Can I make a map with 1,431,054,904 hexes? And more...

[Bad Hair Day]

Hi,

I have a hand drawn map that is on hex paper.  Counting from the center hex, the radius goes out 60 hexes and includes a total of 10,981 hexes.  It fits on a sheet of paper a little smaller than 3 feet by 3 feet.   (I tried making a copy in MS Paint, but doing everything one step at a time by hand got too tedious.) 

So, each one of those hexes on that map represents, to keep things simple, I will call it a country.  So there are 10,981 countries on my big map. 

I would like to find a computer program that allows me to make a map of this that I can subdivide further.  A single hex surrounded by two rings (radius of 2) has a total of 19 hexes in that radius 2 ring.  So...

Each country is subdivided into 19 states.
Each state is subdivided into 19 counties.
Each county is subdivided into 19 cities.
Each city is subdivided into 19 towns.
And each town has 19 buildings.

Each building is one hex, and that is the smallest subdivision I would want on my Master Map. 

So, one country would have 19^4, or 130,321 building/hexes in it. 
And the master map that has 10,981 countries on it would then have 1,431,054,904 total buildings/hexes in it. 

Rounding up just a bit, this would be a hex ring with a radius of 22,000 hexes and about 1.4TB worth of hexes. 

I realize how big that number is, and so I am willing to consider scaling my map down to "only" the level of:

towns, which would be 74 MB
cities, which would be 4 MB

So, there are the basics.  Here are the details that I would like to be able to add.

Layers.  I have a couple dozen to several dozen layers of information I'd like to add.  At the top of the list would be Elevation.  Can Inkscape take that information and turn it into a 3D map?  Then also a bunch of other details.  Such as:  soil type or if it is exposed rock: rock type.  moisture content of the soil.  Type of biome.  Types of vegetation, types of animal life (even splitting it into different phyla/classes).  All these extra details can be identified simply by a color, I don't need to provide any sort of lifelike animations or pictures. 

And then there is the issue of scalability.  I'd like to be able to select hexes at any level and apply the colors/information quickly and easily. 

Thirty years ago, I was an okay programmer in Basic and a few other computer languages that probably don't exist anymore.  I'm competent in learning new apps/programs.  I realize that it will take me a LOT of time and effort to learn a program well enough to get it to do what I want.  So my question here is:  Can Inkscape do what I want?  If not, where should I go?  I'm willing to spend a couple hundred dollars for a program, or a bit more if it really meets my needs.  Thank you for any suggestions.  I'm happy to provide additional info as needed.

BHD

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

This is going to be my opinion, based on my understanding of Inkscape, but others may have a different opinion.  I really only understand and use Inkscape for relatively simple things.  I can't write code at all, or even understand exactly how Inkscape works.  But others here have a much more technical understanding of Inkscape and how it works, and they might be able to say more.  (Although Inkscape developers don't usually visit forums like this.)

Except for the 3D part, as far as I know, Inkscape can handle that.  The limitation would be a computer capable of handling so much info.  With the upper end of today's computers -- PCs, I mean, I would guess you couldn't handle an SVG file larger than approx 50 mb.  For an average computer, I'd say you'd start to run into serious performance issues around 10 to 20 mb.  Although it's really hard to say for sure and you shouldn't take these estimates as anything close to hard facts.  There are ways to work with Inkscape that allow you to keep working longer, after you've started to see performance issues, and before you start to reach the limitation of your computer.  Here's a little tutorial explaining those ways:  https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=35

However, you mentioned something about 3D, and Inkscape is not a 3d modeling program.  You can simulate 3d, but it's never true 3d.  Inkscape is a 2D program.  Blender is an open source 3d modeling program.

It sounds like a really exciting project!  Will you do it all yourself?  I'd love to see it finished (I tend to be fascinated by maps, and can spend hours looking at maps of places I've never been)!

Just a thought.  You might use Inkscape to make a scaled down version, in 2D, just to sort of work out the kinks, before you go full scale and 3D. 

Actually Blender supports SVG and I've seen where users have made basic vector parts in Inkscape, then import into Blender to add the 3d effects.

[Bad Hair Day]

I think I should start by making the initial hex map, and make it the full size version and then just see what happens. I can cut it down later if needed...

Can you point me to a tutorial on how to tessellate a hex grid?  I'm already starting on just the basics (how to turn it on, draw a smiley face, etc.).

BHD

[Moini]

I think it wouldn't make a lot of sense to have all tiles in a single file. If you're making a game, you will want to load only the tiles you need for the current view, not anything else.

[brynn]

The fastest way would be to use Edit menu > Clones > Tiled Clones.  Although it will probably take some time to sort out the dialog.  Here's the manual info about it:  http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Tiles.html

Personally, would use duplicate or clone and snapping, and just snap together long rows.  Manual info on snapping:  http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Snapping.html

I can't think of any tutorials, although there could be one (or more).  You can look through the Home tab here, for all the best tutorials that I know about, but it's not exhaustive (although it is curated).

Rather than draw one hexagon and clone it many times, to try and conserve resources, I would use a Y shape.  That way, you don't have overlapping lines, or hexagon edges.  I think this screenshot should explain, but if you have questions, just ask     (Clone might conserve some resources as well.)

But you can decide the best way for your project.  Because it sounds like you might need hexagonal units, and the Y shape might not work for that.

Let us know what happens.  Users ask us about Inkscape limits all the time.  And while it's more about the computer limits, it still would give us some helpful info, to know the results of your test.