This has been the hardest nut to crack, so far. I've made a Dutch Rail Map, a Dutch Highway Map, even a Dutch Postcode Map, but - for some reason - a good water map eludes me.
Let me illustrate the reason for you:
The above image is a close-up of an early version of the map. The problem with this is multiple: First of all: Every. Single. Bridge. Is included. Which means a lot of research, but also a lot of room for error. Navigating all these bridges is important for sailors or boating people. But it's just... a lot. And a new bridge (especially in the Netherlands) is quickly built.
Also, none of these bridges really show any information about their heights.
Second: I did not like the way lakes were implemented in this way. They are mere little blue dots - like a junction. Although it kind of makes sense, I guess. Larger bodies of water I could not escape from showing as such. However, what to do with sailing routes across those?
Thirdly: Colors. We tend to think of canals and rivers and lakes as blue things on a map. But considering how many individual canals there are in the Netherlands, I tried to give them individual sections by name. But you quickly run out of colors, that way - this is just a portion of the Netherlands.
Aside from deciding which bodies of water to include or not, this was already space consuming:
There are still 11 more provinces with their waterways to add.
I fumbled around with styling for a while, and this is the last iteration I made. Which isn't much better:
This is probably worse in information density! Every navigable piece of water is on there. And I even added the heights of many bridges and marina. Sure, this may be useful. But it's a lot of maintenance and a lot of room for error.
Also: Aesthetically I was not impressed. It was starting to look... prickly. And the process of drawing this wasn't as much fun, really.
I like the icons of the first map, but I dislike showing each and every bridge. Sluices make sense, as do lakes. Marinas, not so much. Nor do cities make a lot of sense, though I guess I can't get around to mentioning some.
Perhaps I need to approach this differently? More from the angle of routes? Such as the Staande Mast Route? What do you think?
Let me illustrate the reason for you:
The above image is a close-up of an early version of the map. The problem with this is multiple: First of all: Every. Single. Bridge. Is included. Which means a lot of research, but also a lot of room for error. Navigating all these bridges is important for sailors or boating people. But it's just... a lot. And a new bridge (especially in the Netherlands) is quickly built.
Also, none of these bridges really show any information about their heights.
Second: I did not like the way lakes were implemented in this way. They are mere little blue dots - like a junction. Although it kind of makes sense, I guess. Larger bodies of water I could not escape from showing as such. However, what to do with sailing routes across those?
Thirdly: Colors. We tend to think of canals and rivers and lakes as blue things on a map. But considering how many individual canals there are in the Netherlands, I tried to give them individual sections by name. But you quickly run out of colors, that way - this is just a portion of the Netherlands.
Aside from deciding which bodies of water to include or not, this was already space consuming:
There are still 11 more provinces with their waterways to add.
I fumbled around with styling for a while, and this is the last iteration I made. Which isn't much better:
This is probably worse in information density! Every navigable piece of water is on there. And I even added the heights of many bridges and marina. Sure, this may be useful. But it's a lot of maintenance and a lot of room for error.
Also: Aesthetically I was not impressed. It was starting to look... prickly. And the process of drawing this wasn't as much fun, really.
I like the icons of the first map, but I dislike showing each and every bridge. Sluices make sense, as do lakes. Marinas, not so much. Nor do cities make a lot of sense, though I guess I can't get around to mentioning some.
Perhaps I need to approach this differently? More from the angle of routes? Such as the Staande Mast Route? What do you think?