this map is by no means a complete list.

      Santa-pocalypse: What if santa was (a tiny bit more) realistic?

      A timeline where Santa delivers his presents via quantum tunneling and due to a failure in this device, he causes a nuclear explosion when he accelerates to relativistic speeds in order to gift Children worldwide. Given nuclear fusion doesn't work like that and the Shockwave travels westward counterclockwise, I disagree with the notion this is realistic, but that's pedantry.

      What the fuck: The Timeline

      Someone mashed dozens of fictitious worlds and the real world at different times to make a very weird and high-effiry map.

      Industrialized, colonial, imperial China

      A timeline where the Ming is an expansionist empire and puppets nearly half of the world's population. Given China has been as large and populous as entire continents at times, the fact that China had so much the leadership felt they could be self-sufficient and refuse to try to expand until like, 10 years ago, I find this scenario something that could totally have happened but didn't due to disinterested leadership.

      What if the new world didn't exist?

      A world where columbus is right about Geography and the Americas don't exist. While I don't think it's particularly realistic, I find this scenario underrated.

      A grim, dark rainbow: What if the current rightwards shift of politics doesn't stop?

      What it says on the title. Not particularly realistic given the CCP and NATO apparently collapse, but I like to use this map as a stand-in for the worst-case scenario of the near-future.

      The dragon in shackles: Qing China and Japan in 1932

      A timeline where Qing China re-unifies China, but at large costs to their economy, independence, infrastructure and territory.

      Flavo et purpura: A world in which Islam never leaves Arabia Ca 800 AD

      A very detailed map with quite a few differences from what happened IRL. Far more romanized.

      Spain if the re*conquista continued into North Africa

      A timeline where the Spanish conquer the Western half of the Maghreb. The justificarion is that Pre-columbian empires ally themselves to other European nations to not be colonized by Spain, so the Spanish focus their imperialist efforts into neighboring Morocco. Obviously not very realistic, but the maps are cool.

      Fictitious maps based on real data:

      The world divided into 200 areas of equal population

      What it says in the title.

      14 votes