Realistic Geography

[Ryan K]

Just thought I'd throw this in - it's taken from a sign outside the Bureau of Meteorology in our building:

"Imagine a system on a rotating sphere that is 8000 miles wide, consists of different materials, different gases that have different properties (one of the most important of which, water exists in three different states), heated by a nuclear reactor 90 million miles away. Then, just to make life interesting, this sphere is oriented such that, as it revolves around the nuclear reactor, it is heated differently at different times of the year. Then, someone is asked to watch the mixture of gases, a fluid only 20 miles deep, that covers an area of 250 million square miles, and to predict the state of that fluid at one point on the sphere two days from now. This is the problem that Weather Forecasters face every day."

[palehorse]

I was working on a map commission awhile back for someone who wanted an Earth-analog with the terrain modeled as realistically as possible. (That he wanted me to render it in what's probably my most artistic style - the one I use that's easily the least suited for that sort of thing - should have tipped me off right off that bat that he didn't know what it was he really wanted.)

Anyway, he sent me this big list of requirements, and I buried my head in the books and maps for a few days to get it right. When I sent him the first draft of the map, he came back with this rambling list of complaints, including one that, based on what he knew about geography, a certain river in this worlds version of Asia couldn't possibly be going the way I had it.

I pointed out to him that that particular river was, in fact, the Yangtze, which really does flow just like that.

Shortly after that I stopped working on that particular map.

Long story short, I'd just echo what Alaskanflyboy and Nomadic said. The list of simple rules that Nomadic posted is a perfectly good set of rules for 99% of the gaming world out there and will get you more than close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.

(One good thing about working on that map though. I learned a lot about India's rivers; fascinating stuff, really.)

[Ascension]

You mean they can't do that yet? kidding. In my small lifetime I can see vast improvements, when I was a kid they couldn't predict if we'd get rain or not if it was currently raining on my house and now we plan hurricane routes.

[palehorse]

You mean they can't do that yet? kidding. In my small lifetime I can see vast improvements, when I was a kid they couldn't predict if we'd get rain or not if it was currently raining on my house and now we plan hurricane routes.

Over a very short time frame the good ones are pretty freakin' amazing. Seriously, I lived in Oklahoma for nearly 20 years, and the meterologists there literally saved lives every single year through their ability to figure out where tornadoes were about to form and to track them once they did, and let people know when it was time to get to your storm shelter.

[Ascension]

Agreed, how they do what they do is Greek to me but I'm glad that they do it.

[Caleb]

Agreed, how they do what they do is Greek to me but I'm glad that they do it.

Hahaha, took me a minute to compute that sentence. But I got it.


Though yes, meteorology has come very far. In about 2000, some news stations in California would boast about their new radar, (Doppler). And now, every news station has one, and they just keep getting more and more accurate.

It really is astounding when you look back about 200 years ago, and farther, and how people back then relied on animal signs, and cloud formations to predict weather.

[Wyldabeast]

Great thread, I've gathered a good deal of ideas just reading over it!