The communities thoughts on software-assistance in map design

[Robulous]

Renaissance Masters used the "camera obscura" to project a sitter's image onto a canvas, which they sketched over. Is that "cheating"? Is it cheating for a sculptor to cut stone with electrical tools, rather than chip painstakingly with a lump of flint?

It may be grandiose to say, but it's cartographic art we're aiming to create here. It doesn't really matter what skills and tools we use, what matters is the creative effort that goes into it. I use Fractal Terrains, Wilbur and Photoshop to assist in my map-making. If I was just to screenshot a randomly computer-generated map, I'd say yes that is cheating, because it would include zero creative effort on my part. But using software tools to create a starting point, and going from there to create a work of imagination: that's fine. Ever better tools is what helps humanity achieve greatness.

[3l3phant]

Thanks Robulous - Very well said (and the camera obscura is a fantastic example that I hadn't considered )