So, more than four months after it was suggested that 'oh hey that'd 
look good as a vector-based', I have a not-yet-complete version.  Needs 
bathymetry, tree cover, and touch-up on a few labels of water bodies. 
And probably a few items from Dawnguard since I think I missed those.

http://anybook.anysize.org/~kasuga_kyousuke/Skyrim.svg

...pity there's not an easy zoom/pan functionality built directly into 
Firefox/IE.

Not sure if I'll bother with doing a mineral survey at some point or not.

--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.sjcook.com

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Tim Cook <z99### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> So, more than four months after it was suggested that 'oh hey that'd
> look good as a vector-based', I have a not-yet-complete version.  Needs
> bathymetry, tree cover, and touch-up on a few labels of water bodies.

Looks excellent! Really interesting result. Are the building plans taken from
the wiki maps or similar?

I had no idea Labryinthian was so big... I should go back there and explore...
as you say, would be good to see the forest cover, and you're right, I think the
mineral deposits would probably just clutter it.

good work :)

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On 2013-04-08 02:33, Bill Pragnell wrote:
> Looks excellent! Really interesting result. Are the building plans taken from
> the wiki maps or similar?

Yeah.  The UESP map is the primary reference for the exact placement of 
the Skyrim roads, shore, and the buildings (the whole thing at a few 
levels out stitched together for the big-picture and shoreline, zoomed 
in for more accurate building footprints).

> I had no idea Labryinthian was so big... I should go back there and explore...
> as you say, would be good to see the forest cover, and you're right, I think the
> mineral deposits would probably just clutter it.

Labyrinthian's not so bad, most of that is platform.  What boggles me is 
how honkin' huge the exterior of Bleak Falls Barrow is.  Completely 
out-of-scale compared to basically everything else, even considering 
that the scale of the buildings is not the same as the scale of the 
terrain as far as canon-distance is concerned.  Interior of it doesn't 
match up at all with its exits, either.  (I'd put down the underground 
areas of Embershard Mine and Helgen Keep in another layer, since those 
can be tied nicely from point A to B, but gave up once I saw that other 
interior spaces had nothing to do with Outside Geography.)

Mineral survey would be done as a sort of separate thing, rather than 
having the map show individual points, trying to see if it'd be possible 
to interpolate between ore deposits into contiguous veins.  Looks 
semi-promising from what I poked around on the UESP map, but it'd become 
a separate map.

--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.sjcook.com

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Tim Cook <z99### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> What boggles me is
> how honkin' huge the exterior of Bleak Falls Barrow is.  Completely
> out-of-scale compared to basically everything else, even considering
> that the scale of the buildings is not the same as the scale of the
> terrain as far as canon-distance is concerned.

Oh yeah, I hadn't noticed that. Maybe because it's the first dungeon you get
offered in the game? Make it nice and impressive for those just starting out...

> Interior of it doesn't
> match up at all with its exits, either.

I guessed that would be the case for most interiors.

>(I'd put down the underground
> areas of Embershard Mine and Helgen Keep in another layer, since those
> can be tied nicely from point A to B, but gave up once I saw that other
> interior spaces had nothing to do with Outside Geography.)

I'd love to see a Blackreach overlay, if only to see how badly it matches up.
There's several direct surface access points IIRC, plus the three dungeon
entrances (all several zones each, so I'd hold out no hope for alignment there).

> Mineral survey would be done as a sort of separate thing, rather than
> having the map show individual points, trying to see if it'd be possible
> to interpolate between ore deposits into contiguous veins.  Looks
> semi-promising from what I poked around on the UESP map, but it'd become
> a separate map.

Interesting, it never occurred to me the designers might try to do that :)

There are some other 'elsewhere' exteriors too, like Sovngarde... Ever think to
have a go at them too, or are they too small to bother with?

Bill

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On 2013-04-09 02:41, Bill Pragnell wrote:
> I'd love to see a Blackreach overlay, if only to see how badly it matches up.
> There's several direct surface access points IIRC, plus the three dungeon
> entrances (all several zones each, so I'd hold out no hope for alignment there).

Tried it.  It doesn't line up, which is dumb.  Even adjusting the scale, 
the locations of the Great Lifts, particularly Bthardamz, aren't in the 
same pattern.  Suppose could cheat and say the lift shafts are at an 
angle through the ground.

>> Mineral survey would be done as a sort of separate thing, rather than
>> having the map show individual points, trying to see if it'd be possible
>> to interpolate between ore deposits into contiguous veins.  Looks
>> semi-promising from what I poked around on the UESP map, but it'd become
>> a separate map.
>
> Interesting, it never occurred to me the designers might try to do that :)

If you've got Hearthfire, it's interesting to note that the clay 
deposits are all along river banks and such.  You can go in the UESP map 
and search for different ore veins even when zoomed fully out and page 
through them 50 at a time to get an idea of how they're set up.

> There are some other 'elsewhere' exteriors too, like Sovngarde... Ever think to
> have a go at them too, or are they too small to bother with?

Well, I'd like to expand the map to include the rest of the Tamriel 
worldspace...eventually...(it covers half of Hammerfell, Morrowind, and 
down to just north of Valenwood), but unless they did some major changes 
for Dragonborn, Solstheim...isn't even where it ought to be on the world 
map.  Either it's closer to Vvardenfell and rather smaller, or it 
doesn't exist at all.

--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.sjcook.com

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So here's what I'm considering the finished product:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/36159

It's not perfect, but it's good enough; the extent of the positive 
feedback (and the fact that I somehow managed to make it to the current 
top mods on the front page) is pretty mind-boggling.

(a bit of PR for POV-Ray in the comment where I overview the process for 
making it, and a shout-out to S. Benge)

--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.sjcook.com

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