SVG Maps

[Chenier]

Actually, the issue here is primarily the lack of an SVG-based map, or other programmatic description of the shapes of regions, for each continent.  If I had that, it would only take me a few hours to code up various useful overlays.

I finished drawing up the borders of BT/AT in GIS software. A few more operations and many things will be possible with those.

No ETA on the rest of the continents, though. Drawing the borders takes time, which is a limited resource. BT/AT had the advantage of being a two in one.

[Anaris]

I finished drawing up the borders of BT/AT in GIS software. A few more operations and many things will be possible with those.

Any chance of getting them exported as an SVG file? (Or other common vector-graphics format, which could be converted to SVG)

No ETA on the rest of the continents, though. Drawing the borders takes time, which is a limited resource. BT/AT had the advantage of being a two in one.

No kidding.  It's a lot of work, and I don't envy those who take on the task.  Thanks.

[Chenier]

Any chance of getting them exported as an SVG file? (Or other common vector-graphics format, which could be converted to SVG)

No kidding.  It's a lot of work, and I don't envy those who take on the task.  Thanks.

I'll see. I can play with all the cool tools of ArcGIS at work, with any license level I like. At home, where I spend time on such things, I use QuantumGIS. I'm still not too familiar with how much this software can do, and where to find all the proper tools. The lines are all vectors, though, so I theoretically should be able to. Yet again, it appears I'll have to use GRASS tools to convert these lines to polygons, as for whatever reason QuantumGIS didn't see it as an important enough tool to implement( ). They are in a line shapefile for now.

Maybe I'll just try to get that university license for ArcGIS to work instead... I'm not really liking working with QuantumGIS.

[Chenier]

I'll see. I can play with all the cool tools of ArcGIS at work, with any license level I like. At home, where I spend time on such things, I use QuantumGIS. I'm still not too familiar with how much this software can do, and where to find all the proper tools. The lines are all vectors, though, so I theoretically should be able to. Yet again, it appears I'll have to use GRASS tools to convert these lines to polygons, as for whatever reason QuantumGIS didn't see it as an important enough tool to implement( ). They are in a line shapefile for now.

Maybe I'll just try to get that university license for ArcGIS to work instead... I'm not really liking working with QuantumGIS.

I finally got ArcGIS to work for me at home. That will certainly be useful, as that is the software I use at work and am most comfortable with (plus, it's way more powerful than the open source stuff).

I'll be continuing that in my free times.

[Chenier]

ArcGIS is sweet.

I got all the lines into polygons. Apparently, ArcGIS no longer supports conversion to .svg, but workarounds exist. I'll see what I can do.

Meanwhile, I'll wait for these .csv files Tom said he'd hand me over, so that I may link the data to the polygons.

Here's a screenshot of the polygons: http://imageshack.us/m/709/8936/printscreensx.png

I've already re-ajusted the fields to better organize the data a little bit.

Edit: Actually, exporting to .svg was as easy as can be. Dunno what that fuss I saw on forums was all about. I'll send you a copy of the .svg file, though I'm not sure if you want me to do some more transformations to the polygons before the conversion. I'm not all to familiar with .svg files and with coding.

[Bedwyr]

Ooh, fun stuff.  Nice work Dominic.

[Shizzle]

I don't really understand most of the technical talk, however that map seems to be quite an accomplishment. Could anybody enlighten me why?

[Bedwyr]

I don't really understand most of the technical talk, however that map seems to be quite an accomplishment. Could anybody enlighten me why?

It's the next step toward several cool things, such as having the dynamic map show more information than it currently does.

[Indirik]

Very nice, Chenier.

[Indirik]

I don't really understand most of the technical talk, however that map seems to be quite an accomplishment. Could anybody enlighten me why?

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) images can be manipulated dynamically by the game, on-the-fly, as it were. The game can take that one map, which is tagged with meta-data to indicate what parts of it are what, and use it to present multiple types of information. Like, for example, create a colored political map of the island. And color it based on alliances. Or region type. Or population levels, or religion spreads, etc. Possibly even use it as a semi-transparent overlay on top of the regular dynamic map. Not to mention do many, many, other things with it.

[dustole]

This map and what it represents is great!   It just made me go from 6 to noon...

[Anaris]

I don't really understand most of the technical talk, however that map seems to be quite an accomplishment. Could anybody enlighten me why?

This is why: http://topazgryphon.org/~tcollett/bm/SVGMapDemo.m4v

Note: this was my first time using QuickTime's Screen Recording feature, and it cut off my first few seconds of speaking.  The words that got cut off were something along the lines of "Thanks to Dominic's efforts in creating a".

[Geronus]

The words that got cut off were something along the lines of "Thanks to Dominic's efforts in creating a".

Coincidence? I THINK NOT!   

[Chenier]

Coincidence? I THINK NOT!   

Basically, I think I'm using a super complex technical Geographic Information System program to do something that another could more easily do in a Computer-Assisted Drawing software. But hey, I'm not artist, I barely manage with Paint and GIMP. On the other hand, ArcGIS is what I use all day long at work, so...

Simply put, the overlay for the map that was done was drawn vortex by vortex, a vortex being a point from which line segments are assembled. And since I both did not know how much people would want to zoom with these maps and that I'm quite a perfectionist, many vortices were plotted in, in order to give rounder and more natural looking borders. And then the lines were used to form polygons to represent the regions, which must then be given various data fields in order to seperate them from each other (And the land from the water).

[Perth]

Very cool.


Very, very, very cool.