Pimp My Map Please
Wed, 2011-12-14 04:03
I made a map of mars, (yep there's another map of Mars on the boards but this one has lot's of topo goodness 
)
Mars Topo 1600x1200
Mars Topo 5100x3825
[edit]LAME. apparently photobucket wont let me share the full size pics. the big version is 16 meg but it's pretty cool at that resolution... Anyone know where I should share them? There's now a link to the poster sized version from my picasa act below.
I need help with a few things; First please look at it and tell me if anything is wrong or not working.
Tell me what is missing, if there's anything especially place markers or geographic features I need to include. Especially highways and railroads.
theres a reference in Sunward to a highway out of Pathfinder city that "Runs a thousand lonely kilometers before it meets the highway from Hellas Basin." does anyone have any idea where that highway out of hellas is going? It doesn't make any sense to me it would have run to Elysium (inwhich case the connection from Pathfinder would have been Thousand(
of Km long. Or it was going to Qurain but then the highway from Pathfinder would have only been a few hundred Km Long. Ideas would be very helpful.
Notes: this is a protect I started tonight cauz I was trying to write a story about mars but i can't figure out where Rusters can breath so I needed to look at the topography. They must be able to breath unassisted somewhere or there wouldn't be rusters. With no official information I've decided that rusters can breath without supplemental oxygen at any elevation lower than the 0 point. (the yellow green and blue parts.)
The stats at the botom of the page I pulled from wikipedia so blame croudsourcing if they're wrong, Except for the Atmospheric stats which I just pulled out of my ass based on references from sunward and THIS page. So if those numbers look funky I'd like to know what your speculation is.
Thanks and feel free to use this how ever you want. If you like to tinker with photoshop I can make the .psd available but I warn you the layers pallet is a clusterfuck.
EP mars topo map version 1 5100x3825, 16.2meg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xT15QqAizRs/TuheDSW51gI/AAAAAAAAAAs/oemoTeg0VCQ/I/EPMarsTopomap5100.jpg
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Wed, 2011-12-14 17:14
#2
Re: Pimp My Map Please
Right, timezones. thanks.
Um, rusters need Breathers. (at least in some places)
References:
El Destino Verde: all the characters; Jake Carter (Ruster), Sage Kim (Ruster), Smoke (smart baboon) are pointedly described as wearing breathers and they're somewhere in the Noctis Labrinthus--about a full kilometer below the elevation of the Tharsis Plateau but still above the mean 0 elevation of the surface.
Maker Nomads, who I assume are generally sleeved in rusters, invented the Extended Use Breather and seeded the prints on the mesh.
they’re
technolibertarian engineer-survivalists. Among other
things, they invented the extended duty breathers
everyone uses in the Martian back country
technolibertarian engineer-survivalists. Among other
things, they invented the extended duty breathers
everyone uses in the Martian back country
I thought that there was some reference to needing vacsuits on Olympus but I can't find it.
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Wed, 2011-12-14 18:02
#3
Re: Pimp My Map Please
Hmm. You're right. Time for me to do some rereading, it seems. And actually, the vacsuits on Olympus does sound familiar...and found it.
Core, p. 96.
Low atmospheric pressure and bone-freezing temperatures at the city’s altitude of 27 kilometers mean that most transhumans venturing outside the souks and hab modules still need the equivalent of light vacsuits to survive.
Wed, 2011-12-14 22:00
#4
Re: Pimp My Map Please
It was in the main book, who'da figured. 
I'm having difficulty deciding how to put the time zones on the map. 12 time zones is the same as saying "every 30 degrees"
I noticed that, since the head of the page is a panorama of victoria crater I should probably note it's location on the map.
also need to fix the -160degree typo on the botom right.
I like to use maps as desktop backgrounds. It ocurres to me that 1600x1200 might not fit newer monitors. What is an average screen resolution?
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Thu, 2011-12-15 00:34
#5
Re: Pimp My Map Please
Out of curiosity, are you using the topo map from Google Mars as your base? (I love the fact that there _is_ a Google Mars.)
Not really sure on average resolutions anymore. I'm running 1280x800 on mine, but it's also a few years old, and I think most people keep theirs higher than I do.
For timezones, maybe a white or grey dashed line at dividing points with the appropriate AMT offset centered at the top in the same color? It's not something you'd want to make too dominant a feature, otherwise it would distract from the rest. Also probably worth adding a marker for the Airy-0 crater.
Thu, 2011-12-15 00:39
#6
Re: Pimp My Map Please
I like to use maps as desktop backgrounds. It ocurres to me that 1600x1200 might not fit newer monitors. What is an average screen resolution?
Most run on 16:10, and I believe that the most prolific is 1680x1050.
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Thu, 2011-12-15 08:22
#7
Re: Pimp My Map Please
16:10, thanks that's what I needed I think I'll make another version that fits wider screens
Airy 0 is right on the edge. Both edges acually, caus I centered the map on 180 to avoid breaking up the TQZ. It's not traditional but it looks better that way.
I could put a marker for airy 0 on both sides that would be cool maybe.
the problem with marking time zones with a dashed line is that they allready fall every 30 degrees which is allready marked with a 1pxl sollid line so I'm not certain that would be visually any more distinctive. I could put brackets of some type at the top or bottom but with the new ratio I'll be even more cramped for vertical space. Maybe I should kill the pic at thetop.
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Thu, 2011-12-15 12:31
#8
Re: Pimp My Map Please
Hmm. Okay, I was assuming the splits would be at the 15s centered on an actual AMT time zone and that you had either an AMT +12 or an AMT-12 centered on 180. Looking at the map, though, that would put several cities in the wrong time zones, so I was visualizing it incorrectly.
That makes it easy to label time zones, at the very least. You've already got the vertical lines, so no need to add them. Just center an AMT+2 label between 0 and 30 and so on. There's not too much text along the bottom edge of the map -- Burroughs crater should be the only text of potential concern, and it might not be in the way. If you want to add a bit of extra emphasis, you've got a small portion of the map below -70. Highlight that portion of the vertical line in the same color you use for your time zone label to make the boundaries very clear visually. You've got the same thing at the top of the map you could use, and no text at all up there that would interfere with the labels, as an alternative.
Thu, 2011-12-15 17:09
#9
Re: Pimp My Map Please
Oh put the AMT INside the map...
maybe use something like an embossed effect on a blocky sanserif font at 72pts so it doesn't totally obscure the terrain underneath. It would look pretty cool.
I debated weather to put the burroughs crater label on the map since it's not Actually on the map. Burrrows crater coordinates are; 117E:72.3S so it doesn't really show. But I'm obsessed with the nomads and Burrows is a winter camp so I had to put it on.
Thanks for the advice.
I've decided to add all of the location names for places we've landed rovers and stuff up to this point too.
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Fri, 2011-12-30 02:14
#10
Re: Pimp My Map Please
Have you had the chance to do those updates over the last couple of weeks, or have you been too busy with the holidays? Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing the latest version of your map when you've got it ready.
Fri, 2011-12-30 07:32
#11
Re: Pimp My Map Please
nope, been dicking around with the holidays. Still working on it.
I'm probably going to add a bunch more landmarks and all of the current lander/rover sites. AFIK I've got all the EP references done.
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Rusters are specifically designed to survive on Mars with minimal extras, so I'd assume they can breathe pretty much anywhere on the planet. Enhanced Respiration and Temperature Tolerance takes care of them for the partially terraformed Martian environment.
Very nice start to your map. One thing to consider adding is time zones. We know the time zones for the major cities from Sunward in Airy Mean Time, so I doubt it would be too difficult to extrapolate the rest of them.