Hello from the GIS world

[Dyatchko]

Hi,

I'll say up front that my primary reason for joining this site is to LEARN. :-) 5 minutes browsing through the featured maps shows me that I'm in the presence of serious masters here.

I've spent the last 15 years of my career in GIS - spatial data analytics, modeling (data not fashion), db management. Most of my time at work is spent in ArcGIS - ArcMap, ArcGIS Server, ArcSDE, and the occasional dabbling in Python to make tedious things quicker. My experience in cartographic production is pretty much contained within ArcMap, where most of the users I support request fairly "standard" maps without a lot of whimsy or frills.

I've recently decided to start running a game again - a long forgotten love - and as a "spatial" guy I consider good maps a necessity to an enjoyable experience. I'm sure I'll devour the various helpful tutorials I've already seen. And hopefully I'll find a couple aesthetic tricks here to use at work, too!

I'm particularly interested in any sort of fictional or realistic late 19th century maps, as I'll be running Victoriana (a steam-punk environment). Any pointers related to this genre would be appreciated!

Also, what's the general feeling on CC3? Seems like a great program and quite helpful - sort of a stripped-down, appearance-focused version of ArcMap for fantasy maps. Worth it? Again, thoughts appreciated!

[Francissimo]

Hello Dyatchko and welcome to the guild! As a GIS user for my day job i can already tell you that there are lots of things to learn here that can be usefull for a GIS mapper To me the weak point of GIS is aesthetic and this cartography forum as an almost opposite approach, the main focus is aesthetic and map based on perceptions instead of just showing accurate data like GIS maps. Personnally i have greatly improved my skills in relief shading by learning from the forum tutorials and watching other cartographers work. You will also see lots of ways to improve GIS maps with texture work on your layers in photoshop.
About CC3 i haven't used this software so i can only repeat what i've read about this software. It seems great if you want good results quickly but you have less freedom about the style of your maps. Most of the best maps of the forum are done with photoshop and a tablet pen, the learning curve may be more steep than CC3, but you'll be able to do more things.