File talk:Paris.svg

This map, and the resulting png maps for each Arrondissement are created using Sodipodi.

I've been doing the work one Arrondissement at a time, starting with the 1st and intend to continue right through la Défense. The first step for each arrondissement is to layout the major avenues using a satellite image. I believe that this use of the information contained in the image is fair use under the Berne convention, but I haven't uploaded the satellite image itself, as the ownership of the image is unclear to me, so uploading it may constitute a copyright violation.

I lay the streets out using the Bezier pen tool, with the stroke color set to "ffffffff", and no fill color. I set the unit of measurement for the stroke width to millimeters and set the width to 1.60mm for major avenues (I usually wind up adjusting this up or down later).

Next I work out the rough area of the arrondissement, again with this Bezier pen. This time the stroke color is off, and the fill color is "cococoff". Opening the "item properties" menu I rename the resulting object to "xxx_light_gray_background" where "xxx" is the arrondissement.

Next I open the "xml editor" dialog, and use it to move the "dark_gray_background" and the other background object I just created to just above the satellite image. From here on I work completely by eye.

The next step is to layout the rest of the streets of the given arrondissement. Again, I do this with the Bezier pen, with no fill color, stroke color of "ffffffff" and usually a width of 1.20mm. Actually I vary the width as necessary for the size of the street. I do this work completely by eye; the main technique being to try to match the shapes of the negative spaces between the streets according to each of the several maps which I reference. Where the maps disagree I make a guess as to where the street should really be.

After all of the streets are down I (usually) upload the image to wikivoyage in order to take advantage of the version control. I also export a png version of the arrondissement image at this time, selecting the light gray background, and then in the export window clicking selection, and filling in the width I want the png image to be. I've been making pngs around 1000 pixels wide, which does seem very wide to me for a web page, but I rationalise this by telling myself that wikivoyage is more than a web site, and that more detail is more useful for travelers.

Before I upload a png image exported from Sodipodi I treat it in the Gimp to limit the color set used to 64 colors. To do this I use the left click menu and choose Image->Mode->Indexed Color dialog. Here I set the number of colors to 64, and turn off dithering. Then I save the image. Usually the image size is about 1/6th of what it was before reducing the color set, and the quality is barely changed.

Next I lay out the green spaces, again using the Bezier pen, this time with fill color "89c736ff", stroke color "003857ff", and stroke width of 0.05mm. I zoom in as close as necessary to get this right.

After the green spaces I put in the public buildings. For these the fill color is "bdb580ff", the stroke color is "000000ff" and the stroke width is again 0.05mm.

The last graphical elements are any water features, fountains etc, for which I use the fill color "9ccec9ff", stroke color "7fb5b5ff" and a variable stroke width depending on the situation.

I arrived at all of these colors through experimentation while making Image:Paris_1st.png. You may find that for different destinations different colors are better.

I usually upload the svg, and export a new png at this point.

Next I add the street names, starting with major boulevards. The font I use for this is the free version of Blue Highway by Ray Larabie. The font is included in Knoppix, and Mandrake Linux.

The street names are not black, but gray: the fill color setting is "585858ff". This sets the attraction names and plaza names off better. I try to use the biggest point size for each street name label which I can get away with, the biggest being about 6pts. The exact measurements will change based on the scale of your map of course.

I like to export and upload a couple of times while making the street labels, mainly to demonstrate progress to anybody who might be waiting for a particular map, but also to take advantage of the version control in Mediawiki.

As I continue to refine my mapmaking techniques I'll continue to document them on this page. Right now I'm in the process of working out how to deal with listings on the maps, and have made a new set of symbols which can contain listing numbers. I've started a discussion of how to handle listings on Project:Mapmaking Expedition.

I hope this information is useful for my fellow Wikivoyagers. -- (WT-en) Mark 05:58, 9 Dec 2004 (EST)


 * I've now imported this into Project:How to draw a map, let's continue the community effort there. (WT-en) Jpatokal 06:31, 1 Jan 2006 (EST)

Metro lines
Allow me to be the first to say here that the Paris map is amazing... but I have one pet peeve left: the map shows the Metro stations, but not how they are connected. Just a thin dotted line marking out the lines would make it much easier to figure out how to get from station A to station B. (WT-en) Jpatokal 06:59, 10 Dec 2004 (EST)


 * Thanks for the appreciation! I'll put some thought into the problem of showing the metro lines..  I've been wondering about that myself, but haven't come up with a good solution just yet. -- (WT-en) Mark 10:01, 10 Dec 2004 (EST)


 * I've got a decent Paris map somewhere which outlines the actual route of most metro & RER lines across the city, once i find it ill have a go at adding them. Also i've recentered the 'M' in your metro logos Mark. Once i find the map, ill have a stab, don't really know how it'll go though. (WT-en) Swarve 20:36, 22 Sep 2005 (EDT)