I've found a few cool tools that modders might find helpful.
1) G.ProjectorWin-2.5.0
A tool I found looking through Nasa's tools. It lets you test out map projections, of which the program has at least a hundred.
Although the tool was designed with the ability to upload a Mercator projection and then alter it via projections, you dont actually need it since the program comes with some neat highly accurate overlays. You will need to choose a picture to upload into the program when you open it, I would recommend just tossing any picture in and then, by going into Edit>Remove Map Source Image, and then you'll have an empty looking map. Next go to the bottom and Click 'Overlays'.
And from their it's easy sailing!
The MWDB_Coasts_Lakes_3.cnob is pixel accurate and shows all Coastlines and Lakes of the world
Here's an example:
(I chose the lowest resolution of 1678x839, however it can be downloaded up to 7500x3750 depending on the map)
If you add MWDB_Lakes_Rivers_1.cnob you get all the Lakes and Rivers as well
For Reference using the above settings and the WInkel Tripel map (The one Ck is based on im pretty sure: yields the following map:
And in higher detail:
View attachment Untitled map 5.png
It looks ligher because the lines remain 1px thick however become much more accurate, if you zoom in you will be impressed.
Anyway I'm not here to give a full tutorial of the program, it's fairly simple to use, and after only an hour you should have some proficiency after some messing around. Each map has different alterable variables, usually no more than 2-5 and it's not hard to figure out what each does.
2)Anyway along with the above program while searching some of Nasa's databases I managed to find the following Heightmap:
Which took hours of searching for some reason. For some reason most of Nasa's maps are either ridiculously low quality or in some weird file format i couldn't figure out how to read. However I finally found a high quality Heightmap of the world that goes well with the program above. Actually I highly recommend, after finding a good looking projection to straight up upload the height map into it to get a good idea of how everything will look: Here's an example:
The Border's match perfectly with the heightmap so their harder to see (A good thing since it means both are accurate), but the RIvers and Lakes map gives some good info, especially around the Caspian Sea.
(Also I'm planning on making a mod with the above projection, so i'd be interested in feedback. It should accurately protray (in terms of Area and rough;y shape) Everything from 10 deg North to 50 Deg North, roughly the Sahara to Middle of England, and I made sure to position the variables just right so that the the entire map looks good (Excluding North America and Australia), although since it's a Conic projection it makes the entire world more curved than I'd like it.)
Anyway I've attached both the G Projectipn Program and the World Heightmap jpg to help out anyone looking to Mod Maps. And if your trying to make a Fantasy Map, assuming it's roughly the same size as Earth, you could mess around with Map Projections to add some spice to how it Looks.
(Couldn't attach the file so instead here is the download Link for it, Not sure if it's breaking any forum rules, but since it's from Nasa's official website I'm crossing my fingers: https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/gprojector/download/ )
Also I would reccomend GIMP for Image editing and making all the New Maps you Need.
1) G.ProjectorWin-2.5.0
A tool I found looking through Nasa's tools. It lets you test out map projections, of which the program has at least a hundred.
Although the tool was designed with the ability to upload a Mercator projection and then alter it via projections, you dont actually need it since the program comes with some neat highly accurate overlays. You will need to choose a picture to upload into the program when you open it, I would recommend just tossing any picture in and then, by going into Edit>Remove Map Source Image, and then you'll have an empty looking map. Next go to the bottom and Click 'Overlays'.
And from their it's easy sailing!
The MWDB_Coasts_Lakes_3.cnob is pixel accurate and shows all Coastlines and Lakes of the world
Here's an example:
(I chose the lowest resolution of 1678x839, however it can be downloaded up to 7500x3750 depending on the map)
If you add MWDB_Lakes_Rivers_1.cnob you get all the Lakes and Rivers as well
For Reference using the above settings and the WInkel Tripel map (The one Ck is based on im pretty sure: yields the following map:
And in higher detail:
View attachment Untitled map 5.png
It looks ligher because the lines remain 1px thick however become much more accurate, if you zoom in you will be impressed.
Anyway I'm not here to give a full tutorial of the program, it's fairly simple to use, and after only an hour you should have some proficiency after some messing around. Each map has different alterable variables, usually no more than 2-5 and it's not hard to figure out what each does.
2)Anyway along with the above program while searching some of Nasa's databases I managed to find the following Heightmap:
Which took hours of searching for some reason. For some reason most of Nasa's maps are either ridiculously low quality or in some weird file format i couldn't figure out how to read. However I finally found a high quality Heightmap of the world that goes well with the program above. Actually I highly recommend, after finding a good looking projection to straight up upload the height map into it to get a good idea of how everything will look: Here's an example:
The Border's match perfectly with the heightmap so their harder to see (A good thing since it means both are accurate), but the RIvers and Lakes map gives some good info, especially around the Caspian Sea.
(Also I'm planning on making a mod with the above projection, so i'd be interested in feedback. It should accurately protray (in terms of Area and rough;y shape) Everything from 10 deg North to 50 Deg North, roughly the Sahara to Middle of England, and I made sure to position the variables just right so that the the entire map looks good (Excluding North America and Australia), although since it's a Conic projection it makes the entire world more curved than I'd like it.)
Anyway I've attached both the G Projectipn Program and the World Heightmap jpg to help out anyone looking to Mod Maps. And if your trying to make a Fantasy Map, assuming it's roughly the same size as Earth, you could mess around with Map Projections to add some spice to how it Looks.
(Couldn't attach the file so instead here is the download Link for it, Not sure if it's breaking any forum rules, but since it's from Nasa's official website I'm crossing my fingers: https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/gprojector/download/ )
Also I would reccomend GIMP for Image editing and making all the New Maps you Need.
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