Hi Escondites,
I think I have an idea of what you can do and what your sticking points are when you try to draw maps.
Write a question anywhere.
The hardest one is joining lines together.
You need to know how to use the node tool. It's in the Inkscape help manual under Paths>>Editing Paths>>using the node tool. If you haven't read it, you might want to read just that one section
It's important to understand that a path can be two separate lines.
There are two steps to combine two lines into one.
To join two separate lines one must first combine them into one path. Select both by Holding the shift key, and clicking on both lines using the node tool. Then, in the Main menu Paths>>Combine or Control+K
This will make two lines into one path, but they are still separate lines.
When you use the node tool you see a bunch of buttons right above the work window. the first has is [node +] it adds a node the second is [node - ] it deletes a node
The next two will both combine two lines.
Select two endnodes (both must be at the ends of the lines) Shift and click on each one with the node tool. Then click on either of those next two buttons. The first will merge the two nodes into one node. The second will simply connect the nodes.
Then use the node tool to drag the nodes back to wherever you want them. Whenever you draw a line, if you are not happy with where it is at, you can move the nodes to change its shape with the node too.
If you can make the three lines into the triangle, there is one other thing about drawing your maps which is easier to learn. Sagredo⊙☿♀♁♂♃♄ 04:33, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
- OK, I got this part :-) --escondites 16:58, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
- Great. Wait until I get the second part completely finished, and I'll leave a note on your talk page.
I'm sure you're familiar with Main menu >>Edit>>Undo Another you should know or learn is Edit>>Edit History. (Often my best friend!) It's a window where you can back up and look for an error.
http://www.dpat-oran.dz/images/cartewilaya12.png This series of maps will be the easiest to draw from. The wide borders are easy to follow and will have no effect on the final maps. http://www.dpat-oran.dz/images/cartewilaya12.png They have very curves, and curves take a lot of time. (for me anyway.) If you do encounter a curve, just make a lot of closely spaced nodes. It will not be noticeable when one zooms out and looks the whole map.
You can use any color while tracing that works for visibility. It can be made black or whatever is desired later, you already know how.
For this I prefer the Freehand tool over the Bezier curves and straight lines too, but either will work. It actually just makes straight line segments. Are you familiar with it?
Begin by drawing in all the interior borders, but leave big gaps at the border intersections. You should end up with something like this. Remember that you can use the node tool to fix little errors in placement of the lines
(1) is an example of one our lines.
we must make duplicated of all of these lines. It can be done all at once by Edit>>Select All then Edit>>Duplicate. Then Edit>>Deselect, so we can work one line at a time
The line in (1) looks the same (2). But it is two lines one right on top of the other. We can check this by dragging the top line off a little, then using Undo, ctrl z or whatever to undo the move.
Using the node tool drag the end points of the line up into the municipality/county/parish/ so they look like (3). Note that both highlighted end nodes are moved the same direction. This is very important. If they look like (4) it will cause trouble later on. One or two of these errors on a map isn't awful to find and fix, but a large number might be too much to figure out.
Then start joining the paths/lines together to make each state. After joining the lines together, use the node tool to put the lines back on the borders where the belong. You will end up with a stack of three nodes (from different lines) at every intersection. Make a state, then test it by giving it a fill color. Draw in the outside borders when you need them. Remember to leave a space where boundaries intersect.
Or you can draw in all the outside borders right after duplicating the inside borders.
One by one your states appear, and isn't long until you have the country done.
Two final steps.
Delete the original jpg, gif, map, or it will cause trouble in wikipedia.
On the main menu, Edit>>Select All, then File>>Document Properties. This brings up a small window. about 2/3 of the way down, on the right there is a button "Fit page to selection" Click it to set the image outline to the map.
You're done! : )
If you do have a problem, put it in the lab, and I, or someone will help.
I noticed that User: Miranda brought in a image, and then fixed it herself.
I have a project with which I will do this, and I'm going to encourage Miranda.
There are several who want to see the lab grow in the number of images improved. If you want to put them all in, I think that's fine. (so does Chris, by the way.) You might not have to draw them all. (And if someone draws one, and it's crappy, you can still do you own replacement.)
Good Luck on your project, and we're around to help if you need. Sagredo⊙☿♀♁♂♃♄ 20:39, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
- OK, here is my attempt at vectorizing this map, it's not finished, but I tough you still want to see it. What do you think? Is it OK? --escondites 13:56, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
You're doing fine. It looks and works great. you'll have a little more work because you'll have to break the lines/paths around the big white area, but that's just the reverse of joining them. I can't wait to see the finished version. You can keep one listed in the graphics lab, and you might not have to draw all the rest yourself. After two or three, you'll draw these so fast! Sagredo⊙☿♀♁♂♃♄ 22:06, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
- Hi Sagredo! I finished the map. What do you think? --escondites 17:28, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
- AWESOME! It's probably better than the one I drew, because I ended up pulling the borders back together in a couple of places. You should put it up in the lab! Now there's 41 left. You may be thinking that you want to do them all yourself, but 41 more of these will probably get tedious. You know if we can find the shapefiles, and get Jackaranga to co-operate, he could probably churn these out in about 10 minutes each. Like he did on Luxembourg. Keep that in mind. I'm proud of you, I think this is GREAT. Keep me informed on how the project is going. Sagredo⊙☿♀♁♂♃♄ 22:57, 30 January 2008 (UTC)