OpenGeofiction

Users' diaries

Recent diary entries

Use the wiki forum

Posted by admin on 28 September 2023 in English (English).

These are not the user diaries you are looking for. Instead try:

The user diaries on OGF are not used the same as the ones on OSM. Over time, the forum on the wiki has come to replace them for official announcements and other posts. We have kept the functionality in place, as an archive, but generally new posts should not be made.

South Archanta's "Grand Lakes"

Posted by Luciano on 5 July 2022 in English (English). Last updated on 6 July 2022.

I have posted a discussion on the wiki Forums, but will cross-post here for maximum visibility to the community.

https://wiki.opengeofiction.net/index.php/Forum:Global_and_regional_issues/The_South_Archantan_%22Grand_Lakes%22_System

Comments posted here will be moved to the forums, so it would be preferred to just go ahead and post there if you can.

Thanks! Happy mapping.

How to Query Roads Within a Relation?

Posted by No Way on 29 June 2022 in English (English).

How does one use the Overpass API Query tool to determine all roads within a given relation?

Collab idea

Posted by Anonymous21 on 10 June 2022 in English (English).

Most of the major OGF cities developed over long periods of time and in a seemingly “random” fashion, which definitely makes for very interesting results. However, I think that we could also add a new, master-planned city to the mix.

Although relatively rare, there are some major planned cities being built in the real world. For example, Egypt is currently building an entirely new capital city outside of Cairo, the current capital. The city, designed to give the government additional space beyond the cramped Cairo city center, is planned to house many additional residents for the burgeoning Cairo area.

There are other real-world projects like this as well. I’m thinking that we should create a new collaborative project that would be designed with the same concept in mind - to create a dynamic, modern, well-planned metropolis.

For this project, we would use a small territory with little previous human inhabitation (I’m not talking about previous owners, but about populations that occupy the territory before we build the city). We would essentially start the city on a empty canvas and develop it to become a modern, sustainable city-state (yes, it would be its own country as well).

This is just a starting idea, so I haven’t figured out the details yet - if we (the community) like this idea, we’ll figure the details out later.

Anyways, what do you think? Please reply with your comments, questions, concerns, thoughts, criticisms, etc.

Thanks!

Anonymous21

Tips on starting a city

Posted by Anonymous21 on 8 June 2022 in English (English).

So… I’m planning on starting my capital city here, but I’m at a loss of how to start.

Here is a basic idea of what I’m thinking I want my city to be:

  • A mid-to-large-sized capital city of my country
  • An important governmental center
  • A somewhat-important port (but I want the city to look as if it was originally built around the nearby river mouth
  • A significant cultural, academic, and commercial hub
  • A high-tech area
  • The largest city in a larger metropolitan area (ie no substantial rural areas - there are two other significant cities nearby the capital)

The terrain is a relatively flat coastal area.

So, I’m really drawn to a blank as to how to start the planning of the city. I really want this city (and the metropolitan area generally) to be reminiscent of an old city that developed over a long period of time.

So how do I create a city center that looks authentic and not master-planned? How do I create a road system that doesn’t look like a curved grid system or something like that?

Anyways, I think you get what I’m saying.

Thanks!

Anon21

New OGF-specific tagging

Posted by Alessa on 26 May 2022 in Maltese (Malti).

Hello, fellow mappers!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful day. We are pleased to announce that we’ve begun creating a series of OGF-specific tags that can be placed on your country’s territory relations as a way to help with our world-building. A complete list of tags can be seen here, on the wiki.

Some of the highlights are the ability to declare driving side, economic policy, elements of infrastructure like electricity and standard rail gauge, time zones, and more. Elements of governance, history, and language are all being developed also.

The tags you place on your territory relation help populate maps on the wiki, to share what your territory is like with neighbors and friends. We hope that this helps with collaboration and better understanding of what each territory is like. We encourage everyone to take a few minutes and add what you can to your territory relation!

