I'm just dying to start vectorizing the new "eastern of east" map, but there is a problem we first have to overcome and that is the issue of file format.

Previously, the tool of choise for this has been the PDF format, using Illustrator. This has been my own favourite. Now, Illustrator can be hard to come by for some people. An alternative to PDF is the SVG format. Problem is, Illustrator does a bad job handling SVG files. A good open source alternative to Illustrator is Inkscape, it's not Illustrator but I think it will fit the bill.

But. I'm not sure how to get the current PDF file to SVG without being corrupt. It might take time and effort from several people. On the other hand, I don't want to start on doing more mapping in PDF if it is in vain.

Any ideas?

Ok, the above statement might look confusing. What I forgot to add is that if you use some other program than Illustrator, the PDF files just wont work, apparently.

Oh, the PDF map will display, but if you try to edit it all text formating will be gone. Another point of interest is that if you try to edit the current PDF in any verson of Illustrator other than 10, text formating will be gone too. So unless we manage to convert it we will be stuck with an old version of Illustrator for ever.
Our previous color issue is now solved (in latest draft), so the only problem atm is editing text, but now and again we do need to do that...

I know McBeth converted the pdf to svg to making an AdvCiv version of it (used in Zeno's Painted Porch, and slightly modified as the western part of mirjam's map). He converted it with some web service (he couldn't remeber the address, someone start googling) and told me text wasn't to badly converted, but on the other hand he redid all text layout anyway (to look more like AdvCiv I presume).

Martin: If you want to vectorize the new map in svg nothing prevents you from doing so right now. We can have one map as pdf and another as svg. In the long run I'd like to have all vector graphics as SVG, and all text, spreadsheets and images as OpenDocument, but that is just my personal long term goal, and especially images as OpenDocument is way of, as there, to my knowledge, are no conformant applications yet.

I have the entire CivProject map in SVG format on my laptop. Unfortunately, my laptop is in the shop, and I have no backup. I'll repent.

The conversion did preserve the text as svg text elements. I redid the text because I was having trouble cropping the rest of the map's text out and wasn't sure how many of the region names were preserved. It was an easy way for me to keep track of which provinces I had checked/reverted to AdvCiv.

I think it was the texterity guys. I'll keep trying to find the stuff.

On the unhappy note, if the laptop data is gone, that means the work I was doing on the Asian tokens is gone too.

Let me send you the Status.ods file for the Asia map too.

Please let us know if and when you get the laptop back. I would be very interested in getting a copy of the SVG map.

Just got it back from the shop, so I'm golden. I'll get things backed up, then the files I have placed somewhere people can find them.

Jeff

Awesome! Please let us know when you get the files posted.

I'm resurrecting this post because it is germaine to me again.
I'm in the process of getting the map together for the next Redscape Run (5-11 player (depending on interest) focusing on the west). As I can't work with AI, I've converted to SVG again, and as before, the text comes across, but the fonts are screwed up. I'm working on identifying them right now (Copy Paste from Reader -> Word doesn't carry the font over properly, but does keep the name, so...) According to the convertor, these are the font variations that are used.

Arial-BoldItalicMT
BookAntiqua-BoldItalic
BookAntiqua
BookAntiqua-Bold
MonotypeCorsiva

The current status is at
http://broggs.org/~mcbeth/Celts/Civmap2.07.svg

A lot of optimization of this could be done to make it smaller (not very smart in its use of style tags (think Microsoft Word HTML)). But, it appears to be a complete conversion at this point. It actually looks pretty good. It looks better (much better) in Inkscape than Firefox, especially the outlines on the letters in the top left corner, but anti-aliasing in general. Good enough, that this will probably be my baseline for getting the game put together now.

First of all my regards to all of you out there who have contributed to this project. I am only one of those who have used "the fruits of your work".

On the subject of file format I'm in favour of the pdf-format.
The reason is that these files can easily be printed using the free Adobe Reader using the "Print current view" option. I have access to an A3 laser printer at work and have printed the whole map in 12 sheets.

So,if possible, keep on releasing the map in the PDF-format.

(Keep up the good work Martin!)

/Stefan

We plan to always give the option of PDF. The problem is that, while SVG to PDF conversion is easy, PDF to SVG is harder.
To boot that, the old map can only be edited in Illustrator 10. Later or earlier versions will break text layout. Martin has since converted the map to Illustrator CS (by fixing all layout problems manually), after which the PDF file isn't actually a PDF file, but something very similar, that some PDF readers (but not all) will manage to read.
So, the PDF map currently available on civproject.net is not actually a PDF, and the PDF map on my site can only be edited in the unsupported, unmaintained Illustrator 10.

So, in the perfect world, we would like to maintain the map as SVG (an open standard, that isn't locked to a specific version of a specific program), and then export to PDF and PNG for downloads (similarly to how the rulebook is maintained as ODT, and exported to PDF for download).

Unfortunately, while McBeth's SVG map looks correct, the SVG behind it is a mess, and unmaintainable, so unless I get the time to clean up the code (by handcoding), we're still stuck with PDF.

I am working on cleaning up the SVG in the mean time. It is a nightmare right now.

If it helps, I run Illustrator CS2 on my computer (MAC) and if it can help convert or save down any files to other or lower versions, let me know.

I also run Acrobat 7 Professional and it save siginificant file size-reducing capabilities that the standard version doesn't have.

Okay, so the main thing we need are decent groupings, use of defaults for common parameters, and some usable names for things. Right? What has changed on the 2.08 betas? If I'm going to work on this SVG conversion, it would be really nice to be up to date.

The actual map is unchanged since civmap-2006-08-27.pdf, but check all extra stuff (lower right and left corners), as some has changed. The latest draft map still does not contain the fixed commodity names, which would be nice to have.