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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Some new map work, looking for feedback


Paul Hederer

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Hello,

I've put a gold on the Somme map I've been working on, pending a proposed project to work on it with some other fellows.

In the meantime I'm working on different themes of maps, using Gallipoli as the subject. I'm doing a lot of experimentation with colours, contour lines and terrain shading.

The link to my first 2 initial drafts are here:

Gallipoli maps

The maps are only shown at about 1/20th of their actual size.

I'm looking for any feedback on the sytle in general, and thoughts.

Thanks,

Paul

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Paul

These are very good and I hope we can all see more.

With regard to the concept, I think this is excellent as one of the great problems for anyone studying Gallipoli is gaining a sound knowledge of the land and an appreciation of just how rough it was in some areas - Anzac and its surrounds in particular.

3-D models such as in Canbera at the Australian War Memorial and at Waiouru (NZ Army Museum) are very valuable and I think you work really adds to our chances of "visualizing" the Theatre.

Ultimately a computer-generated way of applying both the names of physical features (the soldiers names for the land, not the Geographical ones!) and of tracking movement of troops would be tremendous.

Your maps gives an instant appreciation of the difficulties possed by the land, and it is obvious why landing at Anzac Cove instead of the planned site was a disaster!

The only printed work that even begins to approach yours is obviously only 2-D and the best of those are probably in Pugsley's book (the original 1984 edition only) and even then it is a struggle to get to grips with it all.

My only ctiricism...to be completely irritating... Gallipoli campaigne was in 1915, but I have to agree it would have looked like this in 1916 too!

All the very best with subsequent work.

Regards

Andrew

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Paul

The presentation of the terrain in such a style really helps to appreciate the difficulties faced by the troops on the ground.

I hope you continue to work on this project and more on the Western Front.

Have you decided how to market your maps?

I certainly would be prepared to pay good money for a CD or DVD.

Al the best

Dave

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Paul

The presentation of the terrain in such a style really helps to appreciate the difficulties faced by the troops on the ground.

I hope you continue to work on this project and more on the Western Front.

Have you decided how to market your maps?

I certainly would be prepared to pay good money for a CD or DVD.

Al the best

Dave

Thanks for the feedback. Whoops, I did fudge the date up a bit, didn't I?

It's a work in progress, and I'm learning a lot about contour shading. In the end there is no replacement for good old airbrushing, but the computers do offer a lot.

Dave, I can't say about the map. I've been very strapped for time these past months, and this weekend is about the first time I've had to do any work at all. I'd love to make a series of maps, but I don't know about the time. On the positive side I am getting much faster, and the more I learn the better it goes. I could probably turn out an entire mape in a month now, working on it steadily, as opposed to 6 months previously.

I have been talking to some other list members who have considerable resources at thier disposal. One of the main challanges is to find good maps that are already digitized. This can get pretty expensive.

Paul

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Dave

What superbs [pictures;I ahve juist started to look seriously at the Gallipoli campaign and your maps make the gepgraphy so much easier to understand. I prefer your frist draft but others may think optherwise.

I know it is diffuclt to insert trench lines etc but are you considering locating the villages etc?

Stephen :)

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Dave

What superbs [pictures;I ahve juist started to look seriously at the Gallipoli campaign and your maps make the gepgraphy so much easier to understand.  I prefer your frist draft but others may think optherwise.

I know it is diffuclt to insert trench lines etc but are you considering locating the villages etc?

Stephen  :)

Stephen,

Yes, absolutely, the villages and other features will be added. At this stage I am just trying to get down a good style for color and shading.

Here is a latest draft (shown 10% actual size):

Gallipoli.png

Paul

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Paul,

Looks great. Just seen your Somme maps, very impressed.

Jim

Jim,

Thanks for the kind words. I'm feeling my way along here. I did my initial map of Verdun, and liked the results, but I'm finding it hard to employ a "formula," to all maps.

The Somme maps still have a great deal of work to be done, but I'm holding off for a bit. Some Pals are looking to work on a project together, and we're meeting in a few weeks time to discuss it.

It's a bit funny, but even using the same colors, etc the results are very different for each subject. I've also found that working on the computer, when you finally print the map it can look quite a bit different!

I redid the map last night, in what I call the "National Geographic" style, with very light topo shading, and just one color for the landmass, and this also looked pretty good.

The beauty of cartography is that it allows one a lot of artistic avenues, but to produce something that conveys a lot of information visually is not always an easy task.

Paul

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