Map gridsThe map grids available here were created using Inkscape, but I haven't found a way of showing them in Inkscape's native .svg format, so they are shown in .pdf. Maps are best drawn using a vector graphics program, such as Inkscape (free) or Zoner Draw (which cost 75 USD when I bought it). Pdf files can be inserted and used at least in Inkscape but can't be modified there (as far as I know), except that their size can be changed. Thus you can't, for instance, change the longitude markings in the mercator360 grid if you want to center it on some other longitude than 0 degrees. If you want to do that, you need the original .svg file, which you can request from me by email (firstname dot lastname at gmail dot com) or using the message box on the left. I'll start with a Mercator projection. This is often convenient for speculative fiction writers, since it can show the whole planet except for the polar regions and displays angles and local shapes correctly, although the scale varies with latitude and areas far from the equator are grossly exaggerated in size. The mercator360 grid is drawn to fit on an A3 sheet in landscape orientation (420 mm wide, 297 high) so that 1 degree of longitude corresponds to 1 mm, making the whole map 360 mm wide. (For the Earth, this corresponds to an equatorail scale of 1:111 millions.) If you want to change the size of the grid, this can easily be done by making everything one group and then making that smaller or larger. (In Inkscape, remember to press Ctrl when dragging a corner for this purpose.) This map covers the whole circumference of the planet and extends beyond 75 degrees, both north and south, in latitude, with meridians and parallels spaced 15 degrees apart. For the convenience of anybody who wants a different spacing of the parallels I include a spreadsheet which shows how far from the equator to draw them: I intend to add at least one other grid when I feel like it, probably a polar azimuthal equidistant grid. |