OpenGeofiction
I feel quite stuck. A little overwhelmed. A lot, actually. I unfortunately feel as though I have lost my fiery passion for mapping that once blazed prominently. I’ve found myself looking at the map of this world more than contributing to it. I feel like JOSM is too scary for me to use (i’m on a macbook), and that the iD editor only permits minimal detail. I’m bad with graphic design. I feel as though there is too much work involved to make Leresso a realistic-looking country. I don’t want to give it up, as I have come so far. But maybe giving it up is exactly what I need to get the fire going again. I just thought I would share this with the community of talented mappers to get advice as to where I should go. Any and all advice is welcome.
Discussion
Comment from LemonKing on 19 March 2018 at 09:34
Realism is a relative thing. Don’t raise the bar too high. When you look at other mapper’s talented work, you can take inspiration but you don’t need to feel pressure to advance to the same level.
What helps me is occasionally concentrating at detailed small-scale mapping. When I see a limited area become more realistic, it inspires me to continue even though vast areas of my country remain very drafty or unmapped.
You’ve come a long way already. It’s perfectly natural to get stuck every now and then, i think we all do. Have a break and do something else for a while, but don’t give up completely. Just a little distance may be what you need to regain your passion!
Comment from Thunderbird on 19 March 2018 at 14:58
I recommend taking a leap of faith and jumping into JOSM! It was a great decision for me and although there is a learning curve, you will get it. It is much more powerful software and allows you to create some amazing stuff. Taking a break is also a good idea too, I map better after I take breaks of sometimes a month or two.
Comment from austinhuang on 19 March 2018 at 15:41
Macbook Air user here. Running JOSM is fine. I swear. I’ve been using JOSM for all my edits and it runs perfectly fine on my school-owned no-sudo Macbook Air (Java pre-installed). The CPU fan doesn’t even blow.
Comment from KalR' on 19 March 2018 at 16:31
I like iD because you go slowly but perfect :D
Comment from oneofbeatlefan on 19 March 2018 at 21:27
I’m using MacBook Pro, never had any problem with it. Even been trying to learn JOSM for ever since. Like you said, you have come so far. I liked your country, too bad if you had to leave it.
Anyway, take a break for months, probably someday you had more inspiration to do some mapping back in Leresso. I hope you doing good!
Comment from austinhuang on 19 March 2018 at 21:30
Also, I think the terrain in Leresso is just wow. I wish I had that skill to fix my own terrain back in Esthyra…
Comment from superleaf1995 on 19 March 2018 at 22:18
I like your terrain formations in Leresso and your port. Only see
. Is just… wow. I like how you mapped 
and 
.
Comment from geoboi on 20 March 2018 at 01:56
Thanks for the terrain comments, but most of that was done by newflanders. He’s extremely talented. Credit goes to him.
Comment from superleaf1995 on 20 March 2018 at 20:09
Well, your country looks good too.
Comment from varnel_maiser on 21 March 2018 at 02:48
JOSM is pretty cool, I would say. I remember when I was still prominently, er only, mapping in iD Editor. I had the same feeling as you, not being able to make a lot of stuff quickly. JOSM is a pain in the butt at first, but after less than a week, you start to get the hang of it! From then, it just comes naturally.
PS: I don’t know if anyone else does this (or would like to disapprove of it), but I like to make my long and large things like mountains or long roads in JOSM, then for the small detail, I use iD. I find it very convenient, and I think you should try it too.
Thanks, Zekiel
Comment from varnel_maiser on 21 March 2018 at 02:48
My point is, just try it.
Comment from zhenkang on 21 March 2018 at 03:13
@Trombonnist you are not the only one… I also do the same way…
Comment from varnel_maiser on 21 March 2018 at 03:52
Yay! Thanks @Zhenkang!
Comment from Alsatian on 21 March 2018 at 17:34
I would say that iD is probably best to use at first or to make more simple designs, but JOSM is recommended for going that extra mile with designing, and doing intricate details etc. If you really want to go for JOSM, I’d recommend to do so.
