Google Maps is dynamic. Making customized maps through the service isn't very difficult. But there are a variety of third-party tools on the Web that help you create fully customized Google Maps mashups. From Flickr geotag integration to wedding event mapping to just doodling, you can do it all.
Jun 02, 2015 AutoREALM is a free role-playing game mapping program originally made by Andrew Gryc. This program is an excellent mapping program that can design castles, caves, cities, dungeons and more. New developers are more than welcome! Dundjinni is a full-featured fantasy map creation program. It allows users to create walls and floors, place objects, insert text, and more. It boasts an intuitive interface and an impressive selection of objects and textures (over 190 images). Medieval Fantasy City Generator. Support This Generator. This application generates a random medieval city layout of a requested size. The generation method is rather arbitrary, the goal is to produce a nice looking map, not an accurate model of a city. Maybe in the future I'll use its code as a basis for some game or maybe not.
![]() Mapping tools
Moreover, those who want to play Final Fantasy XV for PC on Windows, make sure that operating system is one of these: Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Now just follow the steps below to play FF XV Pocket edition for PC on your laptop or desktop. Worldspinner LLC is raising funds for Worldspinner: Fantasy RPG Worldbuilder & Map Maker on Kickstarter! And they will be mentioned in one of the adventures being written for this Kickstarter by professional fantasy and RPG authors. This Kickstarter isn't about making Worldspinner; that's already on track. It's about making it better.
GeotagIt With GeotagIt, you can quickly upload photos from your Flickr account or links from your Delicious page, then add geotags to them. (You can also do this within Flickr.) The link or photo is then displayed on the map in the area you chose. It shows the item's longitude and latitude on the page. It runs in Flash instead of Google Maps like the other services in this roundup. That makes moving around the map a little difficult. The mashup is in beta, so it can be buggy at times. But I found that adding pictures from Flickr worked beautifully. Plus, I liked GeotagIt more than than Flickr's geotagging feature. Adding multiple images at once was simpler. And with the help of its map search, finding friends' geotagged images took seconds.
Map Builder Map Builder is a powerful tool, but it's extremely simple to use. You can pick a location with city and state or ZIP code. Once the tool finds the location's latitude and longitude, it then gives you the option of adding a caption, a description, and picking the color and design of the marker. Unfortunately, the site lets you upload photos only if you use its real-estate service, which is subscription-based. The real-estate service is designed for real-estate professionals who want to map their listed properties for clients. It costs $19.95 per month. Other than that, I was quite happy with Map Builder. I think that it's an ideal service for companies that want to integrate a custom map into their Web site.
Mapicurious Mapicurious lets you mark your favorite locations, share hot spots with friends, or simply add points of interest. You can also upload pictures to your map. And adding all that content is made simple with the site's fine menu system. I was really impressed by Mapicurious.
MapTrot Adding points of interest to MapTrot takes just a few seconds. Once you decide to create a map, you can input the name or address of the place you want to add. You can include a description or direct people to Google Images. But there's not much else to MapTrot. I liked it, but it's not better than a site like Map Builder.
MKMap MKMap is designed to help you create maps for public use. You can add public-transit routes and edit maps that others have created. Adding points is easy, though the menu system the site employs is a little difficult to use. But once you get used to it, I think you'll find that creating the maps gets easier over time.
Pixagogo Pixagogo is an extremely simple service, which makes using it quite fun. Simply find a photo on your hard drive, upload it to the site, add a description, input where it was taken, and Pixagogo will add the photo to your map. Adding photos takes just seconds. You can even make your map public, so other users on the site can view it. If you want to create a photo map, this site is for you.
Quikmaps Quikmaps won't blow you away with its advanced functionality. But it's not meant to offer that. Instead, the service lets you draw lines over a map. You can also choose different markers and add descriptions to map points. At first glance, it might not seem helpful. But once you zoom in at street level, you'll find that it's an ideal way to map a route. I liked Quikmaps. I think that you will, too.
