# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Regional/World Mapping >  How realistic is this map?

## intipablo

Hello everyone,

Just got some inspiration and drew a quick sketch of a world and I'm not much of a geography expert so just wondering how realistic this map is in terms of where everything is (mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, etc)? the grey around the mountains are supposed to represent hills... I know, the looks need some work, but this is just a quick draft. A better question might be, will anyone complain about this map if a story/book(s) is made about it. You can probably tell that it is very similar to europe so imagine that this world replicates europes climate and all that (or not?).



Also no idea if you guys answer stuff like this on here, if I'm in the wrong section sorry!

Thanks

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## Azélor

The map in incomplete, two of the continents are cut in half. 
Aside from that, some of the mountains chains look unnatural but I'm not an expert on tectonic.

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## intipablo

Hey, thanks for replying  :Smile: 

The continents aren't actually cut in half, they just haven't been fully mapped yet (this is kinda like a map of the known world), for example the one on the right has a large mountain range that noone has crossed yet (now that I think about it people could just sail around it, I'll have to think about that one...).

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## XCali

> The map in incomplete, two of the continents are cut in half. 
> Aside from that, some of the mountains chains look unnatural but I'm not an expert on tectonic.


Hi (Edit: @Azelor), I don't know if I agree. A lot of time people cut a section off a continent, if not just to suggest that there will be more to explore to those areas not mapped. 
So, it might come down to what the mapper wants to show on this section.

That said, that smallish island on the left does look a bit odd cut like that.

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## Jean-Abdel

Hey Europe ! Scotland (which appears to be absent from this map) has a message for you : anything is realistic geologically on a scale less than a few thousand kilometers, and your rivers are ok. Your climates don't need to follow European ones, it depends on the latitude, the other continents and the fact that Asia and Africa disappeared will probably make it wetter.

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## Adfor

> Hi Adfor


Wrong guy.  :Wink: 

Since I'm here I may as well comment. The mountains do look a bit strange, but like Azélor, I'm no expert on plate tectonics. Otherwise the rivers look fine, they all seem to flow from high to low.

I hope that you pursue a higher quality version of this, as the crude line work is driving my OCD absolutely crazy.  :Razz: 

Cheers!

IR

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## intipablo

Thanks for the responses  :Smile: 

It seems like my mountains and rivers will make do, but I guess I will have to work climate and scale (been struggling on scale for a while).

And yes don't worry, I will make a much better quality version, sorry haha.

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## PrimogenGames

> The map in incomplete, two of the continents are cut in half. 
> Aside from that, some of the mountains chains look unnatural but I'm not an expert on tectonic.


I agree with the mountain ranges not being placed properly.  Think of an island like those in Hawaii formed by volcanos.  The peak is always starting in the middle or close to it since that's where the lava came out long ago, pouring down to form the island.  It always builds up from the middle or close to it if it's a volcanic island.  

Usually volcanic islands also start with an initial island and new islands are formed in a row following the fault line deep under the ocean.  So any islands in a group of volcanic islands would likely be in a row and starting with the oldest island down to the newest formed.  Volcanic islands have few if any beaches as those take years to form, often from pieces of shells and coral (thus requiring a reef formation at some point in the past or present).

If you want an island with a different design you want to think of how it formed.  If it was from two tectonic plates smashing together and forming peaks, they too will likely follow a fault line. Rather than the island being a single peak in the middle tapering off on all sides, you would have a row of peaks down the center of the island.  Over the years after the islands formation there could be natural events that erode one side or change it in other ways.  People may even be involved in changing the landscape.

Hope some of those details help.

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## waldronate

Every map is an abstraction of a place done for a specific purpose and a specific client (and fixed in a particular medium, which may seriously impact how the map is realized). Knowing how abstract the map is intended to be plays heavily into being able to describe how "realistic" the map is (chevron mountains, blob forests, and stroke rivers all suggest a high degree of abstraction, which really broadens the bounds of being able to give a "realistic" or not judgement). It's also hard to tell if the features make much sense without some information about scale and projection, because some elements that are acceptable for a map small island might not be at all correct for a map of a hemisphere.

One thing that I can say, though, is that mountains tend to intersect at about 120 degree angles on a continental scale: 90 degree intersections are much less likely.  Also, mountain ranges tend not to start and stop without a very good geologic reason.

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## intipablo

Hey guys, thanks again for the help.

I've tweaked the map a little (not much though to be honest) and came up with this:



I'll work on the islands like you said and put some mountains in the middle in a bit. Unfortunately I'm still unsure about scale and I just thought I'd ask, how important is it to pinpoint the exact scale of my map? I don't want to keep fussing over it but can't decide, any ideas? For now I'll just assume that left continent is a bit smaller than europe and the right is the size of turkey?

thanks again

EDIT: tried to update the map real quick (mountains up top were missing) but think i duplicated it, oh well haha

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## intipablo

Hello again,

I went back and I tweaked the map a bit more (islands still need some work I think) and I put in a bar for determining scale. What do you guys think? Do any big problems stick out? I'm not sure.



So now the eastern continent would be around 2000km long and the south-west pensinsula (so basically spain) would be around 500-800km wide. Does this size sound good for a fantasy world?

Thanks

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## KMAlexander

The answer to a lot of those questions is going to depend on the story you want to tell. What's the right size? Probably depends on the scope of your story and how much time you want to dedicate to character's traveling.

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