

Reykjavik Center Map - Tomte
http://www.reykjavikcentermap.com/

======
znor
Hey guys! I´m the cartographer that designed this map, here are a few other
examples of our work if anyone´s interested:
[http://www.borgarmynd.com](http://www.borgarmynd.com)

A friend let me know about the post and I just wanted to say thanks for
posting and feedback, much appreciated :) I got a few of my architect and
graphic designer friends to work on this map with me while we were still in
school, 7 years ago, and the website with the zoom feature is done by Brian
Suda [http://www.suda.co.uk](http://www.suda.co.uk) A total of 5 people (4
architects & 1 graphic designer) took part in making the map and 3 more of our
graphic designer friends helped in one way or another on layout, web design
etc.

The map is actually a collage of 186 a3 watercolor sheets that took 2 years
(2300 hrs)to 3d model, draw and paint. The watercolor sheets were all based on
3d models we made first of each house, using city planning groundplans and
sections, so the accuracy (even though it might look all cute and cuddly) is
very high (Every tree, flagpole etc. is based on actual objects) We update the
map every year, draw in new buildings, paint in new colors of houses etc.

For those interested, the map is an axonometric projection of my home town
Reykjavík, Iceland. We used this kind of projection in order to maintain scale
within the map.

ps: I´m on the map, good luck finding me!

~~~
ademarre
Wonderful work!

> _We update the map every year, draw in new buildings, paint in new colors of
> houses etc._

It would be cool to have a time slider control to see how the city has changed
over time. Similar to what Google Earth does for selecting aerial photos from
different dates.

> _I´m on the map, good luck finding me!_

I'll take a shot at it... I only see a handful of people depicted and they're
on the little boats. Are you one of them? Do these possibly represent each of
the project collaborators?

~~~
znor
Well, you wouldn´t see much difference. A large area of what´s depicted has a
preservation status. But great idea, I´ll check the difference in a few years
:)

And no, I get seasick, I´m sunbathing on a roof somewhere ;) We were all on
the map, I´m noticing some got lost during last update, I´ll add them back in
soon!

~~~
kilotaras
Maybe you can have an option to highlight the difference from previous year.
Shouldn't be a lot of work, seeing as changes are infrequent.

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jhardcastle
We built something similar to this a few years ago for our campus (we are a
school). Hired an illustrator to do a watercolor of the campus on large tiles
(maybe 8" by 11") and then scanned them in at high resolution and created a
large image that we ran through OpenLayers [1] and built a searchable campus
map. Neat project. Unfortunately, maintaining the watercolor (even with the
tiles) as we changed the campus (e.g. construction, new roadways, new names
for old POIs) was difficult, and we had to move back to just a PDF.

[1] [http://openlayers.org/](http://openlayers.org/)

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danellis
I've no idea what this is doing on HN, but it's very nice, and I wish I'd seen
it before I was there a few weeks ago. Beautiful city, far bigger and far more
modern than I'd imagined, and full of lovely people.

~~~
znor
It´s a shame you missed our map danellis, pm me your address and I´ll gladly
send you a hard copy if you want.

~~~
rgould
Wow, that's a really beautiful map. If possible, I'd love to purchase a hard
copy as well! Not sure it's possible to PM on here, but if you email me at
rgould@u2622.ca I can send my address.

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ericmaize
We hired the wonderful crew who made this map to design a map of San Francisco
for us, they did an unbelievable job: [http://theopencompany.net/products/san-
francisco-map](http://theopencompany.net/products/san-francisco-map)

------
bedhead
Funny, I've had this bookmarked for two years since I visited Iceland in
2013...still look at it from time to time. What an incredible experience, I
fell in love with everything except the food. I think Anthony Bourdain said
the only place in the world where he's absolutely hated the food was
Reykjavik...I can't say the man is wrong. But everything else is wonderful.

