A world map

[Straf]

I've decided to start creating a world, an alternative Earth if you like. The size, the axial tilt, the whole shebang is similar apart from the land forms. I don't know where this is going to go though. I'll see how it evolves. There may well be a number of forks with individual continents or parts of continents being made into maps. On the other hand I may get distracted and disband the whole thing.

World Building.jpg

[Mouse]

Oh I like your coastline.

Only thing so far is have you used any software to check the polar distortions? I think the south pole should be kind of all right, if a little crinkly. There may be more to sort out at the north pole, but I'm in the middle of a large rendering operation so I can't snatch your map and wrap it around a globe to check it.

[Azélor]

You are using a ratio of 3:2 omg.
The shapes are nice and remind me of Earth a little.

[ChickPea]

Off to a good start. I can see some vaguely Earth-ish shapes too, not that that's a bad thing.

[Charerg]

I would definitely recommend using a 2:1 width/length ratio (the equirectangular projection) since a lot of programs used to reproject maps of the globe like GProjector or Map to Globe require that as input. Also, I really recommend making use of GProjector to map the poles (otherwise they're going to be a serious pain). I made a post explaining the process a while pack if you're unfamiliar with this.

Nice start however, looking forward to where this project may lead!

[Naima]

Shape is very good, I would only take a little attention to the jagged coasts , from a very top view all the jagging shouln't be very visible on some sides of continents , while on others are ok I guess...

[Straf]

Thanks for the useful feedback everyone. There's plenty to mull over. The 66° from equator line seems to be where everything goes mental when applied to a globe so perhaps I'll try drawing onto a globe and then projecting it to a flat map. The 2:1 seems like a handy hint as well. I haven't used any of the projection software before. TBH I hadn't even thought of these things until I jumped in and people started to help me out

[Mouse]

What kind of software would you use to draw it on a sphere?

(I'd like to have a go at something like that, but I can't seem to get the hang of Gplates)

[selden]

Personally, I like to use Celestia because you can design an entire planetary system.

However there also are web-based sites like https://www.maptoglobe.com/

[Straf]

I've rescaled it to 2:1 and added a little bit of colour. I've used the map to globe site to take a look at how it wraps around a globe and I think I need to make some adjustments around the polar regions.

I'm not all that fussed about those bits too much though as the main bits are the continents. I have to add a few more bits here and there, but I'll probably start working on the continents and parts of them individually then put it together on a world map.

World Building.jpg