# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Sci-fi/Modern Mapping >  Terran Consortium

## Greason Wolfe

Its been a long time since Ive actively participated here at the Guild.  Between work, family, and limited internet access, I havent had much in the way of time or means to actively work on any projects.  While my internet access is still somewhat limited, Ive started to have a bit of free time, and decided to be productive with it.

As of late, Ive been in a Sci-Fi sort of mood and reading a lot of the classics (Heinlein, Asimov, LeGuin, Herbert, and so on), and that has inspired me to some degree.  Not just in terms of mapping, but also in terms of story telling.  Ive a story in mind, and, like most every story, it needs a setting, an interstellar setting to be precise.

Now, the problem for me, particularly when looking at (or dealing with) interstellar maps (or maybe its better to say charts) is that we are, more often than not, using a 2 dimensional medium to represent a 3 dimensional space.  Most folks work that out by plotting 2 of those coordinates within the 2 dimensional mediums parameters and then tag the 3rd coordinate as a + or - to represent positions above or below the plane of our 2 dimensional medium.  Inherently, there is nothing wrong with this method, its clean, easy to read, and functional.  But I wanted something different.

As I envisioned it, the characters in the story, when they wanted to figure out where they were and where they wanted to go, could call up a holographic image that was rotatable in every direction.  Im sure Ive seen something similar to this somewhere (perhaps on the web, in a movie, or both), and decided to have a go at it, myself.  Admittedly, it is beyond my meager programing abilities to create a chart of this sort (the rotating sort that is), but I can, in essence, create a snap shot that, I hope, captures the effect I am looking for.  Of course, Im still working within the confines of a 2 dimensional medium, so there are some little subtleties Ill have to work out, but I think I have a handle on them.

Ive laid out the basics of the chart so far, and will probably be working on a key (or legend if you will) next.  Ive got about 120 star systems to put on this chart based on information gleaned from the Internet Stellar Database.  Its going to take a while to get all those systems placed, and it is quite possible, since some of that information is based on different epochs, that some of those systems will seem a bit out of place.  Im fine with that since I see this as a slightly different universe than our own.  Its also possible that I will fudge some of the individual systems data to allow for a larger number of habitable (or at least hospitable) systems for the characters to visit.

In any event, heres what I have accomplished so far.  Hope to be able to update this soon.

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## selden

Are you aware of Celestia? It's a free astronomical visualization program available for Windows, MacOS and Linux. See https://celestiaproject.net/


You can use it to position and display objects in 3D, including stars, planets, maps, etc.

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## Greason Wolfe

Yup. Have an older version of it somewhere along with Astro synthesis. Played with both of them and while great for moving around within the plotted space, neither quite gave me what I was looking for in terms of a "map."

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## selden

Well, while one can create 3D maps in Celestia, it is true that the overhead of creating something that looks like what you want can be a bit overwhelming. I often do it by using Anim8or to create a 3d model of the structure that I want, for example. 

Using a 3D design program by itself might be another option. I like Anim8or but some prefer Blender or others.

An example of a 3D map shown in Celestia can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLOx-zZcho8

It shows travel routes between stars.

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## Greason Wolfe

That's pretty sharp. Obviously celestial has changed a bit since the last time I played around with it. Might have to take another look at it in the future. For now I will just keep plugging away at this and see where it gets me.

Not really an update, more a test of concept. Not sure if I am getting the full feel I want with this just yet. Threw a few systems in too see what it would look like.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

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## johnvanvliet

you want a star map like the Gaia 3d data 
http://charliehoey.com/threejs-demos/gaia_dr1.html

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## selden

The main problem I see with your Terran Consortium map is that the coordinate system lines are thin and dim, making them hard to see, although that might be caused by the image's default gamma setting. (Do you use a Mac, by any chance? They tend to have different gamma settings than are used on other systems.) You might want to consider using an inverted color scheme, with a white background and black coordinates.

