Saintes, Map of a modern city

[Francissimo]

Hello cartographers!
Before i had the chance to join the community i was a gis cartographer, maping real world places using mapinfo and illustrator only. After i discovered the never ending source of inspiration provided by the guild i of course wanted to mix an aesthetic approach with "modern" mapping techniques based on GIS.
This map is an attempt to apply aesthetic raster techniques (based on the guild tutorials) to some GIS data of an existing mid sized city, Saintes.
Saintes, Charente-Maritime - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saintes_small.jpg
The map was made with QGIS, wilbur, Photoshop and illustrator. Thx to the cartographers who gently pointed out the things that needed to be improved in the wip thread of the map.

[Freodin]

A very fine map! Vibrant colours, great textures and excellent terrain shading.

The only thing that doesn't work out is the bevel effect for the (gold) buildings. It looks fine with the simple structures, but completly fails at the more complex ones, like the Lycée Palissy.

[Ilanthar]

Very good map Francissimo! I really love the general feeling - between an aerial picture and a more vibrant fantasy map - and the way you manage the terrain. It's also very easy to read and to use.

[Francissimo]

thx guys, happy you like the map Your're right about the bevel effect Freolin, it really isn't working on big buildings and i should have changed the effect on lycee palissy, that's the problem with that much buildings, you always miss something Glad you find the map easy to use Ilanthar, the map was made with a touristic purpose so the readability was important.

[Lingon]

Excellent map, I'm a big fan of your city style. The color choices are lovely, but I do feel like I've seen them already

[Francissimo]

Excellent map, I'm a big fan of your city style. The color choices are lovely, but I do feel like I've seen them already

When i watched the finished map and compared it to my other city maps i had the same thought

[arsheesh]

Nice work Frank, especially on the blending of different textures. I'm all repped out apparently though

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Nathan]

Wow. The overall style looks amazing. You should definitively submit your map to the city.
Oui, tu devrais clairement soumettre ta carte à la mairie, à la communauté d'agglo. ou à l'office du tourisme.

[Francissimo]

Thx for the feedback Arsheesh an Nathan I'm planing to contact the city but there is a question about the data i use, roads and buildings are from IGN "BD topo" and not free to use for everyone so i have to be sure it's ok before i send it everywhere. Next time i'll use some data from open street map, same accuracy and free to use!