If you are a member of Ardencia, Deodeca, FSA, or Suria, we are working on subnational tagging, also. More on that at a later date.

Please do remember that all tags marked is_in:continent, ogf:area, and ogf:id, must not be removed. Also, these are OGF-specific tags and are not designed to be used on other mapping projects. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

Happy mapping! Saħħa!

Hello

Posted by Conny879 on 25 May 2022 in German (Deutsch).

Hey everybody. I am new here and it´s great. So, unfortunealy I would like to create maps in german languages but there is no free available country to edit in german. I´ve found some states that´s have to be edit in german languages or some states who are available to request with german language. (UL14e, AR016…)

So what can i do? I would like to request any available country and try to create fancy stuff with josm that i have already installed…

Thanks a lot.

Greets, Conny

Uploading with JOSM?

Posted by Portier on 13 May 2022 in English (English).

I finally decided to stop using iD and to use JOSM instead, like everyone else has been doing for years, but it seems like the authentication process for uploading doesn’t work! I’ve read the advice that says we should use basic authentication, enter username and password and that should be fine, but it looks like it isn’t fine in my case, as it still says that the process failed. What’s the obvious, silly mistake I’m making?

April Contour Run

Posted by Luciano on 1 April 2022 in English (English). Last updated on 3 April 2022.

I am preparing to run new and updated contours for the ogf-topo layer tomorrow.

Currently I have submissions for:

zone-alved (SwissCrusader) zone-liberian (pzs111111) zone-udzdanarat (Ūdilugbulgidħū)

Are there any other contour updates?

If you have material for me, please remember to follow the procedure outlined at the bottom of my blog post (Part IV):

https://blog.geofictician.net/index.php/2022/03/05/the-state-of-the-ogf-topo-layer/

I will not accept “made from scratch” .osm files moving forward. Contour submissions MUST be edits of downloaded templates, per the outlined procedure (I have ways of knowing)! If templates don’t exist, you must ask me to create one before editing your contours.

Happy mapping.

[UPDATE 2022-04-03] I ran into some problems running these contours. Specifically, Udzdanarat is too close to the “edge of the world” which creates some very strange boundary conditions that give the ogfsrtm scripts “out of memory” errors. I have run out of time to work on this - so unfortunately contour re-load will be delayed for now. Sorry all.

(Re-)Introducing Deodeca

Posted by TheMayor on 27 March 2022 in English (English).

The reimagined, rebooted Deodeca project is now available for mapping. The new Dominion of Deodeca is intended to be an English-language state-based project that is meant to be something of a counterbalance to the American-inspired Federal States of Archanta to the east, a nation comprised of Commonwealth-inspired former colonies that remained loyal to the Crown when the FSA initially declared independence.

Deodeca is not intended to be the “OGF version” of any real-world nation, although Canadian and Australian influences are anticipated.

Sketch map

Deodeca also includes a new collaborative territory named Agawaskway, a southern Ontario-inspired region organized by varnel_maiser.

If you are interested in participating in the project or have any questions about requesting a territory, please let me know.

Happy mapping!

-Mayor

———

Deodeca is one of several state-based collaborative projects in South Archanta, including Ardencia and the Federal States. All three projects have several vacancies and ways for interested mappers to get involved.

Mapping Sirassa

Posted by eleinads on 25 March 2022 in English (English). Last updated on 26 March 2022.

Dear OGFriends,

I write this diary page because I would share with you some aspect regarding the mapping of the new city in Gardensa, that is Sirassa, in the sub-region of Arnur.

As I wrote in a previous page, the aim is to have in Gardensa a second big city after Giliarca, that is now totally mapped.

Mapping is just starting out: as you can see, there is no big city yet there. So, i would like to submit three aspects, in order to map this city in full sharing.

1) The structure.

