User talk:Nilfanion/Maps

Discussion elsewhere

Various archived discussions on

1. Wikipedia:Wikipedia talk:UK Wikipedians' notice board#Locator maps from OS opendata - initial discussion here.
2. Template talk:Infobox UK place#New maps - extensive discussion, particularly relating to location maps
3. Wikipedia talk:WikiProject UK geography#Area maps - relating to locator maps

Suggested additions

Great work! Suggest that you consider outlines of Great Britain, England, Scotland and Wales as priorities – and the United Kingdom if this is possible whilst still making significant use of GB OS data. I appreciate that this may be made disproportionately difficult by the lack of OS OpenData for coastal boundaries beyond Great Britain, including for Northern Ireland within the UK, but also for the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of continental Europe which may be needed to put larger areas in proper context. — Richardguk (talk) 01:12, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Well, the outline maps of the United Kingdom are already available to be honest, the ones at Category:Location maps of the United Kingdom are essentially the same style as mine and at that scale any difference in source quality is not really a matter of concern. Stylistic alterations could be done easily enough I suppose; and Great Britain can be produced by hacking off Ireland from the UK one :)

That said, I'll look at trying to merge the UK one with OS derived data (can use that for the European regions).--Nilfanion (talk) 11:27, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

One major advantage to "doing it myself" is that that way I can add additional data more easily, like I just did for Newport specifically (is this adding set of network maps to the list I wonder?).--Nilfanion (talk) 13:28, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Styles

• 2nd version looking a bit overcast at the moment, meh! The description says "Map uses current convention of colours used for UK location maps on en.wikipedia", though it looks unfamiliar to me. Perhaps it's not widely implemented.
• Have you considered adding the boundary lines as a top-most layer, separate from the filled area? Since the boundaries are a core feature of each map, and they can extend across water features and even into the sea, this would allow the complete statutory boundaries to be seen uninterrupted and independent of physical boundaries.

— Richardguk (talk) 09:29, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

• 2nd version is (supposed to be) an approximation of the colours of the existing English county location maps. It was based on File:Devon outline map with UK.png. However, on review those maps aren't at all consistent with respect to colours and I happened to pick one that has a very poor palette. I've redone it using the colours of File:Hampshire outline map with UK.png - which is better (and seems to be "standard").
• Double problem to the boundary on top is firstly it significantly increases the file size (not necessarily a bad thing, but not something to do without good reason). Second is the whole issue with Bristol stretching down to Flat Holm and Steep Holm... That said it certainly would be helpful when additional overlays are being put in; the lines are getting "polluted" by the wood/town overlays and the roads should go under not above, I'll think about if I can handle it in a slightly more elegant way than increasing 2MB SVGs to 3MB SVGs. Ideal would be to just have the land boundaries depicted, as a seperate layer on top of everything else. IMO, it is a non-urgent issue as it can be addressed at a later date when the maps are live in articles without affecting their usage (whereas eg the inset issue is a urgent because its a blocking one).--Nilfanion (talk) 09:49, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Excellent. Maybe worth testing top-most boundaries with semi-transparency for the highlighted area, to save duplicate shapes, but then the roads etc might not look right if they change colour when they enter the highlighted area. Anyway, just a thought. Oh, and apologies for unwittingly splitting off from the discussion currently bubbling away at en:Template talk:Infobox UK place#Wales location maps! — Richardguk (talk) 10:24, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Regional/national ward maps

I just wanted to leave a note to say how great I'm finding your regional and national ward maps. I hope to be using them shortly as a basis for showing local election results on a ward-by-ward basis. I'll be starting with the 2012 local elections in Wales (based on this map) with ward results (party colours) and individual party performance in each ward (choropleth maps).

I was having trouble getting the original boundary line Shape files into something more manageable, and the only (free) software I had for importing .shp (Map Maker) was not running well on my computer, so it's so much easier to have svg ward maps to work with.

All the best, --Woodgreener (talk) 15:58, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Slight mistake on a map

Hi, The other day I noticed a slight mistake on Wikipedia about the route of Grand Central Railway trains from Bradford to London and noticed your map on that page has the same mistake.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Central_Railway_route_map_2010.svg

The trains take one of two routes between Wakefield Kirkgate and Doncaster, either via Pontefract as your map shows or by going south east from Wakefield Kirkgate and joining the East Coast mainline near Crofton. It's roughly 50:50 between the two routes.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/nationalrailnetworkmapZoom.pdf now shows the correct routes after I told them it was wrong.

It's only a minor thing and doesn't make a lot of difference. But I travel regularly on that route and that particular mistake does bug me wherever I see it.

I would try and edit the map myself but I'm not confident I would do a good job. If you have any questions let me know at wikipedia@a-sharpe.co.uk

Thanks Aaron Sharpe

Uploading modified maps onto Wikipedia

Hi, I've been using your electoral maps to map current council compositions, I am alright to upload these onto their respective Wikipedia pages, and if I am do I need to give credit? Great work btw :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by F1freak2727 (talk • contribs) 20:07, 24 October 2017 (UTC)