Trippermap If you are a Flickr fanatic, Trippermap is for you. You can add photos to any point on your map, which can be displayed in both Flash or through Google Maps. You can also add a description to your photos. Trippermap even adds a nice slideshow-like pane at the bottom of your map, so visitors can scroll through photos, click on them, and find them on the map quickly. The slideshow pane at the bottom of the map made it more appealing than GeotagIt or Flickr's geotagging feature. It was also easier to find pictures on a big map in Trippermap. There's just one catch: Trippermap's better service is available only for $9.75 per year. That will give you a Google Earth option, custom colors, and an unlimited number of photos per location. The free version of the service allows for only 50 locations and a limited number of Flickr photos. So if you don't want to pay for a maps integration, Trippermap isn't for you.
Useamap Useamap helps you plan an event in your area. It automatically finds your location, but you can change it to any major city you want. Once you're in the desired city map, you can search for the location of your event, add a marker on the map, and share it with invitees. You can also add directions. If you want to add photos, you can do that too. I liked Useamap and its slick design. Check it out.
Wayfaring Wayfaring is an extremely powerful mapping tool. Besides adding points to your map, you can upload videos and photos. You can also add notes to areas of interest. And if you want to see who's tracking the map, the tool lets visitors create a profile and add their location to your map. Wayfaring is a well-designed app that makes adding content quick and easy. I was quite impressed.
The Top 3
If you're looking to quickly create a map, and you don't want to look through all these services, stick to the top three:
1. Wayfaring
Montage app for mac. 2. Mapicurious
3. Map Builder
If you look at the beautifully illustrated fantasy maps on posters, in books, and across the Internet and wish that you could make such incredible pieces of worldbuilding, then you're in luck. We have some guidelines for making your maps better, more beautiful, and easier to understand.
Top image: Map of H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands by Jason Thompson.
1. Understand how your map tells a story.
Jason Thompson, an io9 contributor who has created some truly spectacular D&D maps as well as maps of H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands, points out that the very act of looking at a map can fire up a person's imagination. He told us, 'You look at a map and this area is waiting for you to go to it. Look at all this land!'
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'The very act of creating a map, it's like taking a snapshot. You're freezing it in time,' he continued. Thompson notes that, in games and fantasy worlds, sometimes the map is treated as the static world. But sometimes, maps can go beyond that.
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Consider all the wonderful maps — both fan-made and official — that we've seen for A Song of Ice and Fire. We've seen maps that do, in fact, capture a snapshot of the world during the time that George R.R. Martin's series is set. We've seen the history of the world told through a series of political maps. We've even seen a map of the world's geological history. Each of these maps considers the story of Martin's world, but in a different way.
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Maps can, in some cases, be an instant introduction to the world we're visiting. Consider Keith Thompson's rather spectacular caricature map of Europe, which he made for Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series. The map gives a clear picture of Leviathan's alternate history and its battle between mechanically minded Clankers and bio-manipulative Darwinists. A map may even convey the way the people of a culture view the world — even if the state of the world itself is in doubt. Consider the fan-made maps based on George Orwell's 1984.
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2. Always keep the viewer in mind.
The key thing to keep in mind about maps is that they are a way of conveying information. You want your viewer to be able to understand your map — and you want your viewer to want to look at your map in the first place. Mike Schley, who draws maps for the Dungeons & Dragons games as well as for other games and books, told us over email that this is always in the front of his mind when he starts a new map:
Each time I work on a map or environmental visualization of space I try to keep a triad of fundamental points in mind. In order to be successful, the image needs to satisfy the principal requirements of utility, clarity, and beauty. Will the finished piece provide the information the viewer needs in an understandable manner and inspire their imagination? If any of these three elements are missing, the resulting image will either be unhelpful, unreadable, or ugly.
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3. Study real geography.
One of the ways that you can make your map more visually appealing is to understand the way that geographical elements work in the real world. Look at the shapes of mountain ranges and rivers; think about the formation of lakes. Schley offers this bit of advice:
https://pibrown170.weebly.com/is-there-a-blue-light-filter-app-for-mac.html. A general understanding of geography, weather patterns, geology, etc. helps quite a bit when designing worlds. Mountains trap rainfall and rivers flow downhill to the sea no matter what world you're developing. Unless, of course, your map rests on the back of a enormous space faring turtle. Then all bets are off.
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Thompson also agrees that, while a basic understanding of geography is important, not every geographic element on your map has to line up with the real world. 'I can assume there's a magical weather pattern that keeps things from being hot and terrible there,' he told us.
