[WIP] Hemispheric FM8 Raster Map

[Mark Oliva]

Build318..jpg

This is a sample of the world map we've been discussing on the general thread.

This is Build 318 of the western hemisphere from the Jörðgarð (TM) campaign setting that's in development. The map was made entirely with Fractal Mapper 8. Much of this hemisphere is based upon mythology, which includes the well Hvergelmir from the Elder Edda, from which the world's 11 great rivers flow. Eleven rivers flowing from a single spring is a clear violation of River Police rules, but it's an intentional violation. The Jörð, as this world will be called, has its own rules and logic, not necessarily those of the real world.

This map is at advanced draft stage. A number of things have yet to be done. The final version will support the FM8 multi-resolution system, which means basically that although it's a raster map it will stay sharp and unpixilated with close zoom-ins. Text sizes (no text has been added yet) also will vary with zoom level. Finally, many of the place names will be links that will open more detailed regional maps, and the regional maps will have links that open city, town and village maps.

[Aval Penworth]

The varying text and links to more detailed maps is intriguing. How is this done?

[Mark Oliva]

The varying text and links to more detailed maps is intriguing. How is this done?

In FM8 you have per menu a link option that lets one create such links with no trouble at all. FM8 also lets one define zoom limits, so that one text will be shown at one zoom level and a different text will be shown at another level. The same is true for raster (bitmap) objects on the map. If you can't define zoom limits, sooner or later raster objects will turn into a field of pixels. In FM8 one can avoid that by making multiple definitions of an object, each at a different resolution level. Using the multiple objects plus zoom limit definitions, one theoretically could start out with our hemispherical map and fine tune it to a point where one could zoom into a single city on the map, seeing the city in full detail and then zoom into a single house in the city, seeing it in full detail with all of the details on the lot.

I say theoretically, because if one set out to make a hemispherical map with such detail, the map size would be so great, bytewise, that one would have to wait another 5 or 10 years for a computer to come around that had the resources needed to make the map. That's why the linking option usually is used together with the zoom limits. On the hemispherical map, one probably would link the name of a country to a separate map of the country. One then would link the names of the cities, towns and villages within the national map to separate maps of them. The city, town and village maps would go back to using zoom limits to define two or three resolution sets, which would let the user zoom in on a single house and indeed see it in all of its detail. That's about the system that we'll be using.

So ... when Jörðgarð (TM) is released, you actually will be able to start out with our map, in a finalized version of the WIP posted here, and with a couple of mouse clicks, go from the hemisphere down to a single house in an individual city. There are other programs that can do these things too, but one of the things I like about FM8 is that it makes it not only possible to do this but also makes it easy and quick to do without any appreciable learning curve.