Mapping in PowerPoint

[AeroDm]

I recently started experimenting with making maps in PowerPoint. The plus side is that you aren't locked into a style (like you are with a mapping program) because you can make whatever you want and PowerPoint is vector-ish enough that you can scale and change freely. The downside is that it takes a lot of experimentation before you find something that looks good. You can check out a quick sample here and get the .pptx file. I've also attached a sample .pdf below.

My hope is that other people have experimented similarly and can share their successes. Since recoloring and resizing are really easy in PowerPoint, if we can develop a database of shapes and methods it could lead to easy to make custom maps.

 

[Mark CMG]

I wonder if this would be a useful idea as an extra with ePub products?

 

[AeroDm]

I wonder if this would be a useful idea as an extra with ePub products?

I think there is definitely value in it because it brings mapping to more familiar software for the non-hard core mappers who don't have the time or money to learn more professional software. Whether that means slowly building that value by a lot of folks adding one idea or someone working really hard and selling it as a ePub I'm not sure. I think you (royal you) would want a better sense of people's interest before dedicating oneself to hundreds of hours of putsy graphic creation.

 

[AeroDm]

Updated the original document to explain hills as well. As always google documents butchers the formatting so you'll have to download the original. (Does anyone know why this is or a way I can make it immediately go to download instead of trying to render in the browser? Thanks.)

 

[Viking Bastard]

Done this and abandoned it. It's quite handy for small and simple maps, but as I accumulated icons in the file, it became unwieldy.

 

[AeroDm]

Done this and abandoned it. It's quite handy for small and simple maps, but as I accumulated icons in the file, it became unwieldy.

Do you have any copies around? I'd like to get inspiration if possible and am more than happy to have some fun before I, too, decide it is too unwieldy.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I'll check when I get home, but I suspect I don't. It's more likely that I have it in an image file than the original slides. It had gotten to the point that I couldn't open the file (Power Point would stop responding) without first quitting all other applications.

EDIT:
I'd like to add that this was some years back, so this might be less of a problem with newer versions and faster computers. BUT I tried the same thing recently with iWork Keynote and while it was even better for this than Power Point, it got unwieldy even faster.

 

[AeroDm]

Nothing too impressive just yet. Added additional water features. I've been toying with cliffs to simulate plateaus or ridges but so far nothing is simple enough to be repeatable. I'll continue sharing any breakthroughs and look forward to any revelations of the community.

 

[AeroDm]

My first stab at mountains is linked below. In addition to not having as much time as I want, they are proving to be a challenge. This first take is a topographical approach to mountains. In addition, the mappers of the forum can find a dozen plus symbols all customizable in power point in this link. Most are intended as symbols for groups or organizations, but they work fairly well in any setting since you can easily change the color and scale.

 

[Mark CMG]

Nice. I'm really going to have to give this a go for some project of my own. Thanks!