Making your own charts

[Themarko]

The Google Earth discussion over in CAPTAIN QUILL started my little brain to working and I thought some people here may like to hear what it was working on.

My specialty is making maps in many different ways from the latest high tech to hand drawn on canvas so I thought I'd pass on one relatively simple way for pirates to make their own cool charts.

The first step is to find a graphic file of an old chart. Some of the best are at: http://www.davidrumsey.com/ these maps can be used by you personally but not for profit without permission.

Use the search tools to find a map and once you figure out which map you want, select it and choose Data on the far left side of the screen. Scroll down and you'll find a link at the bottom to Download: Full Image Download in MrSID Format

You can then use GeoExpress View from Lizardtech to view the MRSid format file. http://www.lizardtech.com/download/dl_down...ew&platform=win (free trial download) and to export the MrSid file into JPG or TIFF (Tools/Export).

Finally in Microsoft publisher you can change your page setup to Poster, pick one of the two default sizes or define your own size, insert the JPG or TIFF into the document and print it. This prints it on however many sheets of paper it takes to get the whole image the size you choose. You then have to trim the edges and put the sheets together. Perhaps paste them to large sheet of paper or some masonite. Or, if your ambitious, tape them to the inside of a window, lay some other paper or canvas over them and trace them with a marker (the light through the window makes it a lot easier to trace) Other publishing programs may have this option also, I just don't know much about them.

I also know a couple of ways to make them look old if anyone would like to know them.

Not perfect or period accurate, but still cool to look at and can be used to make a nice display.

[HildeKitten]

That's really cool, thanks for the tip!