Lines in oceans

[Savage Orc]

I'm new to map making and was looking for inspiration and ideas from the gallery section. Wow! What great maps there. I will probably never be that good, but being half that good would be a giant leap in my skills.

But I noticed many maps that have lines in the oceans, usually radiating out from a point, one or more points, and I was wondering if it is just for looks or do they serve an actual purpose in cartography?

Examples like Diamond's Western Numeria or Max' s Telduria maps have these lines and many others.

[Ilanthar]

It's called rhumb lines or portolans. It's for navigation purposes. Have a look on wikipedia : here and there.

[Savage Orc]

It's called rhumb lines or portolans. It's for navigation purposes. Have a look on wikipedia : here and there.

I assumed it had some purpose. Thanks for the links.

When making fictional maps is there a rule of thumb as to placement of these lines, if it fit the style of the map?

[Diamond]

There are rules for placement, but I don't follow them.

I'm all about aesthetics over technicality, because hey, these are fictional places I'm mapping, and I'd rather sacrifice exact technical rightness in favor of something that looks cool.

[LordEntrails]

Here's my answer about rhumb lines from a few days ago: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=33224