Map-Making Q&A

by **whatcouldgowrong** on Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:13 pm

Question: Is it acceptable to use old maps, like hundreds of years old that are now in the public domain? For example if I find a map on a university server that is free to the public, can I base a map on that, or use it as the template for adding my own textures and labels?

by **natty dread** on Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:23 pm

Of course it is.

by **whatcouldgowrong** on Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:46 am

Awesome. I was hoping I wouldn't have to draw the islands by hand. I'm glad actual cartography is not required

by **natty dread** on Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:14 am

Actually, you will have to make your own graphics. But you can use any map to trace the borders. That is, you take the existing map, put it on layer 1, then trace the borders on layer 2.

by **TheSaxlad** on Tue Jun 15, 2010 12:06 pm

I have been using GIMP and now I want to do text for my legend on my map, however I can only get one style, one font and most importantly one size of text.

Has anyone else had this problem and does anyone know the solution to it?

Thanks.

by **thenobodies80** on Tue Jun 15, 2010 3:59 pm

with the text tool you should be able to use all the fonts you have on your machine.
1. Click on the text tool
2. Select the text tab on you tool panel
3. Click on the Letter icon, then choose your font
If you want to change the size or the position of the text simply change the other option available on that tab.

Click image to enlarge.

http://docs.gimp.org/2.6/en/gimp-tool-text.html

by **MrBenn** on Mon Jun 21, 2010 5:33 pm

Evil DIMwit wrote:
NuclearMarathon wrote:I know that the limit dimensions of maps are "small: 630x600px" and "large 840x800px"...

But can you make a map that's wider but shorter, or taller but thinner than the limits?
ie: "small: 730x500px" "large: 970x670" ?

No, doesn't work that way, sadly.

As others have said, those are the maximum dimensions currently allowed; although you don;t need to stick to them. You can make a narrow and shorter image, but you cannot exceed those dimensions.

by **ender516** on Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:30 pm

The Map XML Wizard tool (blessings be upon chipv) produces XML with the following header:

Code: Select all: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

which looks perfectly correct, based on my reading of the XML 1.0 Specification. However, the Map Inspect portion of the Map Maker tool does not process this properly, and only works if the header is changed to

Code: Select all: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

(note the lower case encoding name).
I have no problem with the lower case version being accepted, since most naming conventions encourage case insensitivity, but since the XML 1.0 Specification says "UTF-8" should be used, I think if only one form can be supported by the Map Maker tool, then it needs to be this one.

An odd sidenote: the Test XML portion of the Map Maker tool has no problem with the upper case version.

by **natty dread** on Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:57 am

ender, actually now that I look at it- I don't think the uppercase utf-8 was the problem at all. For example the .XML for my Orient Express map has the utf-8 in uppercase yet it works fine in mapmaker.

...see, I changed it back to uppercase and it works fine:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/2/7/2 ... ns.1.0.xml

by **ender516** on Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:53 am

Sadly, my employer blocks fileden.com so I can't check anything here on my lunch, but I was getting a little confused last night, trying versions (yours, mine, and hybrids). I guess I will check again this evening at home.

by **natty dread** on Tue Aug 17, 2010 1:04 pm

ender516 wrote:Sadly, my employer blocks fileden.com so I can't check anything here on my lunch, but I was getting a little confused last night, trying versions (yours, mine, and hybrids). I guess I will check again this evening at home.

My guess is that your first version used the wrong UTF-8 encoding...

I always save my xml:s with windows notepad, and they work fine.

by **kengyin** on Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:58 am

im not sure where to ask this so i'll ask it here if you dont mind, do you have to be premium to make maps? are there any good and free programs for macs? and about how skilled do you have to be and how long would it take to make a map? thanks

by **natty dread** on Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:39 am

You don't need to be premium, making a map takes 6-12 months, and you need some graphical skill. I don't know anything about mac programs though.

by **ender516** on Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:53 am

ender516 wrote:The Map XML Wizard tool (blessings be upon chipv) produces XML with the following header:

Code: Select all
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

which looks perfectly correct, based on my reading of the XML 1.0 Specification. However, the Map Inspect portion of the Map Maker tool does not process this properly, and only works if the header is changed to

Code: Select all
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

(note the lower case encoding name).
I have no problem with the lower case version being accepted, since most naming conventions encourage case insensitivity, but since the XML 1.0 Specification says "UTF-8" should be used, I think if only one form can be supported by the Map Maker tool, then it needs to be this one.

