5 replies to this topic

[Patrakis]

Hello all,

I'm new to these lands but i am familiar with the ArcGIS family of products and i dabble in fantasy maping for my hobby that is D&D.

I wanted to know if anyone had ever tried to use GIS software to do fantasy maping. I find the idea of intputing a complete fantasy world and document it in a GIS environment very intriguing and wanted to know if anyone had tried it ... and maybe get pointers as too how to go about it.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Pat

[François Goulet]

Hi!

Fantasy maps aren't different than "real" maps. I haven't try it, but since the drawing capabilities are limited in ArcGIS (not impossible, but you don't have the tools of a graphic application like Illustrator and Photoshop), I'd look at MaPublisher to do it, and you could import it in ArcGIS after... For the rest, it would be "classic" mapping.

You should check Mike Schley's work in this topic. He have done some of the best Game maps I've seen and I don't know why it couldn't be done in GIS at some level. But for me, the big advantage of GIS for cartography is the reusability of the data you create. Past that, I've always export my maps in .ai format and finish them in Illustrator. If I had to make a single map, I would do it entirely in Illy or Photoshop. For a complete world, GIS could be an option.

[frax]

What would the point be to use GIS software for imaginary lands? I can only see the point if you are working with a big and established world that multiple people create maps for.

Since you are going to create your "data" from scratch without any real data catchment procedures, why not use software optimized for drawing - e.g. photoshop, painter, illustrator etc?

[Aris]

I had the same question on month ago when i started a series of maps for a book of a friend of mine. At the beginning i was thinking to do the entire project in GIS software. These would include the creating of the contour line and rivers etch. But it came out that it needs really a lot of work to do that so i finally worked out only the shore line, country borders and the rivers in GIS and then exported in CS3 where i finished the project (of course a lot of work in Photoshop). Finally what i think is that the only reason to work in GIS is if you wish to produce a series of maps for the same area in different scales, for the production of only one map doesn’t worth the effort. Here is one of the maps

Aris

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[ProMapper]

I had the same question on month ago when i started a series of maps for a book of a friend of mine. At the beginning i was thinking to do the entire project in GIS software. These would include the creating of the contour line and rivers etch. But it came out that it needs really a lot of work to do that so i finally worked out only the shore line, country borders and the rivers in GIS and then exported in CS3 where i finished the project (of course a lot of work in Photoshop). Finally what i think is that the only reason to work in GIS is if you wish to produce a series of maps for the same area in different scales, for the production of only one map doesn’t worth the effort. Here is one of the maps

Aris

The map looks great but again, even a fantasy land needs to look like real land. I think one can select some real land DEM and the selection of area to conform with rivers, oceans, hills etc. Now one can easily create surfaces and contours for it. The huts, pathways and other features can then be created after importing it into Illustrator. Well just a loud thinking, but you are the guy who knows the agonies of making a Fantasy Map.

Anu
http://www.mapsandlocations.com

[Patrakis]

Hi guyz,

I understand what you all mean and i agree that for a one drawing deal, GIS wouldn't be the way to go. But the project i have is to map an entire fantasy planet (the forgotten realms for those who know the game). I want to make an Atlas of the Forgotten Realms and in that light, i think a GIS package is justified no? I want to document it as if it was a real world. Their is an online project that does something similar for Middle Earth from the Lord of the Rings.

Call me crazy though for that is a life long dream of mine...maybe i'll keep it for my reirement

Thanks

Pat