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I made maps of 5 cities in Europe

94 points · submitted 2d ago by u/neketguy · Current Map

A while ago in Paris I came across the Turgot map (1739), the huge bird’s-eye plan where every street, courtyard and building is drawn individually. I couldn’t stop looking at it, and it made me want to try the same thing for modern cities, starting with Berlin, where I’ve lived for over five years.

I’m trying to keep what I love about those old plans: the raised oblique perspective, a muted palette, an engraved-style cartouche and a compass rose. Each city turned out to be its own challenge. Right now I have Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Vienna.

Happy to answer questions about the process. Which city should I do next? And to everyone from Munich, Hamburg and Vienna: what’s missing from your city’s map?

25 comments · 94% upvoted · source · other discussions

comments

Shevek99 5 points · 2d ago

Viena is missing

filthy_acryl 3 points · 2d ago

Damn, which program did you use or did you draw it by hand?

neketguy [OP] 7 points · 2d ago

Thanks man! I wrote the set of tools myself (I'm software developer). You can take a look here - https://atlasabove.com

dmklinger 3 points · 2d ago

woah, these are awesome

neketguy [OP] 3 points · 2d ago

Thank you!

foxey21 1 points · 2d ago

This is insane! I am very amazed by this. Great work!

wilderwerner 3 points · 2d ago

Beautiful! Nice idea with the animations in maps.

neketguy [OP] 1 points · 2d ago

Thank you!

sunkenwaaaaaa 2 points · 2d ago

Very cool!

Geilis 2 points · 2d ago

Wow this is beautiful! Since you seem to like cities with interesting water patterns, a city like Venice or Stockholm could be fun !

neketguy [OP] 2 points · 2d ago

Great suggestions. It still depends on how much there is open data available on those cities. I'll take a look!

mustig3 2 points · 2d ago

Love the art direction, looks great! How do the challenges differ between cities? How much of the map-making process does your software automate, and what still requires manual work? I'm guessing the clearly defined boundaries around each city center have something to do with that.

I'd love to see some Swedish cities too, especially Stockholm, Uppsala, Norrköping and Falun!

This book from 1992 is one of my most treasured possessions.

https://reddit.com/link/19rlevx8oeo4k/video/ubrkqolbggxh1/player

Close-Up Stockholm: The Entire City in a Hand-Painted Panorama by Magdalena Korotyńska. Published in 1992 by Karin Winter and Byggförlaget. ISBN 91-7988-088-6.

neketguy [OP] 2 points · 2d ago

Thanks!

For each city I need to find details about attitude, buildings, trees, traffic. Each city provide (or not) this data in a very different way. I need to unify them into my own format that I can use later with the script that I built already.
Those scripts can provide some raw data about city geometry. But it still needs to be reviewed. Majority of the work - is to create custom 3d models for famous building and landmarks. In example - TV Tower in Berlin - is just a several bytes that mark its size and height. It isn't enough to render it in its full glory. I try to create low poly model for such case:

https://reddit.com/link/19rlh69lvwyhw/video/m0xtyjenqgxh1/player

(weird that we can't post images here, but MP4 works)

foxey21 2 points · 2d ago

I am also a software developer and a map fanatic. May I ask a little bit more in detail how you create the animated maps? I guess you are mapping on open street maps paramaters your own vector rules and color fills? What language? What is your process? Im a fan of this!!! Big reespect!

neketguy [OP] 2 points · 2d ago

Hey. Yes, I take data from OSM but not only from it. There are plenty open data available but each city publish them differently (even in the scope of the same country). If you are interested in details - I listed all of them here https://atlasabove.com/copyrights
Then I process this data into my own unified format that is used to create base city Geometry.
Unfortunately, this isn't enough to render famous buildings, landmarks, bridges etc. I make a custom 3d models for them myself (low poly).
On top of that I'm adding interactivity: traffic, people, boats and trains. And here and there some custom shaders to make it look a bit better.

neketguy [OP] 2 points · 1d ago

> What language?

It is written in TypeScript (as I know it the best).

IllSwing229 1 points · 2d ago

Feels like you need to do barcelona before i can judge it

neketguy [OP] 1 points · 2d ago

Definitely in my list

NewNiklas 1 points · 2d ago

I think it would be interesting to see cities where all the roofs are red like in the Balkans.

neketguy [OP] 1 points · 2d ago

Yeah, that is a good idea. Any suggestions?

NewNiklas 1 points · 2d ago

If you want a German one, then Rothenburg ob der Tauber, otherwise Prague, Lisbon, Florence, Dubrovnik etc.

neketguy [OP] 1 points · 2d ago

I'm not fixated on Germany only :D Prague, Lisbon are great cities. Love both of them. Still will try to move slowly, people see one mistake and label the whole work as AI slop these days.

NewNiklas 2 points · 2d ago

Yeah, don't let you get demotivated by these comments. Your work is great and looks really really nice!

JourneyThiefer 1 points · 2d ago

Very cool!

Can you do Dublin and Belfast?

neketguy [OP] 2 points · 1d ago

Yes, but I try not to rush to add new cities as existing ones have a lot to improve...