more maps coming up

[Arjan]

I finally started to work on a project i wanted to do for a long time.

A searchable dynamic editable map of cerilia linked to the wiki.

its a map with a dynamic sidebar which display all the marker within the current view.
The names are all linked to their wiki page and when clicked on it centers to the place.
I am using 4 zoom levels. And each zoom level has its own set of markers.

lvl 1 : the emblem of the 5 regions
lvl 2 : Landed Domains (countries)
lvl 3 : Provinces and landmarks (maybe i will put capitals/castles here as well)
lvl 4 : towns, villages, NPO's, ruins

The map will be editable, so everyone can add a marker, select its type, fill in a few details and set to go.

I will post some screenshots later this coming weekend.

[Vicente]

Sounds awesome, really looking forward to it :)

[Arjan]

I managed to code it into the Vbulletin framework, and seems to work as a charm

so the finetuning can start!

TODO:
create icons for all types:
provinces/domains (think i can grab the heralds from the wikiDB for that), towns, cities, landmarks, ruins, NPC's, etc

dynamic DIVs for the sidebar, so it shows the icon, name, region and wikipage

AddCustomMarker script, so everyone can add locations

as promised, a screenshot! (or two actually)... its an early stage, so still needs some styling!

[Sinister]

I can't wait to use this. We are a week away from a new campaign!

[Arjan]

I am making fast progress... only SWOTR beta starts in 15 min.. so i will be busy the rest of the day ;)

About your wish/ nice to have: can it display holding lvls

how exactly do you have that in mind?

Click on the domain, and it displays the holdings?

Or an Holding icon in each province with their level? (like in the gorgons alliance game)

I am currently designing it so that every marker can have a statblock linked.
I recently creaded the Wiki addition for statblocks, and by simply entering the statblock name it will render the statblock in the info window.
For domains it will be the sidebar that are on the wikipages now

But when you create a Holding marker, you could also link that to a domain table (which are normally displayed at the bottom of a domain page in the wiki.


just spam me with your ideas!

[Sinister]

Ok some early ideas:

1. Holding Levels.
2. A picture and stat block for the ruler of those domains
3. A notes section to add notes to a ruler

[Sinister]

Also maybe a link from the province the province wiki information.

[Arjan]

Also maybe a link from the province the province wiki information.

When a marker is created (or edited) you can specify a wikipage (name of any wikipage) AND to a statblock (which will show as the infowindow when you click on the marker)

see attachment

[Arjan]

The map project is for 90% finished!

Got some little fine tuning to do, plus some icon making so every kind of maptype has its own icon

below are 3 new screenshots

[Vicente]

Really really impressive work :) Looking forward seeing it live!

[Sorontar]

So I gather you will first see the regions flagged, then you can zoom in to see the realms, then you can zoom in to see the provinces, but you won't be restricted to just seeing provinces in one realm. It will let you see neighbouring provinces as well (so you can zoom in on Roseone, but it will show you Proudglaive and Calrie).

Looks great!

Sorontar

[Arjan]

exactly, it will show you everything in the current viewport, based on the zoomlevel. as long as they are markers made for it.. right now on the screenshot, there is only two.. but a marker can be made for everything.. i will make tons of marker options

But i have implemented and easy way to create markers.. simply right click on the map to create a marker.
fill in Name, Region, wikipage (statblock optional) and select its type.. and the code does the rest!

If you have missplaced a marker, you can also drag it to a new position and save it again.



I know Sinister kinda expect a slightly different kind of map, more of a domain tracking system.. but perhaps we can think about something like what after i have launched this map tool.. let people work with it and see what kind of improvements we can make!

[Sinister]

I think a main map for the site is great. I just want a sort of custom map that I can make changes to based on my campaign. But honestly, it may be just as easy as importing a file into google maps or something.

[Arjan]

I think a main map for the site is great. I just want a sort of custom map that I can make changes to based on my campaign. But honestly, it may be just as easy as importing a file into google maps or something.

well the map is very scalable, when i am done it is gonna be empty :)

I have indeed thought about it, and i think it can be scaled to make it private.

perhaps i can push it into the social groups.. that is a functionality of vbulletin, which is not being used often here on BRnet.. but you can create one that can be closed for non-invited people.. or just make it open for viewing..
Since the creator of the social group is also the admin of that group.. i might be able to combine that with a private map specially for campaigns.

today i added over 80 map icons for the map (yes i used the cc3 ones ;) )
the icons are also nicely displayed to the side if there is not a heraldry icon available.

see attachment

[Arjan]

oh, and this IS google maps i am using :)

[Sinister]

I'll be willing to test the private map. Just let me know how, etc....

[Vicente]

Would it be possible to query this map externally somehow? Or to populate it data externally in some way? Would be interesting maybe for the tool I´m building (no clue how easy or hard, but looks interesting).

