Mystara Mapping Issues

Earlier today I posted on an image on my Facebook page, and shared it to the Mystara Reborn group, too.  The topic was what I call the “Trident Bay Conundrum”.  It’s one of many issues standing in the way of my Atlas of Mystara project, preventing me from forming a consistent map of the world.  Here’s the post (click here if nothing appears below):

This is an issue that has been plaguing me for years, preventing me from completing the Trident Bay map, and finishing off the 8 mile hex maps for the western edge of Brun. I proposed two solutions, and asked for opinions. The result came quick and clear: the 8 mile per hex maps outweigh the older 24 mile per hex maps, and the discrepancy between coastlines of the two should be resolved in favour of the 8 mile per hex maps.

By extension, this is a ringing endorsement of my primary policy on the Atlas project — or rather, it’s a sign that most people agree with the principle. Which is great, because it clears things up in my thinking as well. With all the issues I’ve been juggling these past ten years, it’s sometimes hard to retain clarity — especially when you consider that trying to tackle one issue inevitably leads to another, and before you know it you end up in Trident Bay when you meant to be sorting out Norwold and the Heldannic Territories. (True story.)

It’s becoming clearer than ever what I need to do to get my project moving again, and jump over these issues that have been holding me back. My job is to find an issue, research the available sources, come up with the best possible solutions, then present these to the community. That leaves the hardest job — determining how to proceed — for all of you to decide. 🙂

So let’s do it! And let’s do it now — and at speed.

My Atlas project officially began on the 15th February 2005. So I will aim to solve all of the major outstanding mapping issues by the 11th anniversary of that date, in February next year.

I can’t do this without your help. I’m going to continue to post issues first to Facebook, then sum them up here, and over at The Piazza. Feel free to join in the discussion in any of these venues, either with an issue you’d like me to look into, or a comment about something I’ve already posted.

One clarification: the kind of issue I’m talking about is major things that prevent me from assembling all the maps into a cohesive whole. Things like the Norwold-Heldann link-up, lining up the maps of different scales, the exact positions of the continents, the status of the world map, the location of the equator, the spread of latitudes, axial tilt and the tropics, and so on.

2016 is going to be a great year for Mystaran cartography.