Map Creating

[JudgeDredd]

I wanted to use the map maker for creating - well - a map.

I was going to do Sicily or Cyprus....but here lyeth my problem. Doing an online search in Google reveals some nice maps....some big ones with quite a bit of detail....but all of them don't have "all" of the information needed to create a map. Most of what I see are normal, road,river,city,town kind of maps...and I can't find any "topographic" maps showing elevation. And even if I did find some (I did find one or two VERY basic ones) they are not to the same scale of the road map I've found. Also, I can't find any with scale...so have no idea how to scale them in the COTA map maker.

In short, I'm finding it difficult to find a decent, all in one map of Cyprus or Sicily...one with roads, rail, river, lakes, cities, towns, villages, topographic information AND of the same scale.

Any one have any ideas, pls?

Thx

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd
In short, I'm finding it difficult to find a decent, all in one map of Cyprus or Sicily...one with roads, rail, river, lakes, cities, towns, villages, topographic information AND of the same scale.

Any one have any ideas, pls?

Fly to Palermo, buy topographical map, fly back ? [;)]

Seriously : you don't need all the terrain features in 1 underlying map. Use one map for the topography, another for the roads etc. If there's a scale problem you can always work it out if you've got some reference points on the map and a current atlas.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Trigger Happy]

Quick response, best format for AA maps is 1.100,000 and smaller, but 200,000 can do I guess. Topographical maps you can find on some sites, like this one: http://mapy.mk.cvut.cz/index_e.html . Their finland collection is good. Not the best for western europe. There are some there also, at least for belgian maps at 100,000 http://gisserver.princeton.edu/metadata ... plorer.jsp

But good ones will more probably be in university collections or national archives.

[JudgeDredd]

Problem is, Eddie, I've found no images of both really. Topographical ones seem to be non-existent.
 
Oh well.....I'll get cracking on the road network thingy and then fudge/try again for the topographical one.
 
Thx for responses.
 
Trigger
First link didn't work...second one looks cool though and may be helpful...thx

[Arjuna]

Billy,
 
If you want to do Cyprus or Sicily then what you want are the GSGS 1:100,000 series as close to 1940/1 as you can find. Being a pom, you've got it made - after all they are British maps and there should be many libraries within England that have them. Now not all but some should be able to scan them for you. You will probably have to pay for that service. So I would start with your local library and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

[JudgeDredd]

Thx Dave

[GoodGuy]

Practice on a small map/project first.
If you can't obtain maps for your specific project, or if you're in doubt regarding the interpretation of topographical values/issues, obtain sat views.
Google earth can be helpful here (as cheap solution for first timers or for ppl who don't head for hist. accurate maps), as it provides you with a good overview to direct your project.
While streets, villages, cities, even rivers may have (been) changed in 60+ yrs, the topographical signatures remain the same, usually.

To practice, try and use google earth: tm.asp?m=1173489

G-Earth provides a ruler, which isn't uber-accurate, but which helps to create underlays for the SM. G-earth also allows to use (adjustable) transparent layers.
In the example above you may barely spot parts of a different map displaying ferry routes in the right bottom corner. It also displays the current/only highway....plus, it showed me that recent route maps are extremely inaccurate, as towns tend to be drawn up to several miles away from the actual spots compared to today's available sat-views, that's why you should head for the maps mentioned in other posts, if it comes to hist. accuracy.

I'm not using g-earth to draw this isle's infrastructure, but to verify that mountains or valleys are drawn correctly, and to display differences between current and past layout of the infrastructure when verifying the few ancient maps at hand.

[mefi]

I've been playing with the map maker all night. I'm amazed by it. Truly, truly awesome. A total novice like me has managed to create a very rough map of the south coast around dover/folkestone. [X(]

It looks awful in comparison to the scenario maps but I shall just have to work harder at learning the tricks. Super stuff Arjuna. [&o]

[Arjuna]

mefi,
 
So come on. Aren't we going to get a peek of your map? [:)]

[mefi]

ORIGINAL: Arjuna

mefi,

So come on. Aren't we going to get a peek of your map? [:)]

Nope. Not until I've redone it now I've proven to myself I can get the basic shape right

I need to get the topographical map next and start adding on the layers. Maybe then I'll start showing it in the hope that someone will take pity on me and give me a good version [:D]

One little thing - would be nice if map size wasn't limited in the actual map maker. Obviously the game couldn't handle it, but a function to cut a bigger map than the game can handle(after making it in mapmaker) into smaller pieces for scenarios would be very good. Or maybe it's there and I've missed it. Which wouldn't surprise me

[Vance]

mefi,

If you have a scan that needs to be made into a map I am willing to help. Not that I have any map making experience, it looks like fun to do.

[Arjuna]

We limited the map size so we would avoid problems where the game ground to an extremely painfully slow pace. You can crop an existing map to amke a smaller one for use in particular scenarios. However, your total size is limited.

[mefi]

Thanks for the offer Vance. I have the map currently on order via my university library. Due to my internet free time, it will be some time early October before I get back online (I hate ISPs) on anything but dialup so I'll throw it over to you then, or you are more than welcome to make a start on the map beforehand with whatever resources you can muster. The area I'm planning to cover is basically that around Dover and Folkestone - the bigger the map the better as it can then be cut up as required.

----------
Ah well Arjuna, it was worth a try though wasn't it [;)] Currently wading through the Sealion plans to see just how much I can fit in for a decent big scenario at a divisional level. I'm thinking perhaps three large maps will be needed and then once they are done they can be split up and reused as required. Might be easier to do them seperately - certainly from a PC memory usage point of view [:D]

[Red2112]

Greetings everyone, new to this forum and to COTA or any wargames, so you might see me making some dumm questions [:(] Anyway, I always like to help to the best I can and don´t really know if this will help all of you but you can have a look at "OziExplorer", its a neat program used for exporting, importing and editing maps for GPS units. I use it for my Garmin GPS for hikking. You might find some digital maps on military sites or hikking sites, I did for Spain. Well, good luck on your quest, and hope this shines some light for you. Good care all and good strategy!

Here´s the link to the offcial site:
Oziexplorer

Respectfuly,

Mike

[El Savior]

I try to use late 1930's or early 1940's era maps when available. You can order digital maps from National Library of Australia (costing few bucks of course). 1:100,000 is probably the best scale, 1:50,000 is what I used to make my Seven Roalds to Hell scenario. That map had maybe too many details. Currently I have 1:250,000 scale maps of whole Holland, but I wouldn't recommend using this scale. Map of this scale lacks detailed vegetation, also many other details are missing. Oh, and all those maps have topography! The reason why I order maps from NLA is that they are WW2 era maps and have topography too.