Ascension: I'm with you. I keep fighting with myself to not take this into photoshop - though now Ravells has me thinking I could get away with it to get the layout done then trace

Hrmmmm *ponder*

Nah. I'm too far in, and I'm actually learning to use the program in the manner in which it was intended. Really, I was having trouble with inspiration. I must have started 2 dozen maps over the last week, and never got past the land-mass building stage. I don't have any paid commissions going on right now, or unpaid for that matter (well except this one now) and it felt lik all the creative juices were gone. That's when I remembered the email from AslanC in query about doing a modern city map - and I was all "maybe someday" while cringing at the thought of fighting with Illustrator.

It helps to be doing something new - and while I started with a simple online tutorial, I quickly realized I was going to have to completely change the method if I was going to get it to look anywhere near professional quality.

I've started the on/off ramps for the highways, I'll post an update to them later (i'm drifting between naps right now). I've actually been using Google maps as an inspiration for the colour scheme (though not *too* closely) but there's certain aspects to the look i'm just not sure how to get just right

Thanks to everyone for the support!