[Arjan]

Would it be possible to query this map externally somehow? Or to populate it data externally in some way? Would be interesting maybe for the tool I´m building (no clue how easy or hard, but looks interesting).


hmm it is probably possible.. i have built in cros reference security though, but perhaps with curl we can work something out.

the question is WHAT would you like to externally push or query?


the map is not internally linked to the wiki (wel almost), the info windows are going to be filled by the given statblock (that special forum i made a few weeks ago).. so what ever is in that statblock.. province stats, domain stats etc is placed on the map

I have discovered two new functions in adobe. Smartblur and Content Aware.. and i managed to greatly improved the cerilian map.

I wanted to upload it yesterday, but the file was to big to process (php setting, not a forum setting)
So soon i will upload it manually and then put a link in the download section.
The map is 5000px wide!

as for the google map, i implemented a "markercluster" .. when you have many markers close to each other they will overlap, since google dont scale them, so the solution is to cluster them. (ie 1 icon for all in the close area.. and it will display a number how many are clustered.. see attachment)

[Vicente]

Ideally, the GMs would push holdings, province levels and so on information, and the players would be able to see the map and see this information.

Or the map would be able to read the information from somewhere (I'm using SQL Server, so I don't think the map will be able to connect to that by default).

Would something like that possible?

[Arjan]

Ideally, the GMs would push holdings, province levels and so on information, and the players would be able to see the map and see this information.

Or the map would be able to read the information from somewhere (I'm using SQL Server, so I don't think the map will be able to connect to that by default).

Would something like that possible?

I dont see why it shouldnt be possible..
The map "connects" to nothing.. it just makes a AJAX call to a page which is a generated XML page based on some parameters.

I generate the XML based on some PHP and MySQL queries.. but anything that spits out XML can be used for that yes.

[Arjan]

i have kinda 1 big concern about the map and the icons used..
I grabbed the nice looking icons from CC3, but imo they dont really fit..
well they do, but when placing A LOT of them close to each other it looks really messy..

so i am actually considdering replacing them with the more generic symbols like presented on the legend of the big map.. ie blue circel with star for capital, yellow circel with black circel for cities etc.

what do you guys think?

you want them to look spiffy RPG like, ie the buildings of all sort of kinds... or prefer a clean looking map with generic icons?

[Vicente]

I prefer the clean look, and I think it goes much better with the original map.

[Vicente]

I dont see why it shouldnt be possible..
The map "connects" to nothing.. it just makes a AJAX call to a page which is a generated XML page based on some parameters.

I generate the XML based on some PHP and MySQL queries.. but anything that spits out XML can be used for that yes.

Great, I'll keep this in mind then :)

[Thelandrin]

That all looks very impressive, Arjan!

[Arjan]

what about a map like this (see attachment)

[Arjan]

new version with Thaele, Aduria and Djapar also filled

[Vicente]

I like it much much more :) Really great map. Which program did you use?

[Arjan]

I like it much much more :) Really great map. Which program did you use?

thnx!

just photoshop :)

[Arjan]

the only thing i am worried about is how to define the forest areas.. ie the drawing style.

the BR maps are quite cartoon-like drawn.. the trees are kinda swirls.
I am afraid that wont really fit to this map since it is quite realistic

[Vicente]

Maybe you can make non-forested areas more brown instead of green like they are now. Desert areas go more yellow-red. And then you use green for forests, it can have some subtle bumps instead of just plain green to better represent forests. You can use also a very dark green so clear green can be used for grasslands.

My 2 cents, my artistic skills are very low :S

[Arjan]

Maybe you can make non-forested areas more brown instead of green like they are now. Desert areas go more yellow-red. And then you use green for forests, it can have some subtle bumps instead of just plain green to better represent forests. You can use also a very dark green so clear green can be used for grasslands.

My 2 cents, my artistic skills are very low :S

I have tried that, but it doesnt make it look nicer..

on the other side i have been thinking.. doe we REALLY have to know where the forest borders etc are..
Its gonna be locations and landmarks..
The map still has the domain/province borders

the aerial map i used is the one from earth.. can you see the forest borders? (cerilia is most of europe and russia.. khinasi is northern africa)...

[Vicente]

I've been checking this website:

http://www.flashearth.com/

And in some places forest areas are very easy to distinguish using aereal images (like in Africa, South America or North America). In others like Europe is way harder, it's pretty green everywhere (and the green tones do not change enough there like they do for example around the Amazonas).

So just playing a little with the greens and as you say, no need to have the exact forest boundaries.

[Rey]

Light green (even a bit yellowish, grayish) for fields, grass, grassy plains, agricultural areas (stripes of brown, green, gray, ... when you zoom closer like on this flashearth). Darker tones for forests, sometimes a different texture for distinguishing between a lightly forested area, evergreen forest and jungle. Usually forests and jungles have same texture, but jungles are way deep dark. Evergreen forest in Cerilia have pointy texture, like fir trees.