Hi,

I'll say up front that my primary reason for joining this site is to LEARN. :-) 5 minutes browsing through the featured maps shows me that I'm in the presence of serious masters here.

I've spent the last 15 years of my career in GIS - spatial data analytics, modeling (data not fashion), db management. Most of my time at work is spent in ArcGIS - ArcMap, ArcGIS Server, ArcSDE, and the occasional dabbling in Python to make tedious things quicker. My experience in cartographic production is pretty much contained within ArcMap, where most of the users I support request fairly "standard" maps without a lot of whimsy or frills.

I've recently decided to start running a game again - a long forgotten love - and as a "spatial" guy I consider good maps a necessity to an enjoyable experience. I'm sure I'll devour the various helpful tutorials I've already seen. And hopefully I'll find a couple aesthetic tricks here to use at work, too!

I'm particularly interested in any sort of fictional or realistic late 19th century maps, as I'll be running Victoriana (a steam-punk environment). Any pointers related to this genre would be appreciated!

Also, what's the general feeling on CC3? Seems like a great program and quite helpful - sort of a stripped-down, appearance-focused version of ArcMap for fantasy maps. Worth it? Again, thoughts appreciated!