New Planet Unnamed - Realistic Sci Fi Universe

[ranger]

Thank you very very much, this is wonderful. The main planet piece with coastlines was to get the basic layout, no where near finished coastlines, I plan on refining them when I settle the shape and location of the continents, after seeing your maps it helps me tones figure out size and location I want the continents

Would you suggest beginning a map with a specific projection next time? or is it ok to do basic layout then place in the projection?

Thanks for putting time into this.
are these projections from the thread that has them for download?

[Hai-Etlik]

Would you suggest beginning a map with a specific projection next time? or is it ok to do basic layout then place in the projection?

are these projections from the thread that has them for download?

Getting this right really depends on thinking it out before you draw anything. If you don't know what the projection is, you really don't have any idea where, what shape, or even what size the things that you are drawing are. You can change the projection afterwards, but if you got it wrong in the first place, this will just make it much more obvious. For instance, the polar maps I posted.

It took me a while to figure out what you meant by a "thread that has [projections] for download" but I'm guessing you meant this? http://www.cartographersguild.com/ma...raticules.html

Those aren't "projections". A projection is a method for flattening the globe onto a flat map. What Gilgamec has provided are graticules (Fancy map speak for "grids") of latitude-longitude (There are other coordinate systems that can be represented with graticules but you probably won't be concerned with them) which have been flattened using a number of different projections. They are the product of projections, not projections in and of themselves. Think of the expression "2+x". If you plug in "x=2", then you get "4". The projection is like "2+x", and what's in that thread is the "4".

They make good templates, but simply dropping one on top of an arbitrary map isn't going to work. The features of the maps (coastline, rivers, etc) have to be drawn in that projection. It's not something you can 'add in' later. At least not for a whole globe. For smaller areas, you can, at least sometimes, get away with drawing something without thinking about projections, and then add a graticule afterwards.

The reprojections of your map I posted were done using a program called G.Projector which is freely available from NASA. It can take maps in normal equidistant cylindrical projections and reproject to a wide range of other projections. It can also add a graticule and some simple vector overlays (like the Earth coastline I added) http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/gprojector/

[ranger]

Thank you very much again, I worked with this today, I am starting from scratch, I have the basic layout done now, btw great program.

I also got sidetracked with my other goal with this, I think I am going to make the map this style, similar to my other maps.
Here is an experiment with the futuristic style map.
Futuristic map test.jpg

[ranger]

Update
I made it in flat mode, then applied it to the mollewide format to check to see if it looked correct and fit correctly.
What you see here is just an ink blot layout of the continents.
World map.jpg

[Hai-Etlik]

Update
I made it in flat mode, then applied it to the mollewide format to check to see if it looked correct and fit correctly.
What you see here is just an ink blot layout of the continents.
World map.jpg

Mollweide is good to check if things are the right size and if you got the right proportion of land to water. To check for shape distortion you should use a conformal projection like Stereographic or Mercator. Since this is a cylindrical projection to start with, the equator should be fine, but the polar regions will be the problem, so a polar stereographic projection would be the best way to check. Pick "Stereographic" and set the latitude to "90" (for the north pole) or "-90" (for the south)

That should give you a good idea if you need to adjust anything in terms of shape.

If you want a good regional view, stereographic is a reasonable choice and fairly easy to use, just set the latitude and longitude to the approximate centre of the area you are interested in. Other azimuthal projections are similar. For elongated areas though, you'll want a conic projection for primarily east-west or a transverse cylindrical projection for primarily north-south. Unfortunately, G.Projector doesn't have support for any transverse cylindrical projections.

[ranger]

Thanks
I tried both of those with this newest test
(i am trying a custom grid to make it more futuristic, ocean color will be different, as well as continents)

World map test 2.jpg

[Hai-Etlik]

Thanks
I tried both of those with this newest test
(i am trying a custom grid to make it more futuristic, ocean color will be different, as well as continents)

World map test 2.jpg

I'd recommend keeping the equidistant image plain rather than symbolizing it. It's not a very good projection for finished maps. Get all your shapes and locations worked out, then project it to something that works for a finished map (Say Winkel Tripel for the world map, and regional projections for maps of the individual continents.) then make it pretty. All your symbols will be distorted and need to be redone any time you reproject it.

[ranger]

This is a big project, and I have several that I want to work on. Before I tackle this one I am going to finish up my old continent map. I plan on making it 2 different styles. One the sattelite and one old fashoned.

(i just have to figure out where I put my flash drive that has all my data on it)

To see the map
http://www.cartographersguild.com/re...ncept-map.html

(these are old, I have an updated one that ill post as soon as I find my flash drive)