~~~
WaxProlix
I really liked: The bakery culture for breakfasts, good and fresh seafood (if
you're okay with eating whale, there's that too), a bit of variety in the
diners and fast food places. We hit up a Chipotle-esque place called Serrano
that wasn't bad, for instance.

Additionally, in the last few years though there's been a bit of foodie
revolution; Kex hostel has some pretty solid dining at their in-house
restaurant, and there are a number of 'American New' places sprouting up, both
diner- and pub-style.

Anyway, I agree, Iceland was magical. The people were so, so great, the
country was gorgeous and full of history, and (for my money) the food wasn't
half bad.

~~~
busterarm
> Kex hostel has some pretty solid dining at their in-house restaurant, and
> there are a number of 'American New' places sprouting up, both diner- and
> pub-style.

That's the restaurant where my friend worked...though he has moved on.

Second the recommendation here.

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hunvreus
If you like this, I suggest you check edushi.com which does it at the scale of
China. Example for Shanghai: [http://sh.edushi.com/](http://sh.edushi.com/)

~~~
mapt
Shanghai also has a museum whose centerpiece is a tennis-court-sized 1:500
scale model of the city's downtown.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Urban_Planning_Exhibi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Urban_Planning_Exhibition_Center)

------
gglover
That's the most memorable tourist map I received in 6 months in Europe. It's
hanging on my wall right now. Iceland does a really great job with their
tourism industry.

~~~
znor
except the "tourism industry" hardly helped us at all funding or promoting
this map, just a group of friends that love making beautiful maps ;)

------
Luc
If you like that, don't miss the link to
[http://www.icelandillustrated.com/](http://www.icelandillustrated.com/)

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stevesearer
This reminds me of my favorite guidebook for the city of Prague which includes
annotated illustrations of landmarks with details about features such as the
identities of the statues on building facades or the contents of stained glass
windows. Really helpful information for the history and architecture buff.

~~~
Tomte
Sounds cool. Do you have a title or ISBN?

~~~
stevesearer
Yeah, just went searching in my library for it as I couldn't remember the
title, though unfortunately there isn't much online for it:

Prague: Detailed Picture Guide

On Amazon: [http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-
listing/8086893502/](http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/8086893502/)

Here is a listing on an auction site for it that has a few photos of the page
detail:
[http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r128671359](http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r128671359)

------
joosters
Lovely map. It could do with clearer borders though. At first, I thought that
parts of the map just weren't loading, when in fact I had reached the edge of
the drawing.

~~~
znor
The cartographer of the map here....... Very good point, I´ll look into a good
solution for that, thanks for the feedback, every design can only get better
with well grounded criticism.

------
busterarm
I found Nonni's!

Food coma time. _drool_

Explanation: [http://www.nonnabiti.is/](http://www.nonnabiti.is/) Ultimate
drunk food.

~~~
AnthonBerg
The Shrimp Boat has a weird, mystical allure.

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ascorbic
Nice. This reminds me of the o.cn isometric maps of cities in China.
[http://sz.o.cn/](http://sz.o.cn/)

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PascLeRasc
Really beautiful, but I wish you could go back easily - i.e. not having to
click back through every location you visited.

~~~
znor
hmmm....you shouldn´t have to do that. Thanks for the heads up. What kind of
browser etc?

~~~
PascLeRasc
Chrome on Mac.

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mojuba
It would've been supercool if it looked hand drawn and 3D at the same time. I
don't know how to implement this, but I suppose should be possible with the
right tools and a graphic designer who'd grasp the idea.

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ljsocal
This is beautiful and fun to explore. I'm curious, with all the time involved
is this a viable business venture (through advertising from retailers, sales
of prints, etc.) or primarily a labor of love?

~~~
znor
primarily a whole lot of labor and a whole lot of love

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euccastro
So apparently they really did close Sirkus[1], but they didn't tear down the
house and build anything in its place?

[1] :´(

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viraptor
Great idea! I visited it two times only, but could definitely recognise some
areas.

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orn
Nice map, needs a lot more points, can users update it by them selves ?

