So, as promised, the final submission version of the map is now completed, as of Day 280 of 2023 (i.e. yesterday!). And here it is:

You may not notice any difference from the Day 250 version posted last time, and I'm not sure there actually is one, at least not that would be obvious at this resolution. However, behind the scenes there have been substantial changes, as following discussions with Remy ahead of submitting the map for the Atlas, I've added descriptions as CC3+ map notes for each individual area, as hotspots tied to each number on the map, and which will thus be available in the FCW version of the Atlas map. The complete set of texts for all these, and the general map notes, will also be provided as a single PDF file, as normal.

This particular mapping style is very straightforward to use, and as noted earlier, is also a very forgiving one, which uses no sheet effects. Thus it wasn't a strong challenge to map with, for all that was an interesting experience in itself. However, adding the map notes and hotspots to the map was something I've never tried before, and that proved a useful exercise in expanding my CC3+ experience. It was a great deal more straightforward, and quicker to complete, than I'd anticipated too, which was a pleasant surprise. [This is the point where Remy admonishes me for getting some key part of the exercise wrong, of course...]

I'd never really considered adding notes to my maps electronically, since I normally only use printout versions of them, and while that's unlikely to change, this would be something I'd consider for the Atlas in future now, where the map's suitable for such, having tried it out. Which of course was part of the point in my taking part in mapping for the Atlas, to let me explore elements of the program new to me!

Time to return to my Alarius mapping now though. Although it's possible there might be a further distraction before then...

Reawakening this topic as over the weekend I discovered a recent change to the basic Windows image viewer software, "Photos", means it will now convert webp images to other forms of image, including various bitmaps, such as jpg. You simply use the "Edit" facility and save it how you require from there. There've been a number of other changes to Photos in recent months, but this one is actually useful 😉!

Slightly later than I'd hoped for the eighth main update on this map, although Day 250 of 2023 seems an apt moment to present it at least, particularly as just this morning, I completed the draft notes for area 360, the final one in this mapping project! Getting those notes typed-up still lags some way behind (at area 310), so the map and notes won't be going into the Atlas right away. The end is in sight, however!

While there may be (hopefully only minor) changes needed to the map after this, during checking of the text, or as other things occur, this is likely to be close to the final version now:

From this, it's clear I finally got round to adding the title and a key for the more recurrent mapped elements, and also moved the North pointer and scaling note off the map entirely. I decided too to make the colouring of the title and header labels a pale cream, the same pale cream this style uses for its drawing window background, and which, in preparing the map for the Forum, I've also used as a thin "map border" of sorts. This header-colouring usage helps draw my eye (at least) into the map, making clear which items are peripheral to the map itself.

I've not prepared any additional close-up map or PDF notes to add here today, since the final version will be ready relatively soon anyway, although I have updated my Gallery image for this map now, to a higher res version of this near-final one.

All being well, the next update should be the Atlas submission one!

I actually rather liked the look of the original map; there's a clarity to it that sometimes gets lost with the fancier non-vector styles. I may have made similar comments before though 😉😁!

Thinking about the late-stream discussion regarding using the "normal" Mike Schley city symbols to create a top-down map, and then the isometric ones to show a pictorial impression of the place on the same map, with Ralf's comment about using vignettes to highlight important individual places within the settlement similarly, brought to mind the Middle Earth poster map prepared by Pauline Baynes (Tolkien's only approved artist during his lifetime). Digging around online, I've come up with this reasonably high-res version of the original on the Museoteca website, which shows why it came to mind. I used to have a copy of the poster, sadly lost somewhere along the decades since, though it remains strong in my memory!