Quote:
Originally Posted by Ursus Maior
I once again would like to share this excellen website: https://www.map.army/
Map.Army allows the user to facilitate so called MilX-layers to create maps that visualize tactical, operative or even strategical situations with APP-6 conform icons. Different map types can be used, such as satellite, topographic, road based or terrain oriented including Google based information such as cultural, natural or commercial landmarks.
From the web based application printouts in various scales can be generated, which includes multilayer PDFs. Also, various layers can be switched off so that these maps can be presented to players in a different form that they're being used by the GM: Either by printing out only select layers or sharing one browser window, while working on or looking into another browser window. |
I use QGIS because, well, I've used it before and have a decent amount of experience in it. QGIS is really, really good for what I play around with, once you get over the learning curve. Specifically, because it's a GIS visualization and editing tool, it reduces the re-work you need to do, and allows you to persist your data in a variety of formats, and zoom in our out infinitely. It also allows you to use just about any map source data you want. About the only map type / data source I haven't been able to integrate so far is Jet Navigation Charts (ala
https://skyvector.com/), and that's only because I lack an online data source for it.
In my first run on Sunday, I was mentally tired and lazy. My first attempt at showing the unit icons was just to print the APP-6 true-type font NATO icon. This lead to less than spectacular results, however, as the font glyph has a transparent background, and no color combination really shows up well on the map. I also didn't have the brain power left to figure out how to set up the rules to put all of the various unit decorations, so I ended up just creating each unit icon as an .svg file in Illustrator and using a rule to match the file to the unit name.
That being said, it irked me, so I worked on it this morning:
That example is a 100% pure "programmatic" output, using a shapefile database (could just as easily be an excel spreadsheet or csv file, but I can drag and drop shapefile elements onto the map visually, and shapefiles can contain row/column data, so I tend to use shapefiles for even columnar data in cases like this).
Adding a new unit is as easy as clicking on the "Add Point Feature", clicking on the map for the location, and then typing in the data:
If I want to plop the 49th on Fort Hood, I can just drag it there:
And if I don't like the v1 map style aesthetic and want a satellite view, I just change the map layer:
Same thing with zooming in and zooming out different map resolutions. QGIS makes adding / removing features with a relative minimum amount of work much easier than say, doing the same map in Google Earth, Photoshop, or Illustrator.
Not crapping on Map.Army because I only took a cursory look on it, I'm just a big fan of QGIS for mapping, be it professional or amateur GIS work or RPG related play. I'm still also very obviously learning the ins and outs of it.