A Song of Ice and Fire Speculative World Map
This interactive map represents the known world in A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fictional novels by George R.R. Martin that was adapted into the HBO television series, Game of Thrones. The map is speculative, meaning it is based on what the novels and television shows have revealed about their fictional world so far, a.k.a. the known world. Much of the known world is in Westeros, as most of the story arc happen in cities in this region. We see a concentration of city/location labels in the western landmass (Westeros), while other landmasses are mostly unexplored with eastern and southern lands (Essos and Sothoryos) cut off from the map view because the storyline has not revealed where or if these landmasses end.
The map is hosted on Google Maps API which allows for interactive features such as zooming in and out (though the text does not auto-resize based on zoom in/out so you have to zoom in to read the font). We can also follow characters’ journeys, complete with timelines that can be adjusted or limited to avoid spoilers.
Principles in Action:
Different types of terrain and physical features of the land are represented on the map using colors and textures. For example, the forest areas are a dark green color with a shrub-like texture that imitates the color and texture of trees seen from above. This imitation of visual appearance is surface mimicry and is a design principle used in many physical maps.
There is a hierarchy in the font and symbols used to represent cities and towns. For example, the font and symbol used for King’s Landing, the capital and largest city in Westeros, are much larger than the surrounding towns.
The drawn map involves layers of information including physical features of the land, labels denoting cities, regions, and bodies of water, a compass for orientation, etc. There is also the interactive feature I mentioned earlier where we can follow characters’ journeys. The red line layered on the map appears when we check the box to track Tyrion Lannister’s journey, a character whose travels has taken him from Castle Black at the North Wall in Westeros to the city of Meereen in Essos in the east.
References:
theMountainGoat. A Song of Ice and Fire Speculative World Map, Version 1.0. Feb. 2012. http://quartermaester.info/
“The Known World.” Game of Thrones Wiki. https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/The_Known_World
Dear Kathlyn: thanks for sharing the GoT map! The surface mimicry technique is also very popular in many map design elements for video games. the hirarchy in font and symbols are very thoughtfully designed, while implementing “consistency” across different designs so they are still easily categorized during visualization. I hope you are able to implement some of these techniques during your map design.