I’m going to start mapping in Agarderia. However, I have no idea what to map there. I have completed the basic layout of the country, having mapped the locations of rivers, forest cover, roads, railways and settlements. I am unsure where to progress after this. It would be best for Agarderia to have an eastern European feel to it, much like its neighbours Karamsk and Latania. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should progress or what I should start mapping first?

Context for Agarderia:

1. Agarderia is a developing nation. It has an HDI of 0.732.
2. Agarderia has been in a civil war since 1998. However, fighting has been isolated and rare since 2010. A largely unrecognised breakaway nation, the Social Republic of Glastian Agarderia, lies to the east of Agarderia.
3. Agarderia was a communist nation before 1986, and a fascist nation from 1936 to 1946.
4. The most populated regions of Agarderia lie to the south, near the coastline. Most of Agarderian industry is found here.

The Agarderian wiki page is found here.

I’ve recently taken a break from ‘ultra’ high-detail mapping in Plowford(you might need to zoom in), and focus with some work on the Glastian capital, Wyndham.

Wyndham need a significant cleanup. Unlike most of my towns and cities, it was drawn in a rather haphazard fashion, and rather than drawing Wyndham all in one go, which was possible with all my smaller settlements, I decided to draw Wyndham gradually. This posed problems; Wyndham became a patchwork of poorly mapped, well mapped and iffy areas. I decided to fix the problem this week. Below is what Wyndham looked like before and after.

… See full entry

I’ve been planning to post this for some time now but only today have I been satisfied with the quantity of what I’ve built.

Background stuff (Skippable if you don’t want to read)

I decided not to start with an area ‘in the middle of nowhere’ because I prefer to work towards a certain goal and not expand outwards indefinitely, with no end in sight. Naturally for me, the place to start was Plowford, a town I have been working on for around a month now. The area I worked on was rather small compared to the scale I normally used. I’ve somehow decided to go beyond bare streets and instead map out every individual building and landuse in the area I was working on, which can be found [here] (http://opengeofiction.net/#map=17/52.05317/128.99021).

When the new challenge was announced I was slightly hesitant at first to deviate from suburban Plowford out of the fear that a rural landscape may have turned out similar to my botched attempt at mapping the countryside surrounding Harcourt (you’ll need to zoom in). After seeing multiple users post high quality work this month I decided to give it a try and see how much I have improved after my mapping of Harcourt.

The challenge

I chose Northern Plowford , not a truly rural environment but rather a location that is touches and overlaps the rural-urban fringe. I adapted my small-scale approach I used for southern suburban Plowford. and mapped in the north of the town in the same fashion. In my opinion, I think zoom level=16 is the optimum scale to view my work, as it gives an appropriate level of detail without having to scroll around too much. I’ve attempted to go into the geographical history of the place, an aspect of mapping I like to do.

Points of interest: (Best viewed at zoom 16)

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For some reason a gif I uploaded does not render on OGF. The file can be accessed perfectly well and the full picture can be used on my wiki page about the Agarderia-Karamsk War. However, if I make the picture any smaller, an error message pops up, as shown here. A slightly different error message appears for the actual image, which is here. I uploaded it again as ‘Agarderia War’, yet the same message appears.

Does anybody know what is wrong with the file and what can be done to solve it?

For some reasons zoom levels 17, 18 and 19, the map does not update on standard layer. Zoom 17 has received 1 update in the past 24 hours but zoom 18 and 19 have not been updated at all. So far, I have tried 4 devices and they all have the same problem. The affected area is down below. Zoom out and you will see the difference.

Does anyone see/not see my problem on the map or have the problem yourself?

Things I know about the problem:

1. It is not a problem caused by my computer. I have tried on multiple devices to the same effect.
2. It only happens in ‘standard’ layer. The other layers are fine and display map data properly. The editors in Potlatch and ID show the correct data as well. For some reason, the ‘standard’ map preview on the map layers menu displays the updated data.
3. It is a recent occurrence, because edits in the last 24 hours are not displayed, whereas edits I have done before that have shown up.
4. It is a local occurrence. I mapped a road in Commonia today and it showed up on all zoom levels.
5. It is possibly a one off issue. I have mapped nearby and all updates have shown.

http://opengeofiction.net/#map=18/52.05349/128.99490

Thanks,

Yuanls

Having looked once again at Commonia, I got slightly depressed. (You’ll feel the same way if you take a look) So I decided to express my depression by working on the Commonian wiki article. I’ve added an ‘economy’ section, which talks about illegal Commonian activity including human trafficking, forced labour, the Commonian drug industry and the Commonian Confederation’s weapons exports. I’ve also talked about the AN’s failure to control illegal activity inside Commonia. Perhaps this is a link to how we cannot control what is mapped inside Commonia.

I’ve got some questions to ask you. Feel free to answer any of them.

