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Author Topic: Map Making for Amateurs  (Read 13997 times)

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Volt

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Map Making for Amateurs
« on: May 26, 2013, 05:12:15 AM »
Okay, for anyone who wants to make a map but is not an expert in GIS you can try Microsoft Excel (yup you heard me)

First, I resized the cells to be 10x10 pixels, then I made an XY Scatter Graph and aligned the edges with the 10x10 pixel/cell grid

I loaded the XY coordinates onto the graph and then downloaded the XY Chart Labeler excel add-in from http://www.appspro.com/Utilities/Utilities.htm credit to Mr. Rob Bovey for making the add-in.

This add-in allows you to put a label to each point in the XY Scatter Graph (System names!)

I just have a sucky comp so I'm having difficulty PRINTING to PDF (it keeps stalling), but if I SAVE the file AS a PDF it gives me something that can pass for a map. I haven't done borders yet but I'm thinking I can do this in 2 ways:

1) drawing tool
2) shade the 10x10 pixel cells, this gives me an effect similar to Bad_Syntax's Cartography app, but if one box has multiple systems belonging to different factions then make of it as you will.

I'm gonna try 1x1 pixel cells when I find the time since I prefer painting cells as faction ownership over drawing shapes.

It's A LOT of manual work especially if you plan to make multiple maps but this is way faster for me than learning GIS, since I have less time now than before.
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Blacknova

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2013, 05:15:22 AM »
You can also use the drawing tools to make vector shapes and shade them, but that will overlay the data.
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Volt

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2013, 07:38:50 AM »
Not if you put the drawings underneath the graph and then make the graph transparent :) i got to print the map to PDF with 2400DPI at A0 but i don't like the quality, gonna work on other variations tomorrow.
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Manne

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2013, 07:44:41 AM »
I´m just more fit with working in GIMP and so but this sounds to be a good alternative.

But  I don`t understand how you imported the XY Coordinates to excel.


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Volt

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2013, 05:35:19 PM »
The coordinates we gathered are stored in excel.
Column A = system name
Column B = X-ordinate
Column C = Y-ordinate

Load columns B and C in XY Scatter graph and you get a 4000LY x 4000LY graph of the entire human sphere. You'll have to scale the graph properly though (which is a bit of a pain).

My problem now is printing to PDF, everytime I print, the circles look terrible, I've tried various print resolutions and quality settings but I get the same result.
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Volt

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2013, 08:59:27 PM »
Here's a sample map I made. Shows ALL systems that have ever appeared on a map. There are no borders and no Nebulae. This is just a plain map with labels and grids that everyone can use as a template for whatever. I'm gonna work on a smaller grid (30LY major, 10LY minor) later on perhaps, with a 1LY per cell background that I can eventually recolor to show faction.

The labels still overlap, so I'm gonna work on manually moving the labels later on. Just trying to show an example of how it's possible (but definitely not simple) to make a map of the IS without and advanced tools. Bad_Syntax's app is just so much simpler, as it automates a lot of the steps.

**EDIT**

I fixed up the labels so they don't overlap, and I made the grids smaller at 10LY and 30LY. still no borders

http://www.mediafire.com/download/si98jsvdkf2p526/IS_Map.pdf
« Last Edit: May 28, 2013, 06:21:18 AM by Volt »
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Volt

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2013, 08:27:46 PM »
amazing... 30+ downloads and not one comment. you're all welcome, by the way.
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Knightmare

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2013, 11:38:25 PM »
I just had a chance to look at the link. Thank you for making the map!
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Volt

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2013, 12:23:41 AM »
I deleted the old map, and made a new one which is a little over half the original filesize. Unbelievable how one embedded font bloats the filesize so much.

Human Sphere
« Last Edit: May 30, 2013, 12:26:14 AM by Volt »
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Manne

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2013, 07:37:51 AM »
nice work Volt.
Maybe you should put up the excel Version also, I think it would be great to see how you did this one :) I don´t have a clou right now how you did that at all :-D
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Volt

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2013, 07:50:47 AM »
Hey Manne,

actually he excel version is on my mediafire. I don't know if you need the add-in to view the file.

www.mediafire.com/volt/cartographer

If you guys have Adobe Acrobat, I suggest you "SAVE AS" the file and choose PDF instead of using the PDF Printer because it's much faster and less memory-intensive.

I just uploaded a slightly smaller filsize, so from 540kB it's down to around 510kB, not that anyone would notice. Also if you see any overlaps on the system names please let me know so I can adjust it on the excel file.
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Volt

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2014, 04:44:38 AM »
i just realized my coordinates for the New Delphi Compact worlds were incorrect. They are mirrored with respect to the X-axis. I have the coordinates corrected but have yet to update the map file itself. I'll post it once I have time to regenerate the map with the other updates I made to the database.
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Dragon Cat

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2014, 09:23:30 PM »
I just noticed this interesting thanks
« Last Edit: August 03, 2014, 09:23:47 PM by Dragon Cat »
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Volt

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Re: Map Making for Amateurs
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2014, 06:35:37 AM »
revised Human Sphere PDF and XLSX file uploaded.
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