An odd sidenote: the Test XML portion of the Map Maker tool has no problem with the upper case version.

Just in case anyone was following this and didn't catch my report of the cause elsewhere, the real problem turned out to be blanks in the URL. Once I renamed my fileden folder to use underscores, the problem went away.

by **army of nobunaga** on Fri Sep 17, 2010 1:01 pm

quick question.. is it easier to make portions of a map from scratch (blank white page) or take a high resolution digital photo of something you want and insert it and begin from that point?

thanx

by **Evil DIMwit** on Fri Sep 17, 2010 1:56 pm

army of nobunaga wrote:quick question.. is it easier to make portions of a map from scratch (blank white page) or take a high resolution digital photo of something you want and insert it and begin from that point?

That really depends on what you're drawing. If you've got a map you want to make digital, I recommend that you import the photograph and then trace new, clean lines over it.

by **army of nobunaga** on Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:00 pm

roger... that is what ive decided to try today. Its coming along. I love working with my hands so I kicked around doing this in sculpture clay (everything but the outside and the ants) and then photoing it. its coming along though. thanx for the quick answer

by **ender516** on Fri Sep 17, 2010 6:16 pm

army of nobunaga wrote:roger... that is what ive decided to try today. Its coming along. I love working with my hands so I kicked around doing this in sculpture clay (everything but the outside and the ants) and then photoing it. its coming along though. thanx for the quick answer

I don't know what your idea is, but that portion that I put in bold has me intrigued.

by **WTell** on Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:39 pm

Looking through the forums and postings here has spiked my interested but the coder in me is a bit piqued. I see a lot of focus on graphics and gameplay but little emphasis other than the cursory once over of your XML API. I have looked through the posts for what I could find, and have found several postings and re-postings of the basic XML tutorial. However, I have been wondering if there is a complete listing of the tags recognized by your XML parser, and if so, if there would be any way to publicly access it in a user-friendly version (I am picturing here SUN's Java API index).

If, as I suspect, a complete listing of all recognized tags is included within the basic tutorial, I would like to suggest a project be started to create one (if a reference does not already exist). Can someone point me in the right direction here?

by **natty dread** on Wed Sep 22, 2010 5:29 am

Yes the XML tutorial is a complete list.

No one really needs to know XML anymore though, when we have XML Wizards and all that. And if you're a programmer and need the info to make your own application then you can just read the tuts for the XML.

by **army of nobunaga** on Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:21 am

Because of my lifestyle I only own laptops. While doing my map, I found that laptops suck with graphics programs. I ordered and will recieve today a laptop with a quad core. Was wondering if you guys have any experience with one of these?. It should run any graphics-art program I want to put on it right? I upgraded to a nice (for a laptop) graphics card. Im hoping this will work.

by **natty dread** on Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:39 am

I'd say the #1 criteria would be screen size. I did my first map on a laptop with a 15" screen with 1024x768 resolution and it was agony... well, compared to how neat it is to work with the 19" I have now.

I'd say, for proper graphics work, you should look into getting one with at least a 17" screen (or the widescreen equivalent of 17")

by **army of nobunaga** on Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:43 am

it is 17 inch point something.. I will use a hdmi cable to put it on my tele screen though, with the graphics card i think I can get the resolution where I fit a lot on the sceen... this is where I was getting the slowups on my other laptops. Trying to get the resolution high enough so I did not have to scroll around constantly. That and the paint.net and gimp program jsut was too much.

edit
----
answer: Yes. It has some Horsepower... It is running damn hot atm though, will probabaly have to get a cooling base, but yes time to start back up on el mapa

by **ironsij0287** on Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:17 pm

Hi, I'm new to this place but have immediately become intrigued with the Map Foundry and want to possibly create some maps. Here's the software I work with:

-ArcMap 10
-Photoshop CS2/CS4 (depending on which computer I'm on)
-Illustrator CS2/CS4

I would use existing GIS datasets in ArcMap to create the base and then use the Adobe programs for final touch ups.