# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Regional/World Mapping >  WIP stereographic world map

## vorropohaiah

so, time to start a new map, and here's something i've been wanting to do for a while now, mostly to help in my writing. i decided on a 15th - 16th century-style stereographic world map (in the style of classics by the likes of Blaeu or Mercator), showing two halves of the world - western and eastern hemispheres, respectively. though distances are distorted, areas should be preserved, and the map is intended more as a novelty object than a navigational tool. it shows things like equinoctial, tropic, arctic and ecliptic lines and will, when completed, include a (hopefully) dizzying amount of labels and rivers, in the style of maps of the period; as well as sea paths, charting voyages and other expeditions of note. the empty spaces around the borders will include a plethora of details (possibly using the star chart i previously made) and other details pertinent to the world. though that's a while away...

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## - Max -

Sounds like a huge and great project  :Smile:

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## Naeddyr

Looking really good thus far.

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## Diamond

This should be fun to watch!  I'm in your cheering section.   :Very Happy:

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## Eilathen

Cool! I'm digging it already *helps Diamond with the cheering*  :Very Happy: 

Does that mean we are cheer-leaders now, D?!  :Surprised:   :Razz:

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## Diamond

As long as I don't have to wear a skirt, I'm there.   :Very Happy:

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## vorropohaiah

:Smile:  well this is the internet so we can all picture it anyway  :Smile:

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## Caenwyr

You have me there following you as well!

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## vorropohaiah

here's a WIP pic of the map




Not much work done actually. just a few labels, really. I've spent most of my time on this fixing the graticule and its borders and titling the hemispheres. Most of the labels (and some markers tracking explorer's voyages; three in all, one in yellow,. red and another, green one, yet to be done) are in the south-eastern part of the eastern hemisphere and the north-eastern part of the western hemisphere, if anyone's interested, though I plan on adding a lot more... Here's a close-up of the Inner Sea area that's labelled so-far:



any  C&C as well as ideas and tips for what i can add to the outside portion of the map, please feel free.

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## arsheesh

This looks to be a large undertaking!  You've done a wonderful job with it so far though.  No C&C here, just two thumbs up.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## Schwarzkreuz

If I do this with Arden, it would sure kill me first  :Razz: 
I adore your passion for accuracy, even if thats meaning that we will wait long time to enjoy the full map.

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## vorropohaiah

ok, after a few necromantic posts I figured I'd post a bit of work on this map. Though I say necromantic, the project is not at all dead, just on a very slow thaw, so-to-speak  :Smile:  I'm not doing much work on this - maybe adding 10-or-so labels a day, when I have chance to. You might notice though that neither of the pictures below have any labels. The map is so big Id have to split it up into at least 6 separate images to get any detail to show up, so I figured Id just show a tiny version to give an overall feel of the map (for anyone interested, the full map is 25,347 x 16,200 px  :Very Happy:  ). 

The two maps below are the old and new versions, respectively. The main difference are that the text in the new version will be on the bottom, which makes more sense if you think of this as a real map that might once have graces the office of a lord of king  anyone wanting to read it would have no chance of deciphering the tiny text if it was on the top of the map. 

Also, another change is the positioning of the moon and star maps. The old map places the northern hemisphere on the top-left, the southern hemisphere on the bottom-left, with the moons on the right. The new map places the moons on the top left, with the north hemisphere and the southern hemisphere on the bottom left and right respectively. I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on the different positioning? I actually think I prefer the older positioning, though theres a symmetry to the newer version thats better. Thoughts?

As always C&C are more than welcome

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## Viking

Seeing you continue work on this really makes me happy!

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## vorropohaiah

it's giving me a headache though! i think i'm probably better-off concentrating on the stuff outside the map itself so i can make a 'mock-up' or prototype version to which i can add labels as i need them

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## vorropohaiah

A small (literally - not much detail in this) update on the Stereographic map. I've done a bit more work on the general layout, particularly with the large cartouche on the bottom, which will include various details, including heraldry, physical details, histories etc.

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## evilref

While obviously far from done, the extra details and context/story of the map are what really sell it. Nice work.

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## Eilathen

Good to see you back, vorro! As always, very much looking forward to what you will come up with. Have a Like.

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## SteffenBrand

This is probably one of the most stunning maps I've ever encountered on the internet. Truly amazing work, very detailed and very good executed so far. I'd love to see this finished! I btw know exactly how it feels to have a file so huge that you nearly can't work on it any more. I have one myself I'm currently working on. About 400 layers, text, colors, effects, etc. make it nearly impossible to export (or at least takes about 15 minutes). Keep up the good work, all the best wishes for this project! =)

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## vorropohaiah

> This is probably one of the most stunning maps I've ever encountered on the internet. Truly amazing work, very detailed and very good executed so far. I'd love to see this finished! I btw know exactly how it feels to have a file so huge that you nearly can't work on it any more. I have one myself I'm currently working on. About 400 layers, text, colors, effects, etc. make it nearly impossible to export (or at least takes about 15 minutes). Keep up the good work, all the best wishes for this project! =)


since i moved the background elements to their own file, and just the map itself in another file, i've found thigns have gotten a lot quicker. changing to an SSD and CS6 made a huge difference too though the files are still annoyingly large. I'm having to rasterise and merge all text layers as it would be insane otherwise. thousands of layers. the time i checked before i merged the layers i was on about 1,800 text layers and that was a while ago...

work is annoyingly slow though as i hate just adding labels without knowing any background for them. otherwise it would have been aeasy-enough to just add random names all over the map.

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