Making Maps

   Whats in a map? A lot actually.

   So I wanted to have maps in that game I was tinkering up. At first it seemed near impossible. Then I got my hands on basic geographic outline maps and could hand place and draw the cities, but that was tedious and unscientific. Eventually after practically waterboarding Claude over it he admitted we could get genuine geographic topographic data from a website and we were off. From here Claude could accurately place the cities where they belonged. The cities originally derived mainly from Claude's ability to comprehend an immense amount of historical records instantaneiously but I pretty much double check everything and there were some changes as we'll get into.

   But the first step was adding snowlines to the geography (and yes there's different versions of the map for winter with lower snowlines). Then I noted the mountains all looked like bare ground but I've _been_ there and they're covered in spruce forest -- so I had claude look up the exact elevation range the for the forests and add them appropriately.

   Then I was thinking, these cities need agricultural fields. One can estimate from the population estimates of the towns at the time how much acreage of fields would correspond to feeding that many people. So I had Claude do those calculations and first pass put fields in circles around the cities. So then I told it to write an algorithm gravitating the fields to the cities, rivers, and roads (which I'll get to in a moment).
   It was at this stage of looking at all the cities that then-existed in the Fergana Valley that "we" realized Osh was not the biggest city, this place Akhsikath was. So it was with a heavy heart (because I'e been to Osh!) that we replaced Osh with Akhsikath on the map (on this version I put a label on Osh but in game it doesn't even hve a label anymore).

   Cloude himself recommended removing several lakes that are modern reservoirs and wouldn't have existed at the time so we replaced them with marshland.

   And now the roads (which were actually placed before the fields, hence they were part of the reference thereof). First Ii was manually placing them but again that was tedious. So I had claude write a routing algorithm for minimum distance but also minimum elevation change (specifically minimum grade) which nicely prevented roads from being straight lines. Also a "cost" for crossing rivers so they didn't cross rivers willy nilly, and finally a gravitational pull towards known settlements so it wouldn't go right past them but through them.
   I had actually, around the time I went to Osh, in ye olden days before AI, tried to figure out the exact Silk Road route through this area but it was next to impossible, all maps just gave a broad vague swooping line through the area. But after using the minimum-grade route, I was looking at the actual satellite and relief maps on google maps just to see if the route (A) looked realistic; and (B) there was anytthing interesting there -- and LO! It was extremely satisfying to find when one knew to look, like deep in the mountain passes you wouldn't find unless you zoomed in on the specifc location, there were several markers related to the old silk road route! Super neat!!


   I swear I'm not spending all my time on this, and I justify it that i'm learning skills that I can use for more useful pursuits, and I think I can really justify that. I had to make a presentation for this pollination ecology class I'm taking at University of Florida but I wanted to give them context for the state of Victoria here I'd be talkign about, so using techniques I'd perfected I had claude create me an mp4 video of a map starting on Gainesville Florida, zooming out till you could see the globe, panning over to over Victoria, and zooming in again. I thought it was real slick. And then using the interface-making techniques I'd perfected for the game I started working on a varroa modeling interface. So look I'm not wasting my time on a silly pursuit!!


   Now back to maps. Before I'd sorted out the actual relief maps I had tried to have ChatGPT make some maps. This is an acceptable one it had made for the start area. There's some problems with it that bother me but it's acceptable. Unfortunately even something as emblematic as the Middle East it couldn't make without some unacceptably egregious problems and you can forget about lesser known places.



   I went back once I had worked everything out and made this map of the same area with the real topography and routing algorithms:


Don't get me started on the headache Claude just caused me as I unsuccessfully tried to get him to mock this up exactly as it would appear in game

   But the problem is I kind of feel like I like the look of the first ChatGPT one better. But the problem is its one of the first graphics you see in the game and I kind of feel like the biggest cause of unenthusiasm for the game may be the perception that its "just an AI creation" and starting with an obviously AI map is really a terrible start for that perception. What do you think about which map? On the plus side with the relief map I can do a zoom-in start (open the game and start in Chang'an and you'll see one)

   Similarly I experimented with having chatgpt (Claude has NO talen in the area of image generation that's not purely procedural bless his mechanical heart) create a "Sierra game style super VGA graphics" image of Constantinople. Which I both do really like the look of but being familiar with the placement of things there I know its not right at all (Hagia Sophia facing wrong way, perspective appears to be from Galata across the Golden Horn but the grand palace would need to be essentially behind Hagia Sophia from that angle). It does capture the FEEL for Constantinople more than correct placement (with, again, major features out of view) would but I fear people will recognize that it's not right.



   And finally, this is purely just for funzies, I asked ChatGPT to make me a Sierra game style game cover art which I have no real complaints with:



   Anyway, also, I thought everyone would be all over this since it was a game I had wanted to exist for years but it seems very few people have checked it out from where I shared it here and facebook. I'd be very obliged if you humored me and checked out the most detailed and scientifically accurate Oregon-Trail-like Silk Road game ever created (:

   But also I really want to hear your thoughts on which Anatolia map I should use.