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## Hai-Etlik

The thing is, this wouldn't really be all that helpful for interstellar navigation.  It might be a pretty visualisation, but practically speaking a simple list sorted by travel time/cost from the current location would be more helpful.  Since you mentioned characters in a story, that might actually make for interesting flavour.  The fancy holographic maps are there for people who don't know better and feel the need to "see" where they are going even though it tells them nothing, anyone experienced with interstellar travel just wants the numbers.

The holographic maps could be useful for other things like a reference map in a school but you would no more use one for navigation than you would use a high school wall map.

You may also have conflated the words "terrain" and "Terran".  "Terrain" is the ground, "Terran" describes people or things from or related to Earth.  They are related but not the same.

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## Azélor

I agree with the others, while the map is pretty, it is severly distorted. Just by looking at it, it's not always easy to know the distance between 2 stars.

If you still want to go 2d the best thing to do would be to use colors to indicate dept like on a elevation map : https://serc.carleton.edu/eslabs/corals/4b.html

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## Greason Wolfe

No that was an auto correct that I didn't catch. It should indeed be Terran instead of Terrain. As for actually using the map it might be better if I explain a little more thoroughly.
There is a bit of a pulpish feel to the story in my head.  Think "high" low technology. The map.isn't just for navigation. It can be used to pull up resource data, political affiliations and so on. Maybe better to say interactive hologram.

As for the dimness of the various lines and elipsi, that is purposeful right now. That will get brighter once I have everything else populated. My eyes are as old.as I am and work about as well sometimes. Haha.

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## waldronate

One point to consider is what you're trying to represent. If you're trying to represent a teaching aid to show history or to show current limitations, then a 3D representation might be a good one. If you're going for a day-to-day use map, what you're using for FTL technology will make a big impact on what you should show. If you're using something like wormhole or stargate technology where the routes are fixed, consider something like a subway map (a very abstract representation of the routes). If your technology is "simple" FTL where you can go X amount faster than lightspeed, then you're going to have a fairly dense 3D map that's pretty much point-to-point and something closer to the abstract list that Hai-Etlik suggested would be more appropriate. "Subspace pathfinder" technology (ships travel through a different kind of space and it's cheaper to go through an already-discovered route) is a nice middle ground where both kinds of maps are appropriate: a 3D one for route discoverers and a subway-type or list-based one for regular users.

Think of traditional maps: traders and sailors use one kind of map that's adapted for their needs. Teachers will want another kind of map, and explorers yet another.

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## waldronate

> No that was an auto correct that I didn't catch. It should indeed be Terran instead of Terrain.


I fixed the thread title for you. Woohoo! I've finally been useful!

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## Greason Wolfe

Yeah for Waldronate!!!

And that third one would probably be the closest to what I am thinking. There aren't really any specific "routes" per si. Ships use inertial dampening technology to achieve FTL velocities. The other issue is that political alliances aren't always based on proximity so the "sectors" are oddly shaped (still not.certain how I will show that yet). Say a ship and its crew need to get from system A to system F. Systems B, C, and D are in the intervening space but all three belong to different political alliances, one of which would happily blast our travelers into subatomic particles. Being able to actually see the area to avoid seems much easier than having to calculate it from numbers.

Like I said I'll keep plugging away at this. Its a good way to get back into the swing of things after such a long absence. Do appreciate all the feedback though. Gives me lots to think about.

GW

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## Greason Wolfe

Well, it seems that perhaps I spoke a little to quickly about things settling down at work. One employee started leave for birth of a child which was fully expected and accounted for when scheduling everyone else. Another employee begged to pick up as many of those extra hours as possible then gave 3 days notice and quit. Now I am back to a seven day work week with half of those being 14 hour days.

Not giving up on this though. Just gonna be slow going until I am fully staffed at work again. I've been thinking about the comments so far and trying to work out a little more detailed reasoning why this particular style of a star chart/map would be useful for navigational purposes. Haven't got all the details worked out just yet but I am leaning towards something akin to the stars/systems being channel markers in a gravitational river of sorts with the technology used to achieve FTL speeds being effected by the stellar "gravity wells."

