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Triceratops

A GIS of the Inner Sea region of Golarion

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Triceratops
, 05-22-2016 at 08:15 PM (35741 Views)
Hello,

This post is to get some ideas down and make a plan.

I want to make a GIS of the Inner Sea that will be searchable, measurable, zoomable, and interactive. I want a player or gamemaster to be able to learn about areas in an easy way.

There are two sides to this project. Both start by georeferencing the map of the Inner Sea. Paizo has published a global map of Golarion. It is not to scale but it is still a good guide for where the Inner Sea is. Once the Inner Sea map is georeferenced, digitizing features becomes easier.

Part 1
I plan to use the Inner Sea basemap with my own layers on top. The basemap in the Pathfinder Society Campaign Setting is, I believe, newer than the one in the Inner Sea World Guide. It is prettier as well. Eventually I would like to have,
  • Regions/Nations
  • Cities/Towns/Settlements
  • Rivers/Water bodies
  • Roads
  • Important Locations
  • Adventure Path Routes


The goal of this is to have a massive database, but in the end, it is not original information. I also want to create something. This brings us to…

Part 2
I want to create a DEM of the Inner Sea. Eventually I would like to work out weather/wind patters and drainage basins/watersheds. I believe enough information is given to accomplish this.

The map itself shows sea level on two sides. I can set that to zero. Figuring out river directions should be easy. From there, the river shapes will give clues as to slope.

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I am hoping for some input from the community. I will post maps as I generate them. The videos will come on as close to the same schedule as I can, but the maps are my priority as I am also trying to build a portfolio.

What kinds of information would you, as a current or prospective player or gamesmaster?

Updated 05-25-2016 at 06:14 PM by Triceratops (Update)

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Comments

  1. johnvanvliet's Avatar
    take a look at the software Qgis
  2. Triceratops's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by johnvanvliet
    take a look at the software Qgis
    Thanks for the advise.
    I will be using ArcGIS. I am thinking of switching to the open source QGIS but at this time I am more concerned with producing some results than in taking the time to learn some new software. I'll be looking into QGIS for publishing the finished web map as well.
  3. Triceratops's Avatar
    Update:
    I started building my GIS. I used the not-to-scale map of Golarion available almost anywhere to estimate the Inner Sea's location on the planet. Since Golarion is the same size as Earth, It made it easy to scale until the measure tool and the printed scale-bar agree.
    Now I have a georeferenced image of the Inner Sea.

    Last night I finished the polygons for the nations. All 39 of them. They are named but I haven't added any more information yet. I'll be doing that when I closely examine each one and place cities and towns.
    Today I will be working on the River Kingdoms. I'll create polygons for the territories and then place the cities and towns. I will probably also note river directions.

    Stage One will be information. Basically building a database.
    Stage Two will be analyzing the land features and trying to come up with a fairly realistic topographic map. Rivers will be the biggest indicators.