March Challenge Entry: Iwaizumi

[Redrobes]

Whats this a terrain challenge - at least in part, count me in !

This looks like a great challenge for a number of reasons. Firstly its got prizes, secondly its a commission piece so has stricter scope than just a pretty map (which is not my forte anyway...), and its a terrain, a regional map, a town map and a battle map all in one. Also, for most of us at least, an unusual setting. My only worry is that I will not have enough time to make as much of it as it deserves - still hardest part of any journey is the first step...

I didn't immediately realize that this was a real place so this is a historical / FRPG piece then and so I think that the mountains would be a constant. I went off and got some height map data which I found was a lot harder than I thought it ought to be. Its not a huge area so I got some SRTM 3 arc second data which is public domain from NASA. I had to modify my DEM converter to read it properly and then got it into my GTS and hacked down the extents to the area shown which is the area around the town. There are some holes in the data where the shuttle must have failed to get a reading for whatever reason so ill have to manually patch that up. Its not terribly high res and there is better data out there but I don't have the google fu or at least the will to get it. This will be fine for me as a starting point. In any case GTS was built to improve height map data so we will see if anything better can be made from it.

I also was scouting for images and there's loads out there for the caves but only a handful for the town and most of that is modern so I think there's gonna be a lot of guesswork from me for what the regional landscape looks like, never having visited Japan.

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[Gamerprinter]

Same for me RR, I hadn't realized it was real place until I googled Iwaizumi Japan - and got a result, saw the reference to the caves and everything. So I just stole your thumbnail because I recognized the terrain from the Google Maps I've seen of the area and will use that for reference.

My plan is to focus more on the village and its immediate surroundings, then as Torstan suggested place an inset showing the wider region, including the mentioned mountain to the southwest and the caves to the north. That's my plan anyway.

Glad to see you starting early for a change! I'll get something posted today or tomorrow, once I finish the pain-in-the-ass day job that's so big its going into my evenings to finish and taking away good mapping time.

GP

[Redrobes]

Hey you cant steal my thumb - this is a compo ! Your welcome to it after of course but ye gods were supposed to be making a map using your own work or publicly obtainable stuff.

LOL - ripped after 9 mins... hah heh, thats gotta be a new record. I'm getting too old for this

Oh and emoticons still not working it seem... ::sigh::
edit:edit typed emoticons working, clicky clicky ones on the right not.

[Gamerprinter]

Well you know I'm not going to actually use the map for much more than a quick reference - since as all my recent work, my compo will be hand-drawn. 3D terrain maps don't mesh well with hand-drawn work. I'll use it like I use photographs as pointers for accuracy and nothing more...

GP

[Redrobes]

Hey its alright - I just found it funny. But I thought in the good Samaritan interests I should post the link to the data to save everyone an hour or two it took me to find it.

You can get the data from USGS seamless server but they must have changed it and now you have to log in for whatever reason I cant figure. Then there was this collab with Nasa and Japan with the ASTER data but I cant seem to get that either without jumping through hoops too small for my liking. But the shuttle data you can get from here:
http://dds.cr.usgs.gov/srtm/version2_1/
I don't know what people would use to knock it into whatever form you need (Wilbur probably I'm guessing) but the file format is just raw 16 bit numbers - its all in the docs on that page.

[Redrobes]

I have been doing a little more here and there but with so many days in and so little done I dont think my efforts are going to come up to the level required. I have an hour or two now so ill do some more and post where I am up to.

What I tried to do was isolate the town terrain so as to get a base but it didn't go all that well. My aim is to make one of those maps like you get in the tourist parts of Switzerland. They are like aerial photos taken from an angle - like ISO but not quite and they are usually hand painted. I think Ravs one so far is sorta like it. I was going to build up the sides of the mountain more than the entries so far tho and just put the town square down at the foot of the mountains.

Anyhoo - less chat and more map.

[Redrobes]

Todays efforts...

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[Djekspek]

wow, thats pretty impressive RR! especially the mountains came out very nice!

[Steel General]

Cool stuff here Redrobes!

[tilt]

that looks damn good, love the mountains. Looking forward to see the finished map