Psst ... New resources for scenario makers

[Jer8m8]

I don't know if this will help, but raremaps.com has pictures of the original maps

[Provost Harrison]

Very impressive. Although I don't make scenarios myself, they are interesting from a purely educational point of view as well

[Marquis de Sodaq]

from the brink of page two...

Originally posted by Harlan
Marquis,
I wouldn't worry too much about the vegetation stuff. Like I said, I already have some decent stuff up. But if you come across better, please let me know.

As I mentioned, this usually requires a data search. This, in turn, calls for a particular area you'd like to find. The US has piles of data, europe usually has good data, too. The rest of the world is not as reliably digital, as could be expected.

Originally posted by Harlan
I still would very much like your satellite and DEM imagery. Could you email me some of that? 50 MB is pretty whopping, but if you were to cut it down to just the Old World, and then save it as a .jpg, I'm sure it would be much smaller. Esp. as it could be broken into pieces - I can deal with about 5 MB max at a time.

Reducing detail is the quickest way to reduce file size. The resulting image is still usable (see the one I posted above), but has generalized, for example, 9 pixels into 1. Voila, a file many times smaller.

Originally posted by Harlan
Elevation data shaded from a single point isn't ideal. What would be much better is that data presented in typical topological map form, with 1000 meters, 2000 meters marked off...

Moving from elevation to contours is not hard. The color image I posted above, tho, is no longer elevation data. I'd have to create something anew for that. That means time, of which I have little extra while I'm at work! I'll see what I can pull together in the next few days as an example.

Originally posted by Harlan
Can you also get that or convert it to different projections?

Happily, the technology for projecting raster data is getting faster. It used to take several days of processing time to convert a huge grid to a new projection. Now it's on the scale of hours or less. A smaller grid is vastly preferable in this case.

[Harlan]

"As I mentioned, this usually requires a data search. This, in turn, calls for a particular area you'd like to find. The US has piles of data, europe usually has good data, too. The rest of the world is not as reliably digital, as could be expected."

Contintental wide stuff is preferrable, Old World only. Something Europe wide would be great, if that is obtainable.

"Reducing detail is the quickest way to reduce file size. The resulting image is still usable (see the one I posted above), but has generalized, for example, 9 pixels into 1. Voila, a file many times smaller."

True, but that should be the choice of last resort if all else isn't enough. Zipping, cropping, changing sav formats all reduce size alot too.

"Moving from elevation to contours is not hard. The color image I posted above, tho, is no longer elevation data. I'd have to create something anew for that. That means time, of which I have little extra while I'm at work! I'll see what I can pull together in the next few days as an example."

Cool - thanks!

"Happily, the technology for projecting raster data is getting faster. It used to take several days of processing time to convert a huge grid to a new projection. Now it's on the scale of hours or less. A smaller grid is vastly preferable in this case."

If you do find some good elevation and/or vegetation data for Eurasia, I'd love to see it converted from whatever to Two Point Equidistant Projection, Poles at 35 degrees North, -40 degrees East, and 35 degrees North, - 140 degrees East. Talk about a tall order! But that's the best projection for fitting all of Eurasia into a rectangular box, and I have plans eventually for a scenario that covers all of Eurasia, using that projection.

Thanks everyone, by the way, for all the positive comments and suggestions coming in. That helps inspire me to keep working to make the resources on the site better.

[JosefGiven]

Harlan,

Dude, I am having trouble using my email account. In the mean time, could you post a scan of that black and white picture of Russia up here, so's I can compare it with what I've got this end?

Nice one,

Josef

[Darkknight]

Hi I took a bit of that map and used blender to create a 3D map.
Blemder does have a vertece limit for each object but I can join objects up to make a bigger map

[CapTVK]

Harlan,

Well I think i can generate an index (and export it?) I'll see if it works. The maps are harder to copy they seem to be in some sort of special format. I can copy segments and print them out but cannot export the whole map to a graphic program.


Will get back to you.

P.S
Looking forward to your upcoming Civ3 scenarios (fingers crossed)

[Harlan]

Josef,
I'm 100% sure now that comes from a different atlas. However, I'm sure your atlas has other Russia stuff, like isn't there a gulag related map, and an ethnic groups of Russia map? I know there was something Russia related that I forgot to get!

Darkknight,
You took a bit of what map? I don't know of any map right now with elevation data.

CapTVK,
If you're having trouble making images, I suggest you go to www.download.com, and download a program called Hypersnap. Its free, and enables you to get screenshots from just about any program. Its never failed for me. The free version puts a little logo in the image you save, but its almost always on top of the drop down menu anyways, so it doesn't matter.

[Triped]

https://www.screenshot-utility.com

This one is better, although it has a 30-day evaluation limit, but I think we all know how to get around those

[Darkknight]

Doh!
here's the image.
Something wrong with the part of my brain that controls the "attachments" button

[Triped]

That should work..Blender is a nice program.

[Fiera]

Originally posted by Waku
Check this out:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncg.../action?opt=-p

Waku, an outstanding link (as ever)!

[Triped]

I agree. So, know of any other good links?

er...

[Marquis de Sodaq]

DarkKnight, it looks like the vertical factor in your image is a bit exaggerated! What did you use for that image?

Harlan, I've searched briefly for DEM data, it looks as tho only europe and north america are available for free downloads. Using this would require processing time to make simple shaded relief images. Contours are also available for free download. These are often too detailed for Civ use, but could of course be generalized.

I'll start cutting up the world image into smaller pieces and send them to you as I make progress.

Here's another random sample from the world image:

[Rasbelin]

Thanks mate! Great maps, and useful for my
upcoming scenario.

Once again, nice work!