1. Has your country, rebel group or terrorist organisation bought any illegal Commonian weapons? (You can say yes, even if your country doesn’t admit it)
2. Does your country have criminal links to Commonia?
3. Have any companies admitted to using Commonian labour to make its stuffs? (You can say yes even if the company doesn’t admit it)
4. Has your country ever bought raw materials in Commonia?
5. Does your country have companies operating in Commonia?
6. Is there an OGF equivalent to the fairtrade standard or a World Trade Organisation?

If you’ve got points you would like to discuss, leave them below if you wish.

Agarderia is undergoing a civil war, which has been largely won by the new government established by Glaster with the aid of the AN. The source of the conflict originated in the 20th century which is outlined below.

1. Agarderia was a right wing democratic nation which transitioned to a dictatorship in the 1930s. It then became very close to the Commonian fascist government.
2. Commonia propped up Agarderia against communism for much of the early 40s. A failed communist revolt lead to the displacement of the native Agarderian government with one directly controlled by Commonia in January 1945.
3. A large communist revolution in spring 1945 lead to a year long civil war. Glastian communists invaded and occupied east Agarderia, depriving the fascists of their fuel storages in the country.
4. The communists had won the war by 1946 and had set up a new government. In 1947, a large number of Glastian communist troops and civilians fled to the still occupied Glastian Agarderia.
5. Glastian Agarderia was made a semi-autonomous body in the new Socialist Agarderia. Glastian Agarderia housed Glaster’s communist government-in-exile.
6. After crippling economic trouble and a bout of hyperinflation in the mid 1980s, Agarderian communism ended in 1986 with a transferral to democracy.
7. Failing to address the problem with Agarderian neo-communists based in Glastian Agarderia, the country descended into civil war once again in 1998. From 2003 to 2007, Agarderia was an AN mandate.
8. Glaster and Agarderia have managed to cut off GA’s access to the sea. Most trade with the rogue nation has stopped, but owing to its small population, it is able to minimally support itself.
9. Agarderia has decided to leave the country in isolation rather than deciding to invade it. Currently both the outlawed Agarderian communist party and the Glastian communist government-in-exile are stationed there.

Some possible points to discuss:

… See full entry

Uletha is flooded again. Using the very handy coastline info map I think I’ve found the problem, which is located in Raiden along this stretch of bridge here. Before any changes are made, can anyone back me up on this?

Using the power of MS paint, screenshots and the bucket fill tool, I have assembled a map of the entire OGF world.

What is it?

It is a very large map of the available OGF world on ‘standard’ layer, taken at zoom level 4.

Can I use it?

Yes you can. You do not need any permission. If you want to update the map for a new country or changed borders, ask me please. I don’t want any portions misaligned!

What is it for?

I would think this would just be for general reference, country size comparisons and draft maps for very large features like mountains or international organisations.

As you may have already noticed, I deleted the troublesom ‘Charlington Canal’ a while ago. Now I’m moving onto Charlington itself, removing motorways and similar infrastructure. You are welcome to join in if you like. Since no one is active in the region, you can do whatever you feel is necessary.

I’ve just added more to the Commonia wiki page concerning Commonian factions. I see a lot of potential (and potential abuse) of this system of factions. I’d like to hear what you think about the political situation of Commonia and how it impacts on the rest of the world.

I also remembered that Commonia is supposed to be an official AN mandate. Clearly the AN hasn’t been doing a good job at keeping order, unlike Agarderia, which was under AN mandate 2000-2006 and now is back on its feet. This raises questions. Is it even feasible for the AN to even attempt to stabilise an area the size of Brazil when the terrain is often Vietnam-like? Knowing all the trouble the USA got into in Vietnam, how does the AN cope? Would this serve as a major criticism of the AN?

Tangent: The AN was formed out of a dispute between 2 organisations in 1966. This sounds a bit mundane and slightly unrealistic to me, knowing that the League of Nations and the United Nations were only formed when people realised that world peace was a priority. Surely we could alter this to tie in with a Commonia related incident-the date is about right and in my opinion it’s far more realistic that way.

Let me know what you think

Yuanls

Hello

I just watched a video on youtube that gave me an idea. We could have a wiki page for alternate countries and scenarios. I already have a few ideas. If we get enough, I’ll make a sandbox page on the wiki to record them. I guess they have to be at least plausible though, to stick with the verisimilitude policy, although I could also create a page for less realistic alternatives.

Let me know what you think!

Yuanls

I’ve now finished the small town of Harcourt. It is a rather small town of 8000-9000 people. The town is, in fact, the largest town in Glaster without a rail link, with the southern section closing in the late 60s and the northern part in the early 80s after a period of decline.

I’ve been practising drawing the transition from urban-rural. I hope I’ve got it right. Please feel free to evaluate my work!

Thanks

Yuanls

PS: sorry for the lateness, I wrote half of it at night on my phone before falling asleep, so I didn’t finish it.

