Columbus, Ohio

WillG_75 · January 31, 2010, 12:23:10 AM

Hello, I would like to welcome and thank all of you who have followed this project in the City Journals section at Simtropolis. From now on, all updates will be posted here and in the ST City Journals page.

As a lot of you know, Columbus is my hometown, and this has been a very fascinating, challenging, and at many times, a very frustrating project. I have tried many times to create this city, since SimCity 3000 circa 2002. Due to the oddities in the cities road network, it has been a huge challenge. I have tried, and failed on many occasions, yet with all of those failures, I have learned a lot about how to go about this project.

I have used map books with measurements, topographic maps, and even based my work on my eyes and instinct (not recommended!!!). But I have found that the best way to go about recreating the road network is using a mixture of Google maps, Photoshop, and MS Paint. I do plan on posting a tutorial on that at a later point.

To end, I will post up a current region map view. As you can see, German Village's roads are done for the most part. Current technique of making the roads are a lot easier. I was sure to get as many of GV's small streets and alley ways included as possible, as I believe that a lot of GV's character is held in those streets. Therefore, the map does look very cluttered.

As always, comments, criticism, and questions welcome!

Night.

jmyers2043 · January 31, 2010, 04:37:29 AM

The grid looks good. I am interested on how you used the various maps to lay out the roads (when you get around to it, that is) ...

WillG_75 · January 31, 2010, 08:32:23 AM

Quote from: jmyers2043 on January 31, 2010, 04:37:29 AM
The grid looks good. I am interested on how you used the various maps to lay out the roads (when you get around to it, that is) ...

It's really quite easy. You basically take a map from Google Maps at zoom 6, resize it to 60%, crop out a 256x256 square to cover a large city, then trace the roads with the line tool in MS paint. Then refer to that when laying out the roads.

canyonjumper · January 31, 2010, 10:01:22 AM

Wow! Cool map! Can't wait to see the cities you've got

!

-Jordan

bat · January 31, 2010, 10:58:24 AM

Nice! Looking forward to more from it...

WillG_75 · February 01, 2010, 08:20:39 PM

CanyonJumper - Thanks. Columbus has many different areas, so there will be plenty to keep you interested.

bat - Thank you. It will mostly be transit views for the next few weeks, but I will begin building sometime soon.

A little progress.

nedalezz · February 01, 2010, 09:42:07 PM

Wow, the grid looks amazing. How many highways does Columbus have running through and around it?

rooker1 · February 02, 2010, 05:00:40 AM

WillG_75,

Great start and I too wait to see the tutorial on how to something like this. I can't wait to see the city building up and some traffic on those roads.
Please try not to reply to each post without an actual update as movement through the MD section is based on post count. Have a quick read over the rules of the MD section if you don't mind please.

Robin

Battlecat · February 02, 2010, 10:49:54 AM

Nice start! That's a very complex road network!

SC4BOY · February 02, 2010, 04:07:41 PM

As a fellow Columbusite I'll enjoy watching your region develop.

WillG_75 · March 04, 2010, 07:40:48 PM

Replies

nedalezz - Thanks! Columbus has many highways. You have I-70 running E-W, I-71 and Rt 315 running N-S, I-670 running E-W from the airport to the near west side, and I-270 running around the city. You also have Rt 104 running across the south side of town.

rooker1 - Thanks, and thanks for the suggestion. Hopefully I will have some more frequent updates and some updates with more substance in the future.

Battlecat - Yep, it's very complex. I have tried this city too many times lol.

SC4BOY - Cool to see another Columbusite? What neck of the woods are you from? I'm from Whitehall, currently living in Blacklick Estates.

Well, I have some bad news, and I have some good news. Bad news is that a pretty bad virus got on our home network this past week. It installed rootkits on all of our computers this past week, so I lost what progress I made on my city. But the good news is that the map I was creating to use as reference was saved on my flash drive, which was spared.

Here is what I am using as reference for those who are wondering...

The green represents the roads that I have done....make that re-done.

Well, I wish I could have had a larger update, but I guess that's just how things go sometimes. I'll have a REAL update next time, I promise

calibanX · March 07, 2010, 11:41:08 PM

Nice looking road map. That should make for a nice city on which to build. I'm looking forward to it.

Geoff