Physical Map of Etarek Depicting Regions and Seas

[laevex_esre]

This map is a sort of introduction to a set of regional maps of my high-tech conworld - Etarek.

It's basically just for the purposes of naming the continents, seas, and physical regions.

Etarek Physical Map.jpg

Any feedback would be great. I'm working on regional maps of a similar style, so if you have any criticisms then I'd love to hear them.

[jbgibson]

Extremely nice atlas work you have going. I like it a lot - have a smidgen of rep, do.

[furiousuk]

Oh, very nice work, I think I'm impressed by every aspect of this work! Great work!

[Lukc]

I love it, and the old school Mercator projection. I see you've taken into account the high latitude deformation and left out most details there. Very nice indeed.

Just one Q - no ice sheets? Warm world then.

[Hai-Etlik]

I love it, and the old school Mercator projection.

It's in Plate Carrée/Equidistant Cylindrical/Equirectangular projection, not Mercator.

A couple of notes. The scale bar is inappropriate as this map doesn't have a consistent scale. Although the small scale details show appropriate distortion for the projection, the large scale details do not. If you were to apply it to a globe, the continents would probably look OK, but the rivers and coastlines would be distorted. The rivers just look odd in their own right, on a map that looks to be fairly precise, they look highly stylized: being too wide, too, "ragged", and far, far, too short.

I'd have chosen a different projection that does a better job of representing shape or area, and drawn the rivers as simple lines instead.

[laevex_esre]

Thanks for the kind words everybody. I appreciate it as I'm pretty new to all this mapping.

Just one Q - no ice sheets? Warm world then.

I wanted to put ice sheets on, but I just couldn't work out if they be placed over the mountains. When I tried it they looked really odd.

It's in Plate Carrée/Equidistant Cylindrical/Equirectangular projection, not Mercator.

It’s actually in equirectangular, but I stretched it slightly to fit into the same dimensions as my regional map. That’s probably very bad practice, but this map is just to depict where the physical features of the world are roughly.

The scale bar is inappropriate as this map doesn't have a consistent scale.

Should it not have a scale bar at all then?

Although the small scale details show appropriate distortion for the projection, the large scale details do not. If you were to apply it to a globe, the continents would probably look OK, but the rivers and coastlines would be distorted. The rivers just look odd in their own right, on a map that looks to be fairly precise, they look highly stylized: being too wide, too, "ragged", and far, far, too short.

That’s because they’re not rivers. They’re just big estuaries caused by a recent raise in sea level. I do intend to include the rivers, but it seems like a lot of effort right now.

I'd have chosen a different projection that does a better job of representing shape or area, and drawn the rivers as simple lines instead.

I agree that I should have chosen a better projection, but the regional maps will do that job hopefully. I will do the rivers when I have time. Importing the river images from Wilbur looks pretty terrible, so I’ll have to trace over each individual river I think. Arduous.

Any more constructive criticisms? I want to make this map as good as it can be, but I am not starting it from scratch in a different projection.

[Hai-Etlik]

Should it not have a scale bar at all then?

Yep, no scale bar. If it had been a straight Plate Carée, then scale would have been consistent for measurements along the equator, and along meridians. As you have a different scale factor for latitude and longitude they are not consistent with each other. All other distances are all over the place regardless. After all, the entire top and bottom edges of the map each represent a single point.

That’s because they’re not rivers. They’re just big estuaries caused by a recent raise in sea level. I do intend to include the rivers, but it seems like a lot of effort right now.

In that case they seem too long and the ragged edges are still odd. And they are still going to look distorted when you do your larger scale regional maps, at least those of them in higher latitudes.

[Lukc]

I stand corrected. Thanks.

It's in Plate Carrée/Equidistant Cylindrical/Equirectangular projection, not Mercator.

[Steel General]

Nicely done, only thing I might suggest is lowering the opacity of the grid a bit. Seems just a wee bit obtrusive to me.

[Aenigma]

I'm drooling... That's so awesome! I'm jealous of your skills