Middle-earth Webmap

[micahvanderman]

Hi everyone! This is a webmap (2D and 3D) that I have created for Tolkien's Middle-earth! I have a few images and a link so you can explore it yourselves. It is still a work in progress and I aim to achieve a lot more!
link: http://www.micahvanderlugt.com/middle-earth

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[Redrobes]

Hey that's really fantastic. I would like to know more about your process and methods.

We have a web map of Middle Earth on here too:
https://www.cartographersguild.com/l...php?type=medem

There is a very long thread about the 3D map a few of us made some years back too which I am sure you will enjoy although a lot of the images have long since been broken in that.
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ead.php?t=1332

[Naima]

speechless!

[micahvanderman]

Hey that's really fantastic. I would like to know more about your process and methods.

We have a web map of Middle Earth on here too:
https://www.cartographersguild.com/l...php?type=medem

There is a very long thread about the 3D map a few of us made some years back too which I am sure you will enjoy although a lot of the images have long since been broken in that.
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ead.php?t=1332

Hi thank you!

I looked through some of this web-map and it looks awesome! I can give you a little about my methods and my goals, if I don't answer a question you have don't hesitate to ask!

The DEM comes from a Minecraft map: Ardacraft, which has been in continuous development since 2014. I have been a part of the project since 2015. The DEM and actual map is built in World Painter and World Machine and then was exported as a DEM which I used in ArcGIS Pro. I then symbolized it, digitized it, labeled it, and then published it using GIS tools (hillshade, scene builder, etc). I cannot take sole credit as the underlying data for this project has been completed along myself by many talented people on the Ardacraft team, I just put it all in a GIS format to be displayed in a new and easy way.

I am planning on adding far more to this, digitizing biomes, vegetation, geology, tree types, 3D models for buildings, character paths, interactive timelines. Eventually, a digital format of The Atlas of Middle-earth. I wanted to emphasize the importance of lore accuracy and distance within my maps, although there are some major issues as this map was created originally for a Minecraft server. It's not a short project for sure, but I appreciate the kind words and sharing some of the work that has been done already!

[Redrobes]

We gave our DEM to somebody to convert into Minecraft but I can see that this one is not from our DEM. Having it in Minecraft has its pro's and con's but one of the pro's is that you have the editor for the world as part of the mechanism to view it. So anybody can pile in and modify it and improve it.

Our approach was more to generate the base map and then let other people model some of the landmarks like Isengard and the black gate etc and then put them into the map later. Somebody did an absolutely amazing 3D model of Minas Tirith but then it got abandoned about the time that we released the base map. So ours never really got any interesting buildings for it.

Also, in Minecraft you have the world in 3D not just 2.5D DEM style. So you can have caves and the underground parts which make up a lot of the story.

We hooked up with the guys from Outerra which made this amazing world viewer and so there exists a demo where you can run the world in 3D.
https://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=1491.0
Some great videos were made for youtube like say:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLHHS5Q_m0g

Outerra does a great job of filling in biome detail and fractal landscaping. But the downside is that it was quite difficult to import 3D models into it at the time. So end of the day, nobody made any 3D models for Outerra and put them in.

Since then, we have lost the very final DEM created for it but have one near the end of the development but the rivers have got this large negative offset which was used by Outerra to make the water effect. So the one on this guild is likely to be the last ever version and this is where it lives now. The one here is 1/3 resolution but I have the full res version of it locally.

Another interesting fact is that since ours was done in 2007 then I was on a machine where it took about 2 months to calculate the map. Then I upgraded to one which then took two weeks. Now my most recent machine can calculate it in about 16 hours.

I think the key to it all though is that you just have to keep going with it and try to get many people to get on board and help out. Its a big place to do all by yourself. Thats where Minecraft helps you out.

[ChickPea]

This is so impressive! I'm in awe at what you've created. It's a real labour of love. I hope you'll keep us updated as work on it.

[micahvanderman]

This is so impressive! I'm in awe at what you've created. It's a real labour of love. I hope you'll keep us updated as work on it.

Labour of love for sure! Poured quite a few dollars and countless hours! Thank you very much for your kind words and rest assured I’m constantly working in my free time to updating the map and everyone else!