Sirassa will have a structure based to the same pattern of Giliarca: the model is, in RW the thypical tropical city founded by european navigators. Two examples in RW: La Habana, and Macau. So, the core of the concept is: a little historical centre based on typical european architecture, structure and culture, surrounded by a very large modern typical not-european structure.

If you’re in the center of La Habana you see christian churchs, typical spanish-style old buildings. If you ‘re in the center of Macau you equally see baroque churches, very little typical-portuguese irregular alleys, typical old-european paves in the squares. And the rest of the urban structure is different, with the large and wide pattern of the typical tropical or sub-tropical metropolis.

The same is in the center of Giliarca and the same will be in the centre of Sirassa: little old centre founded by old navigators, big spread rest of city regular, geometrical, wide, large. In Giliarca is now so, in Sirassa this is the project: for the moment there is only the old centre.

2) The method.

Mapping Sirassa, I would pursue strictly the “chronological method”, that is: not do a sketch of the entire city and to insert details in a second time, but to start from the centre mapping immidetialy all the details, with an “historical progression”. But attention: this is NOT a way to simulate time, because in OGF there is not the time-dimension. This mapping method is oriented to have a more realistic city with all the structural bonds of a real city.

In a real city the previous constructions are a limit for the shape and the dimensions of more recent streets, squares, quarters (there can’t be a large avenue in the historical center, and if there is it, built after the demolition of old buildings, there are the architectural signs of it in the current structure).

For this reason if you see now Sirassa, you see only the old centre, and now it can look like an european small village (so you can think that is not likely). But I ensure that in the next two months will be visible the modern spread urban structure around this little centre and it will have another meaning, like in the cities of RW that i used as example.

3) The names of streets (this is really a question).

In Giliarca the method was simple: street names taken by OGF world: cities and people present in the map and in the wiki. I think it was a good choice. The only problem is that now OGF evolved and some city that is the names of street of Giliarca is not more in the map and in the wiki. But patience. It’s impossible to change the street names of Giliarca every day, I think It will remain so.

But in Sirassa I changed method, and I ask all te community to tell me if it’s good. I’m using names that remember, but are not equal, to people of RW. E.G.: Theeboven, Shaspekeare, Chimelangelo, Vercantes.

Question: do you think that it is against any rule of OGF? I think not, because Theeboven, Shaspekeare etc. are people who don’t exist in RW, and the assonance is not relevant (and nobody can tell that the Theeboven that give the name at Sirassa’s street is a musician or a painter). But I would be sure to not do anything that can break the OGF rules, so can you confirm that this method to give the street names is good?

"European" Suburbia

Posted by Anonymous21 on 9 March 2022 in English (English).

I’m working on developing some cities in my country, Kåra. As far as cities go, I’m pulling some design ideas from RW Europe.

I’m curious what ideas you have as far as what European-style suburbs look like because I’m not really sure - I’m from the U.S. (and not a very populated state at that) and was born and raised in the suburbs - which look something like this extending for miles:

U.S. suburbs

But I’m pretty sure that European suburbs don’t look like your typical American suburbia. So what do they look like? Do most people live in single-family (detached) homes or row houses? Are residential and commercial areas thoroughly mixed (in the U.S., we like to cram all of the commercial stuff in one area and then just build out)?

I’d love to have a bit of feedback since American suburbs aren’t exactly… European 😂

Thanks :)

The State of the OGF Topo Layer

Posted by Luciano on 5 March 2022 in English (English).

I have posted an extensive entry on my geofictician blog to discuss the OGF Topo Layer, including the new procedures to support topo going forward. Rather than replicate that long write-up here, please visit my blog to read all about it.

https://blog.geofictician.net/index.php/2022/03/05/the-state-of-the-ogf-topo-layer/

Thank you to all the mappers who have contributed to topo so far, and looking forward to lots more and much-improved topo in the future!

Comments welcome below, rather than at the blog (where they’re also welcome but people are less likely to see them).

Backstory

Posted by SnowFoliage on 5 March 2022 in English (English).

