Q.E.'s Blank Map

[Queeney]

Since most of the existing blank maps had either no rivers on it at all or very distorted and wrongly placed ones, I have decided to create a new blank map myself. For this little project of mine, I used a different blank map and modified it, especially the contour and filling colours.

The following is planned:

1) River placement
Every river with a length of more than 1,000 -and, in the case of Europe, every river with more than 500- kilometres will be on the map.
2) Contour correction
Some of the continental contours will be overhauled, important islands and island groups which are currently missing will be added.
3) OTL base map creation
If (!) the finished blank map after step 2 was well received and if there was enough interest, then this would be the next step.

Alright, let's see how this works out. And please be gentle on me, it's the first time I'm working on a map.

 

[Queeney]

Here's the map, and a list of the rivers which are already added. Please ignore the river colour for now, this will be changed once the map is finished.

1) Nile (via White Nile and Kagera), 6852 km
1.1) White Nile (via Kagera), 3850 km
1.2) Blue Nile, 1783 km
1.3) Atbarah (via Tekezé), 1120 km
2) Amazon (via Ucayali, Tambo, Ene and Apurímac), 6448 km
3) Yangtze (via Tongtian), 6380 km
4) Mississippi, via Missouri (via Jefferson and Red Rock), 6051 km
4a) Mississippi (headwater only), 3778 km
4.1) Missouri (via Jefferson and Red Rock), 4130 km

 

[empty]

Since most of the existing blank maps had either no rivers on it at all or very distorted and wrongly placed ones, I have decided to create a new blank map myself. For this little project of mine, I used a different blank map and modified it, especially the contour and filling colours.

The following is planned:

1) River placement
Every river with a length of more than 1,000 -and, in the case of Europe, every river with more than 500- kilometres will be on the map.
2) Contour correction
Some of the continental contours will be overhauled, important islands and island groups which are currently missing will be added.
3) OTL base map creation
If (!) the finished blank map after step 2 was well received and if there was enough interest, then this would be the next step.

Alright, let's see how this works out. And please be gentle on me, it's the first time I'm working on a map.

That's over 200 rivers man... If you can actually do all this then godspeed to ya.

 

[Queeney]

That's over 200 rivers man...

About 280, yes.

For now, a little update with a map excerpt and a list of newly added rivers:

3.1) Yalong, 1637 km
3.2) Han, 1532 km
3.3) Wu (via Yachi und Sancha), 1126 km
3.4) Jialing (via Bailong), 1119 km
3.5) Yuan (via Qingshui), 1033 km
8) Yellow, 4845 km
10) Mekong, 4350 km

 

[Oracle of Sobek 𓆋]

I like the look of this project so far. What resources are you using for the rivers? Are you drawing them in by eye, or tracing them from another basemap?

 

[Queeney]

What resources are you using for the rivers? Are you drawing them in by eye, or tracing them from another basemap?

I took the list of rivers from the German Wikipedia, as it was more extensive and detailed than the English article on this topic. There are some mistakes in the German article however, so I still have to check the accuracy of every single river individually. The English Wikipedia has a lot of good river maps, which I then modify and use for my map with GIMP. It's quite a lot of work with the scaling and transformation tools, but this is pretty effective to prevent distortions.

 

[Queeney]

Another update, plus a list of newly added rivers.

4.1.1) Platte (via North Platte), 1651 km
4.1.1a) Platte (via South Platte), 1206 km
4.1.2) Kansas (via Smoky Hill), 1163 km
4.1.2a) Kansas (via Republican and Arikaree), 1218 km
4.1.3) Milk, 1173 km
4.1.4) James, 1143 km
4.1.5) Yellowstone, 1114 km
4.2) Arkansas, 2333 km
4.2.1) Canadian, 1458 km
4.2.2) Cimarron, 1123 km
4.3) Red (via Tierra Blanca Creek), 2188 km
4.4) Ohio (via Allegheny), 2102 km
4.4.1) Tennessee (via Holston and North Fork), 1490 km
4.4.2) Cumberland, 1107 km
4.5) White, 1161 km
22) Rio Grande, 3034 km
22.1) Pecos, 1490 km
33) Colorado, 2333 km
33.1) Green, 1175 km
33.2) Gila, 1014 km

 

[Queeney]

Newly added rivers:

9) Congo, 4374 km
9.1) Ubangi (via Uele), 2272 km
9.2) Kasai, 2153 km
9.2.1) Sankuru, 1230 km
9.2.2) Kwango, 1100 km
9.3) Luvua (via Luapula and Chambeshi), 1389 km
9.4) Sangha (via Kadéï), 1300 km
9.5) Aruwimi, 1287 km
9.6) Lomami, 1280 km
9.7) Ruki (via Busira and Tshuapa), 1025 km

 

[Queeney]

Newly added rivers:

41) Orinoco, 2140 km
41.1) Guaviare (via Guayabero), 1850 km
41.1a) Guaviare (via Ariari), 1780 km
41.1.1) Inírida, 1300 km
41.2) Meta (via Guaitiquía, Metica, and Humadea), 1200 km
41.3) Apure (via Uribante), 1095 km
41.4) Arauca, 1050 km

 

[Queeney]

A little bit of feedback on the current progress would be very appreciated, by the way.

 

[Miranda Brawner]

I like the rivers a lot. You're doing a really thorough job. On the final map, are you going to leave them in red or change them to a shade of blue? Also, are you planning to add borders to this map, because with all the rivers, they would be really hard to see.

 

[Queeney]

I like the rivers a lot. You're doing a really thorough job. On the final map, are you going to leave them in red or change them to a shade of blue? Also, are you planning to add borders to this map, because with all the rivers, they would be really hard to see.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it! The river colour will eventually be changed to the sea colour on the final map, it's only temporarily in red to highlight the rivers. The large number of rivers is indeed problematic; I would probably have to do a redux version of this map -with many smaller rivers removed- before making any OTL maps.

 

[Avskygod0]

What about one of the variants not having unnatural lakes made from dams, canals etc

And maybe Australian rivers should have the 500km thing like European ones have

 

[Queeney]

Newly added rivers:

13) Niger, 4184 km
13.1) Benué, 1416 km
13.2) Bani (via Baoulé), 1050 km