GW

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## Greason Wolfe

Holy shmoly, its been a while since I fist started this thread. Kinda been plugging at this thing (feel free to read that as several restarts and rethinkings) and have a new rough of what I am going to do with it. Since the whole 3d-ish thing just wasn't working out the way I was hoping it would, I've dropped that idea and gone with more of a regular look. Still experimenting with colors and what not, but definitely getting a better feel for things as I keep going. Will probably end up with both a pretty color version and a black & white version.

Anyways.....



One of the things I am working on right now is a nebulae-like background to slip in there somewhere as an attempt to make things prettier. Will be coloring in the stars as well based on their spectral classes at some point. There is a good chance that some of the names will change as well as positions, but that won't happen until I get more detailed about when they were colonized. Also considering some way of identifying resources available in each system, but don't want the text to start looking too crowded.

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## Greason Wolfe

This is the first set of System Maps for my Terran Consortium setting.  Since theyre meant to serve a dual purpose (gaming and writing), Im trying to include the pertinent information needed for both purposes rather than making multiple versions of each map.  Also, for the purposes of dual usage, I am keeping them very simple and readable.  No crazy color schemes, no outrageous fonts, and, ultimately, sized to be printable at 300 dpi on an 11 x 8.5 inch page when I get to that point.

This first map is of the Imanshar System (sometimes referred to as Consortium Prime) as a whole.

The Imanshar System is located at the very heart of the Consortium and is the birthplace of Mankind (so far as Mankind knows).  As one of the three ternary systems within the Consortium, it is, much as one might suspect, one of the largest population centers, serving as home for approximately 14 billion people.

The system consists of three Main Sequence stars, an F9V orbiting with a G5V/K1V pair (something I mis-represented and will have to fix on the main star chart).  There are also 2 significant Space Stations that were established as Mankind colonized the second and third stars of the system.  In the real universe/galaxy, it is probably very unlikely that all three of these stars would serve as host for habitable planets, but, this is science fiction, and, thanks to a number of authors, television shows and movies, stretching the boundaries of probability and reality is, at least, moderately acceptable.  As for the stellar orbits, there probably needs to be a greater separation between the F9V and G5V/K1V pair, and they probably should have been shown as being more elliptical (not to mention probably inclined to one another), but my math-fu (and several other related -fus) werent quite up to the task.  I think, however, that I managed to land somewhat within the ballpark with most of the pertinent data and results.  Im still working out how I am going to generate planetary data, and suspect that I am going to have to fall back to something along the lines of WinStar or Astro-synthesis to generate all the data Ill be needing.

Anyways, here it is.



Edit: And just because I want to see how anyone feels about a slightly prettier but not intense for print version...

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## Greason Wolfe

Played around with this a little bit in trying to find a good way to include more detail as far as planetary orbits and such in a single map. Feel like I am close to something with a "pretty" version but still have a ways to go. Probably need to make the orbital paths a little stronger than they currently are, but that is easy enough to accomplish as I move forward.

Thoughts?
Suggestions?

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## Bindusara

I agree with you, make the path stronger. 
You choose to make circles, but ellipse are more common in space. 
The global look is nice : very "scientific", i like it

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## Greason Wolfe

Yep, gonna try those stellar orbits again. Been a hectic couple of weeks, but gonna take another shot at it over the weekend.

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## Greason Wolfe

So I think I finally got my math-fu working a little better and came up with a reasonable way to create the stellar orbits as ellipsis. Had to fudge a couple of things here and there, but, again, hopefully I landed somewhere in the ballpark (probably in foul territory  :Very Happy:  ).

So an update. Includes planetary orbital windows for each star. Next step will probably be to make individual planet windows for the main inhabited planet for each star. And, of course, some fresh labels at some point.

Also, I did manage to set things up so I can make this as a pretty version and quickly turn it into a simple 11x8.5 printable version.

Anywho.....

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