I have previously built up a major city (yes, I love making metropolitan areas.) called Meredy, of the prefecture for which it is named after, in Rhododactylia while I still have no territory claims, I had another older account that was working on surrounding areas, and I think I labeled the city before on this account, I actually got it off to a headstart, I did previously do a former large (now tiny) city called Linden, without understanding how the motorway and other major highway layout should be according to OGF standards on said old account, I was reminded that after submitting a diary entry asking for opinions on the area, that the layout had way too many motorways and such, I live in Chicago metro so that’s sort of where I got this precise idea from, and maybe into why I love building made-up metro areas in the first place.

Inspiration for Meredy project? After a really long period of inactivity getting started on my content creating, I came back to OGF on the present account, and revisited these areas and decided to start the Meredy project, grueling weeks of effort placed into this and finally done. Well, I felt maybe a little expansion for the city wouldn’t be too bad, no additional motorways/trunk roads are being planned, mostly some new residential development around the current development. So, after learning mistakes from asking about a former city with unnecessary motorways, limiting myself down to three passing through, with one of them initially a secondary, then primary road, and then for the final mile it’s briefly a motorway and then terminates. One starts north of downtown and continues east, the other is the “main” motorway on the south and east sides of the city and continues in both directions away from the city. Now see if you think it’s a great layout since I have done all that work a few months back on this account, and tell me if I should do the expansion project I already labeled or not and also if I am yet worthy enough of eventually claiming a territory.

AN (Assembly of Nations) - Process of Joining

Posted by Anonymous21 on 4 March 2022 in English (English).

Hi!

I am starting to map my territory in East Uletha, Kåra and I was wondering how I can go about adding my country to the Assembly of Nations.

Although I am still in the early stages of mapping my country, my country has/will have: * high standards of living nationally * a written constitution guaranteeing individual and civil liberties * democratically elected leaders, both executive and legislative * a federalist government, with powers divided between the national and state governments * a market economy with appropriate governmental regulation

Anyway, I think that my country would fit well in the AN.

Thanks!

Anonymous21

The future of Tarephia?

Posted by Punkmonkey22 on 4 March 2022 in English (English).

I was just wondering what the plans were for Tarephia now that our admin has left? It is already the least mapped/occupied continent and I wonder if maybe some of that is due to the sheer size of many territories putting off mappers?

Heavy load - error message

Posted by admin on 22 February 2022 in English (English).

If you see the message “This website is under heavy load (queue full)” when browsing the site please drop a note below with the time (UTC).

Some config changes have been made and we’d like to track instances of this problem.

Anyone know why JOSM freezes whenever I open a new layer?

Posted by plainoldbread on 20 February 2022 in English (English).

I’m currently having issues with this, I wanna know if anyone can help. I’m using the openwebstart/.jnlp version at the moment. I’ve switched to the java version and had the same problem.

Territory applications, templates and old wiki

Posted by admin on 18 February 2022 in English (English). Last updated on 21 February 2022.

I'm back.

Posted by eleinads on 7 February 2022 in English (English). Last updated on 27 March 2022.

Dear friends, I’m back, after a couple of years i finished mapping the main city of my territory: Giliarca, in Gardensa:

Unfortunately, in the last months I had no time to stay actively in OGF, but I’m ever very attached to this world. Now, my project is to map a new, second big city in Gardensa, in order to make more realistic the social-politic dinamycs in this land (a country with two big cities, the capital and another one, is more balanced, in my opinion). The area where the new city will be mapped is here.

Two things:

1) Mapping Giliarca toke me two years: I think the time to map the new city will be not shorter, maybe longer: unfortunately there is a real life out of OGF. But the project is going to start.

2) Maybe, in the last two years something changed in the rules and the mechanism of OGF, and it’s possible that I lost anything. If I do any mistake and if I transgress any rule of OGF, please tell me it without any problem.

Best regards to my old OGF friends and to the new ones that came recently.