Does anyone have any ideas concerning the origins of Communism and/or Fascism? How did it come about? Were there any alliances between these countries, like the Axis or the Warsaw Pact? Were there any countries ‘central’ to the ideology, like Nazi Germany or the USSR? How and why did the ideologies fall? Are there still some fascist/communist states around?

I’m leaving this as an open-ended discussion as this is a broad topic. It would be great to hear different ideas on this topic. I’m especially curious to find out whether this follows a path similar to the modern world, i.e. powerblocs, or whether it arose differently.

Alas, someone’s managed to flood 2 continents at once-Uletha and Tarephia! I hope it gets fixed soon. Is this a new OGF record?

I’ve got 2 issues on my mind right now:

I’m stuck on what to do for Decton’s town centre. There is a significant amount left to be completed but I’ve got no ideas on what to put in it. I’m thinking of turning Decton’s Centre temporarily into a ‘blue zone’, which anyone can edit. This way I can finish it quicker.

Rules I propose will be:

1. You can only make buildings-do not alter existing structures.
2. Minor edits to streets are fine, but overall I have the last say. Please do not delete anything without consulting me first.
3. Try to blend in with my/everyone else’s style.
4. Keep in mind the context, which is based in England.

Meanwhile, I need to do something else. What do you think I should do? Here is my to do list so far:

1. Fix Ellmouth. It looks a total mess. Low priority, as this will require a lot of time.
2. Finish my Historical Decton project (see my previous diary entry) Medium urgency, as I need to green up the area there.
3. Do something with the landscape (Fix and add rivers, make the rest of Glaster green) Medium urgency, as my country’s infrastructure depends on this. It is currently happening at a very slow pace.
4. Fix the port around Reyston, which hasn’t been changed much since I came. Low urgency, can be done at any time without consequence.
5. Reduce and alter the courses of my motorways. High urgency, as this alters my country in its entirety. Currently not happening
6. Add in and fix existing minor country roads. Urgency is low, as that would probably come after the ‘greening’
7. Add details to other settlements (My current choices are either Wyndham, Plowford or Tibrin) Urgency: High. I want to do this. Sort of. I feel guilty if I start another project before I’ve finished my current one. In fact, the only large settlement that is currently wholly complete is Stewhampton.

I decided to take a detour, away from conventional mapping, to do some historical mapping of Decton, which can be found here (it’s too big for either here or the wiki.

http://imgur.com/pQbi4cD

I plan to extend this series to 1900, and after that, possibly convert it into a gif. This is a followup from the less sucessful Katsnelson gif, which can be found here:

http://opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/File:321509.gif

The way I made this was simple: I copied Decton on JOSM and started adding and removing sections of it to create the final picture. It would be lovely to hear some feedback!

Thanks

Yuanls

I am running out of ideas for [Decton] (http://opengeofiction.net/#map=15/52.0798/129.2003) very quickly. Help or inspiration would be appreciated, any idea will be taken into consideration. Previous diary entry for Decton’s history can be seen here.

I am very close to finishing Decton (finally!). The only bit that is really left is the [town centre detailing] (http://opengeofiction.net/#map=17/52.08127/129.19720), as a follow up to the (poorly done and unfinished) detailing in [Ellmouth] (http://opengeofiction.net/#map=16/51.8403/129.1798) and partially inspired by [Myrcia] (http://opengeofiction.net/#map=16/56.3332/19.2404)

Thanks

Yuanls

I’ve recently been wondering what trade Glaster has with other countries, if any at all. I’ve already established that Glaster has a successful glassware industry, dating back more than 700 years. The two main companies that operate in that sector are Centuria Glassware and Glaster Crystal.

I am aware that Glaster is situated on a major sea passage, which will be beneficial, but it was under Ingerish control until the 1970s. However, I have no idea what materials to sell or trade with other countries. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Here are mine so far, in no order:

1. Oil (Probably needs an offshore oil rig for that somewhere)
2. Limestone (Probably somewhere in the north or west)
3. Chemicals (Sulphuric acid/ammonium/lime based products, such as quicklime or slaked lime)

Map of Glaster for reference: http://opengeofiction.net/#map=9/52.1065/129.4354

Before Decton gets too big, I just want to check if there is anything to improve about it. Decton is quite an unusual town, as it was is situated on the edge of South Glaster, along the former border with North Glaster, which was just north of the town.

I’ve tried to include a number of historical details into my mapping: look at Luxen Street, Decton Middlepass or Peters Road, for example. I’ve attempted to draw road layouts consistent to British timeframes e.g. the straight grids for the early 1900s and the concentric curves for the ‘postwar’ housing developments, along with patches of denser, modern housing built on former inner city industrial land, south of the town centre. There is also a retail park and a light industrial estate built on the site of a railway yard and engine sheds in the south. Of course, it’s far from finished, but this list also serves a reminder for me when I get round to writing its wiki article.

… See full entry