The folks at r/worldbuilding also suggest some fabulous resources to help you create better worlds. For example, if you're working on a map of a city, you might want to check out Kevin Lynch's Good City Form.
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4. Pick your palette.
Often, if you're working with a print book, you have no choice but to work in black and white. But color can do a lot to enhance the look of your map. Want your map to have a storybook feel? Look at illustrations that evoke the feel you're going for, and study their color palettes. Want your world to feel like it comes from a particular era in human history? Look at maps from that same era. Thompson says that sometimes he'll find an antique map that he really likes, and use that map's color palette as a source of artistic inspiration.
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5. Look at the work of real-world cartographers.
Really, there's nothing quite like actual maps to help improve your understanding of geography and to gain inspiration than looking at what cartographers mapping the real world have done. Also he derives some inspiration from other fantasy cartographers, Schley tells us that real world maps fire up his imagination:
Some of my favorite sources of inspiration are the folks I grew up admiring such as Steven Biesty and the stable of artists that National Geographic relied on for their wonderful article illustrations and fold-outs. Later on, I discovered Daniel Reeve's work on the LotR movie maps and began spending more time with historical cartographers like Al Idrisi and Henry Pelham. Exploration notes like the journals of Lewis & Clark are great creative sparks as well. Also, a huge wealth of inspiration can be found by simply pouring over aerial photo books such as the Earth from Above series. Need to get a better idea of how rivers naturally fan out into deltas? There you go!
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6. Break out of the rectangle!
Thompson points out a particular pet peeve of his regarding maps in fantasy books. 'It has always bugged me,' he told us, 'that in the maps in the backs of fantasy novels, the world is always vaguely rectangular so that it could fit in the space that's available for the person to draw in.'
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So when you're drawing a country or a continent or a city, just stop and ask yourself: 'Am I drawing it this shape because that's the shape of my paper?' Rethink the shapes and angles of your world and remember that, just because your paper is rectangular, that doesn't mean your fantasy continent has to be rectangular, too.
7. Consider embellishments — but don't overload your map with them.
Sometimes, maps offer an opportunity to convey more than pure information. In talking about his map of Lovecraft's Dreamlands (featured up top), Thompson says, 'The area outside the map is as important as the area inside the map. Putting meaning into all the decorative frills and giving them the same weight, that was really hard, but really fun.'
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Thompson particularly likes maps that convey basic information about the world from a distance, but then offer 'meaningful detail up close.' There are a number of ways you can do that. On the one hand, you can add heraldic symbols to your map, small illustrations of monsters, representations of events. But you can do it in smaller ways as well, with the style of your legend and compass rose, your font — even simply the way you draw your geographical features. Consider how different Boston, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC, look when drawn in the style of J.R.R. Tolkien.
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It's helpful to give maps your own personal flair, but you want to be careful when adding embellishments to your maps, however. Embellishments can be fun and can add valuable information, but you want to keep in mind Schley's admonition to focus on utility, clarity, and beauty.
8. Try different types of maps. Not every map has to show a continent.
Office for mac mac app store. Stuck in a rut of drawing vast continents filled with forests and mountain ranges? Trying drawing a map of a city or a village. Thompson notes that he doesn't see nearly enough maps representing three-dimensional space — towers and compounds and representations of cities that capture not just their layout but also their skyline. Challenge yourself: see how well you understand different types of space and geography. Even if you don't get it quite right the first few times, practicing different map types and techniques can make you a better mapmaker.
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9. Seek out feedback.
There are some wonderful communities for mapmakers on the Internet, places where you can share your maps, get feedback, and see the sorts of maps that other people are working on. There is the Cartographers Guild, a community devoted to mapmaking and helping fellow mapmakers improve their craft. Reddit has communities like r/mapmaking and r/worldbuilding. These are spots where you can get receive critiques on your own maps, see what new styles and techniques other mapmakers are trying out, and find resources to improve both your mapmaking and your worldbuilding. Other people can be valuable in helping you develop your skills.
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10. Don't rush! Spend as much time on your map as it needs.Map Making App Free
Schley tells us that the number one mistake he sees new cartographers make is not spending enough time on their maps:
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The best map makers are accomplished artists in their own right and tend to have a deep interest in how images are crafted, not just what content is going into them. Draw, draw, and draw some more!
Fantasy Map Making App For Mac Mac
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