Real pretend locations

September 16, 2005 12:40 PM

The Map Realm If you're the kind of person that likes to stare at maps, this guy has taken it one step further, making maps of imaginarely locales with an amazing level of detail. I particularly like the hand drawn versions Found via the monkeys
posted by Keith Talent (20 comments total)

This is awesome! I used to draw maps of imaginary places too but concentrated more on the water and the currents. But this guy takes it about eight levels beyond anything I did, amazing.

Want to bet that he's played some D&D before?
posted by fenriq at 12:44 PM on September 16, 2005

Whoa weird.
posted by geoff. at 12:46 PM on September 16, 2005

Yeah it would be easy to dismiss him as a twelve sided die wielding virgin, but the fact remains the maps are f'ing incredible.
posted by Keith Talent at 12:47 PM on September 16, 2005

These are really cool. I wish I had the level of obsession necessary to do something like this. I particularly like that he's drawn maps of the future in his imaginary locations.
posted by OmieWise at 12:50 PM on September 16, 2005

Strange hobby. It seems as entertaining as creating accounting reports for fictional companies although Enron did just that for profit more than fun.
posted by StarForce5 at 12:59 PM on September 16, 2005

What's up southwest of Aberdeen with the M3 and the M6 interchange? Not only do the ramps look like they take up as much space as the city center, what's the roundabout in the middle of all of it?

Otherwise, the maps are awesome. Love the attention to detail, and the fact that he goes thru years of progress on when the major motorways are built.
posted by LinemanBear at 12:59 PM on September 16, 2005

Excellent post! Now he needs to develop the history of each fictitious place...
posted by aidanf at 1:00 PM on September 16, 2005

These are exceptionally cool - anyone who puts an opera house in "Essex" is okay in my book.

The digital maps are by far the best IMO, he has the design looking pretty authentic. Breda is a weird mixture of American and British road markers, some weird spelling errors, and a mixture of Scottish, English and Welsh place names with some foreign ones thrown in too. Would be nice if there was a little more cohesion. I wonder if he has a program for this or if it's just illustrator or photoshop? I remember when I came upon the Transport font online, I went to town for 15 minutes making up fake roadsigns in a similar fashion.
posted by fire&wings at 1:00 PM on September 16, 2005

Cool. I like the hand drawn ones over the digital versions. I just picked up You Are Here a few weeks ago, and this guy would've fit in well.
posted by safetyfork at 1:07 PM on September 16, 2005

Magnificent.
posted by Wolfdog at 1:28 PM on September 16, 2005

Safetyfork, my copy of You Are Here has been dragged half way across creation and is filled with notes and coffee stains. I love that book. For all you mapaholics and information designers, that book is a must - full of memory maps, map art and historical oddities!
posted by kahboom at 1:38 PM on September 16, 2005

[this is amazingly cool]
posted by teferi at 1:39 PM on September 16, 2005

These are splendidly obsessive: thanks, KT. I happened upon some vaguely similar geofictional stuff just the other day, most notably at Vexillium
posted by misteraitch at 1:41 PM on September 16, 2005

He needs to get a job at Thomas Bros.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 4:49 PM on September 16, 2005

This is why the internet is cool. Thanks!
posted by rhapsodie at 5:30 PM on September 16, 2005

Great link. I love the interchange diagrams on ruled paper (reminds me of when I would doodle highway stuff during class).

He's very good with his illustration program, but even his hand-colored work is gorgeous.

I kept up a map while playing SimCity for a while, mainly to keep track of where everything was, but had to give up the game for lack of time. For grins, here's a map of my Tri-city area (PDF)
posted by kurumi at 8:33 PM on September 16, 2005

kurumi, that's unbelievable. The level of detail... wow. I think SimCity appealed to the same impulse as this guy has, but maybe giving him a copy would be a bad idea.
posted by Acey at 2:58 AM on September 17, 2005

Impressive and beautiful, but a little scary. Thanks for the book recommendations....

I would like to see his results.
posted by fluffycreature at 6:11 AM on September 17, 2005

You Are Here is great.

It also reminds me of the Robert Walden's "ontological road maps."
posted by Vidiot at 11:20 PM on September 17, 2005

Um: the
posted by Vidiot at 11:20 PM on September 17, 2005