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doktorpixel14's Diary

Discussion

Comment from Leowezy on 27 July 2017 at 16:05

I like it! The building footprints and street layout/block size looks pretty realistic, and I think quite a lot of mappers on here will also be very appreciative to the fact that you took the time to name all the streets ;)

Comment from Sarepava on 28 July 2017 at 11:19

It’s really very believable for a European city. The number of churches is very reminiscent of Italy or Spain. Now I think you can build this up even further by tagging shops and amenities. I like the many ‘easter eggs’ in the street names too.

Some small other things:

I would expect to see a lot more pedestrian streets and restricted vehicle access in this area. No way would the city authorities allow a lot of cars or tourist buses in here, they would block the roads and cause bad pollution. It’s also going to be difficult to get large municipal buses through, so optimise them for cycling and walking, and maybe some of those tiny electric buses that run in Italy.

Start thinking now about where the central railway station will go. It will need to be connected to the metro lines and take up a lot of space. Building the railway lines like you do around the edge of the old city is very realistic. I like to draw in the platforms for the metro stations in my cities as it helps place them far enough apart. Even with 100m platforms some of your stations will be quite close together.

More space will be needed for two tram tracks and the stops on Via Regia. I think this road would be at least 30m wide as it will take a lot of traffic. Also, it’s likely there would have been city walls along Via Reglia and Via Vecchia, so you might want to leave a few ‘clues’ that they were once there, such as a few small remains of towers or other archaeological sites.

Some buildings need more open space between them so they have enough windows and yards. Even in very dense old cities, it can be surprising how much ground area is not built on.

You tag a lot of steps - are these correct or should they be footpaths or pedestrian streets? It’s clearly a very hilly city but road builders tend to use slopes and avoid steps as they would have stopped any wheeled vehicles or horses using the street.

Comment from Leowezy on 28 July 2017 at 14:49

I second Sarepava’s comment about more pedestrian streets; while I think the argument of “local authorities wouldn’t allow XYZ” is slightly flawed (if only local governments always did what was in the best interest of their cities…), some “streets” are simply to narrow to be navigable even as one-way roads. But then again this might be taking the amount of detail to an obscure level for some. Similar argument goes for the width of the main road; while indeed at least 30 m width would be desirable, it’s still possible that your city’s history simply didn’t grant that wish to the planners of that time ;)

One comment I would disagree about is the amount of space between buildings, and yard sizes. Yes, the building footprints definitely indicate a very high density and in some places maybe even a “crammed” feeling, but after comparing that to this (very affluent) area in central Paris or even the city centre of Milan, I feel like it’s definitely within the scope of realism.

What Sarepava said about the central railway station (of you want a single central one that is) is also very important; I wish I had thought about that earlier in Pyingshum, as now I kind of have to write the city’s history in a way to explain the position of the railway stations today. My advise would be; map the medieval downtown (or at least get a good feeling of the extend of the city shortly before industrialisation), and then imagine you are a planner in the 19th century thinking about where you wanna put the city’s railway station. A lot of others have already had very good experiences with this somewhat “chronological” mapping method, but I guess everyone does it differently.

Comment from doktorpixel14 on 28 July 2017 at 17:04

Thank you guys for these very helpful tips!

I think that converting some of the residential streets around Via Vecchia into pedestrians would be a good idea because especially in this area some streets are very narrow. This part will be the oldest one of Rovigna and it could become a tourist center with some restaurants etc.

As Leowezy said, it is normal in some city centres that there is only few space between buildings, espacially in Italian cities which obviously are my main ‘models’.

You guessed it, Via Regia is part of the old city wall, but there is not enough space to add some ruins, because the tram also needs some.

I don’t really think that my metro stations are too close to each other (all are at least 500 m away from the next), but that maybe will change in the suburbs.

And yes, these steps are correct, the streets where I used them are very old and streetbuilders didn’t care about vehicles when they were constructed.

Comment from swissmapping on 29 July 2017 at 23:13

I like the compact style you are going for I think you did a great gob and it would blend in with an European city also nice location on a river is how most European cities were built

Comment from histor on 30 July 2017 at 00:00

I like your old town in this dense manner. Only one: Can you draw the streetcar with two tracks? It looks better an I think, in the inner city you may have some one-way-tracks for the streetcar.

Comment from Marcello on 31 July 2017 at 09:27

Looks really fine !

My only issue would be your road tunnel. Sure, it is an inventive way to channel traffic through your city center, but it is an immense investment. It would anly be economically feasible if the traffic was large, and to me it looks like the approach raods do not justify that -yet. Also, the ramps are too short: it looks on the map that they dive under the surface in about 30 metres or so; given that the road will dive form zero to at least minus six, seven metres below and you need at most a 5 per cent incline it will take a ramp of 150 metres minimal.

Ther idea is good, however. i feel tempted to put a road tunnel in Nuevo Espíritu just for the sake of it….

(excuses for typo’s, my keyboard fails)

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