Comment from CaboAzul on 24 March 2018 at 11:55
Oh man geoboi… I FEEL EXACTLY THE SAME! I have been trying to get anything done for a long time (well, more like since February 15 or so), except making a realistic country is not my problem, getting a country is. I mapped for 7 days in Commonia, a town called Kirchhoff. That was before I was any good though, and it was way too big. Admin turned me down on my country request, so I started a new town south of Cableton (accurately scaled this time) called Vertbourne. Completely lost on JOSM, and iD takes way too long. Admin turned down my request again after I had mapped Vertbourne for a few weeks, on the grounds that it was still “quite small.” I just can’t force myself to work on Vertbourne, as I don’t care much about it. Unlike how your planned solution of giving up Leresso, I think that I can get back into mapping by finally getting my own country that I actually care about. BUT I CAN’T GET IT UNTIL I MAP VERTBOURNE! Whoo… thank you for listening to my rant.
Comment from zhenkang on 24 March 2018 at 14:29
@Cabo. Well, need some help? I can pop by and help in the development.
Funny though. I did some random mapping in Commonia in this town over here and drew some additional stupid motorways and I still got my territory. Maybe standards changed.
Comment from The_Cute_Chick on 25 March 2018 at 05:52
@zhenkang,
Does helping another mapper to map help get his/her own country? I thought the point of the requirement is that the mapper him/herself has to map enough to get rewarded a country.
Comment from The_Cute_Chick on 25 March 2018 at 06:12
I wonder if I have mapped enough to get my own territory…
Comment from Alsatian on 25 March 2018 at 09:05
@TCC, you probably have. If you look on the east coast, you’ll find a place called Moorquay. That was enough for me to be allowed a territory (albeit a small one), and Dardis Heights is of better quality and is a bit larger, so even without the cleaning up you’d probably be able to get a territory.
Comment from The_Cute_Chick on 25 March 2018 at 14:12
@Alsatian,
East coast of Rhododactylia, Commonia or of what place? It is not that easy now that Nominatim does not work and if Moorquay is just a village. The east coast of wherever is huge.
I have been pondering because cleaning up is not mapping; I have only mapped out 1 block (0.04 squared kilometres) in OGF that is entirely my work.
And now that you mention the size of your country, I ponder if the quantity and quality of one’s mapping contributes to the size of the country they will get.
Comment from Alsatian on 25 March 2018 at 14:44
@TCC,
East coast of Commonia. It’s near Bleekton, and Dahendroy.
I have no idea. I think it was a coincidence how mine’s small, and I’m happy it is so that I can focus more on the details.
Comment from The_Cute_Chick on 25 March 2018 at 14:51
@Alsatian,
I have found Alsacia City! Was that made by you because I cannot find you in the history section.
Comment from Alsatian on 25 March 2018 at 15:01
Huh, no I didn’t make that. I wanna have a look at that!
Comment from The_Cute_Chick on 25 March 2018 at 15:03
@Alsatian,
Moorquay is 2 square kilometres compared to Dardis Heights’ 0.04 square kilometres. So I think that I have not mapped enough yet.
Comment from Alsatian on 25 March 2018 at 15:06
That’s because of a slight scaling problem. It’d be about 0.2km2.
Comment from The_Cute_Chick on 25 March 2018 at 15:11
@Alsatian,
I have remeasured Moorquay and now it is 3 square kilometres. XD
Comment from Alsatian on 25 March 2018 at 15:49
oof, anyway Moorquay isn’t exactly filled in properly, either?
Comment from The_Cute_Chick on 25 March 2018 at 18:16
@Alsatian,
It is not filled in with buildings but you got your own country so in this perspective I would have mapped enough.
Comment from skquinn on 10 April 2018 at 06:40
JOSM is a bit of a learning curve, but after a few days of using it, I got the hang of it. This is a few days of editing real world data on OSM, after I had heard about OGF but before I actually signed up. Looking back I definitely lack the patience to try to create 1% of what I’ve done with JOSM using just iD or Potlatch. I do use iD for certain small edits, sometimes for turn restriction edits, but every iD changeset of mine is under 100 items, usually much smaller.
I really wish iD had the capability to automatically add intersection nodes, and filled in layer=* on bridges and tunnels by default. I can tell when something new was mapped with iD because these two things (which iD does not do and/or make easy) will trip JOSM’s validator big time with crossing ways warnings (sometimes into the hundreds if the area is big enough).