OpenGeofiction
Hi there,
I really love what’s going on here and have enjoyed looking lots at the wiki and other people’s countries. I decided to get stuck-in on the common area of the map this afternoon and have managed to create a small city.
I used Potlatch 2 which is what I’m used to using on OSM. I don’t edit OSM much but used to spend hours on it when I was bored at work.
Could you take a look at my work here > http://opengeofiction.net/#map=13/10.0221/129.6773 and let me know what you think. Especially about scale, it’s so hard to judge.
Discussion
Comment from BMSOUZA on 17 August 2015 at 21:52
Wow, friend! Very good this Leechester city!!!
Congratulations!!
Bruno Moreira
Comment from Luciano on 17 August 2015 at 23:51
That is excellent work, the only problematic aspect being the perfectly straight coastline.
A general note: when first starting out, if you are nervous about manipulating the coastline, it is possible to build “lakes” or “riverbanks” right along the coast with their outer segments along the coast, to give coastal details without having to edit the coastline segments themselves. I built all my early coastlines this way, and later with more confidence I went back and fixed the coastlines and removed the temporary coastal riverbanks.
Comment from BMSOUZA on 18 August 2015 at 03:02
I always do as Luciano says, except if I have a entire island under only my edits, hehehe
Comment from Myrcia on 18 August 2015 at 07:24
Thanks for your feedback. I’ve purposefully left the coastline as it was because I didn’t want to spend a long time creating a realistic one only to get my own country and leave it behind. I shall try the lakes/riverbanks method though.
Comment from Easky30 on 18 August 2015 at 12:00
Norfolkadam, Leechester looks really good. It took me a while to get used to the scale but you seemed to have picked it up quickly. Gobras City is open to all to edit. Some of the suburbs here are inspired by the housing estates I lived in just outside of Dublin. http://opengeofiction.net/#map=15/20.5933/86.6948
-Mike
Comment from Sarepava on 18 August 2015 at 18:27
Very well observed. The road names, abandoned railway, car-park-on-what-used-to-be-railway-sidings and pubs are very typical of British towns. The coastline isn’t such a problem as there are plenty of place where it is near-straight, especially through landscaped cities. A very gentle curve would be the most realistic for a beach, viz. Brighton, Weymouth, South Wales.
A word about Leechester - the town centre and indeed the whole town should be bigger. Rare to have a motorway so close to the centre of a settlement this size. Seaside towns tend to have long, straight roads with Victorian apartment blocks and the curvy twentieth-century suburb roads only feature on the very edge of towns. The straight roads are also a result of geography as seaside towns often either have cliffs or steep hills and chines (small river valleys) down to the sea. Although the name Leechester (‘castle at the small river’) suggests Roman origins which would produce a different town plan altogether.
‘Parkway’ stations tend to be further outside the city (see Bristol, Southampton Airport, East Midlands), the idea being that visitors can park away from the city centre and take the train in, or else residents can drive a short way and take the train closer to home than travelling into the city centre. The one here is only half a mile from the central station and has limited parking space.
Also, every British town must have a road called ‘The Butts’. It amuses American tourists.
Comment from Myrcia on 18 August 2015 at 19:08
Thanks for the detailed feedback Sarepava. I’ve been very much thinking that everything was much too scaled-down, like a model railway town. It is really more of a practice town until I’m able to start work on my own territory and I didn’t want to spend too much time making a huge town centre or endless residential areas if I’m going to only spend a few days on it.
I wanted to do a bit of the suburbs, a bit of the town centre and a bit of the inner neighbourhoods which I think I’ve achieved. I will certainly put a lot more thought into the layout when I start work on my own territory.
Comment from isleño on 18 August 2015 at 19:56
Nice work! I agree the coastline could do with a gentle curve.
I really like the attention to detail. What makes OGF different from most other fictional maps is the powerful zoom, from the world scale down to the individual street. Adding detail at the local level takes full advantage of the awesome zoomability, highlighting the uniqueness of this site and the complexity of the artistry it makes possible. Great job.
Comment from BMSOUZA on 18 August 2015 at 21:52
Norfolkadam, when you get your own territory, there is no problem if you copy the detailed Leechester from Commonia and paste in your country!
Regards! Bruno Moreira
Comment from joschi81 on 25 August 2015 at 20:55
Looks amazing! I agree with the comments others made about scale, town size and straightness of the coastline. But apart from these things, I like your town very much. Very realistic, much attention to details.
What I especially like is the cycle track following the trackbed of an abandoned railway. This an element that (like in Germany) you can find in many places in my German-style cities in Kalm. Like here, within my current project: Vennburg abandoned railway detail
In my point of view, “realistic” places in OGF should always include abandoned things, unfinished projects, things under construction, “planning errors” from the past and so on. So go ahead with your wonderful mapping style.
Best regards joschi81