OpenGeofiction
I’ve spent the evening adding some detail and realism to the centre of my capital city, Elmham.
I like to share my work every so often and get some constructive feedback. It’s been a lot of fun thinking on a micro level about the city instead of laying out the streets and transit lines.
So far it’s quite a small area I’ve worked on but it’ll be expanding as I go.
Let me know what you think. http://opengeofiction.net/#map=18/-36.61761/169.20527
Discussion
Comment from BMSOUZA on 22 November 2015 at 04:24
I like it very much!!!
Comment from Pawl on 22 November 2015 at 06:55
Very nice!
Comment from Ūdilugbulgidħū on 22 November 2015 at 08:59
Lots of nice detail. Its looking more and more real!
Comment from Yuanls on 22 November 2015 at 09:46
That’s great! I started doing something similar with my city a few weeks ago but this is much better!
Comment from Thunderbird on 22 November 2015 at 22:46
Very nice work! I love the detail. I would like to ask a question though, not just to Mercia but to everyone. I am currently mapping my country the opposite way, mapping a tiny section of the map to the fullest detail and then moving on. Is this an acceptable way to map, or is it better to map all the major roads and highways first? I have them all planned out, I just prefer to finish an area before I begin another.
Comment from Yuanls on 22 November 2015 at 23:34
Overall looking at the city in general, I think it looks really, really realistic. But the only thing I would suggest is to include more historical depth in terms of streets and locations. If you look carefully at maps, old and new, you would see that English streets follow a general pattern: At first you have the original town centre, with main roads leading to other settlements, with names like ‘London Road’ or ‘Bristol Road’. And some small country lanes like ‘Pilkers Farm Road’ or ‘Oak Avenue’ between them. Then the roads are widened and some sections straightened and re-aligned, with the old section called something like ‘Old Warwick Road’. These main roads would then be widened or turned into dual carriageways in the 1940s and 1950s and bypasses built around major settlements. Then come the motorways in the 60s and 70s, which ‘cut up’ some suburbs and country lanes, which means they may need re-aligning. The trunk roads heading out of the city may be downgraded if they intersect a motorway bypass. The southern portions of the M42 near Birmingham are good at illustrating how a motorway cuts up local and downgrades trunk roads as they head out of the city. Also regarding suburbs, suburban England is generally layered, with Victorian and Edwardian style gridding and red brick, terraced houses. As the suburbs expand, there tends to be more free-flowing roads, built in the postwar period, engulfing country lanes and the odd village in the process. Finally come modern ‘spagetti roads’, with street name endings like Croft, Way and Drive increasingly common. A generic city layout would start with Victorian roads on the inside, postwar in the middle and modern on the outside, the first intersected with motorways and main roads, and the latter branching out into the countryside. If you cannot draw postwar or modern day suburbs (I can’t!), try using your own housing style. I’ve included most of the above in my maps (http://opengeofiction.net/#map=13/51.8578/129.1912) and you can also find good examples in real life.
Happy mapping Xiang
Comment from tparigo on 24 November 2015 at 13:00
I Really like it. I am trying to do the same in Central Troie
Comment from EMKLI on 27 November 2015 at 18:10
Wow, really great!!! This looks like a HUGE amount of work!!!! I tried it once in my city of Krýnanbroddur and I realized how much work yaou have to put in the development of a realistic city. But this is really really nice!