{"id":1788922,"date":"2020-06-18T14:10:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T18:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1788922"},"modified":"2020-06-18T14:10:17","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T18:10:17","slug":"meander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/06\/meander\/","title":{"rendered":"Meander"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Upper Disaster River over aeons\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/420304695?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthodgin.com\/project\/meander\">Meander<\/a>, created by Robert Hodgin, is \u201ca procedural system for generating historical maps of rivers that never existed.\u201d That statement takes some unpacking. It creates maps inspired by Harold Fisk\u2019s 1944 map of the historical path of the Mississippi River with the Houdini 3D animation app. It starts with an input guideline; the river flows and meanders and oxbows from there. <em>Then<\/em> the system creates land plots that follow the path of the river. And <em>then<\/em> it creates a road network on top of that. And <em>then<\/em> it generates names for all these procedurally generated map features. In other words, Meander doesn\u2019t just procedurally generate a river, it generates the entire country it runs through. Whoa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meander, created by Robert Hodgin, is \u201ca procedural system for generating historical maps of rivers that never existed.\u201d That statement takes some unpacking. It creates maps inspired by Harold Fisk\u2019s 1944 map of the historical&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/06\/meander\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1450],"class_list":["post-1788922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-imaginary-maps","tag-procedural-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1840139,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/05\/fantasy-mapmaking-tools\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788922,"position":0},"title":"Fantasy Mapmaking Tools","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 May 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"I\u2019ve been making note of procedural fantasy map generators for a while now. These are tools that generate a map of an imaginary landscape, town or dungeon, mostly (but not necessarily exclusively) for the purposes of role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. The latest to come to my attention is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Games","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4317,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/04\/tube-maps-of-the-thames\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788922,"position":1},"title":"Tube Maps of the Thames","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 April 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Transport for London also operates river buses along the Thames; their maps of the London River Services are very much in the Tube map vein, in both tourist and non-tourist versions: Of the tourist version Ollie O'Brien of Mapping London says this: \"We like the pseudo-tube-map styling, although it could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Transit&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tfl-river-tourist-1024x354.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tfl-river-tourist-1024x354.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tfl-river-tourist-1024x354.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tfl-river-tourist-1024x354.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1828755,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/03\/the-river-sins-of-fantasy-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788922,"position":2},"title":"The &#8216;River Sins&#8217; of Fantasy Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"8 March 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Author K. M. Alexander has some thoughts about rivers on fantasy maps, and the mistakes authors make with rivers when drawing those maps. When it comes to rivers, I\u2019ve noticed that quite a few fantasy writers don\u2019t understand the basics. While their intent is noble, I\u2019ve seen plenty of examples\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Maps and Literature&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1819028,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/10\/mapping-two-solar-eclipses\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788922,"position":3},"title":"Mapping Two Solar Eclipses","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 October 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Two upcoming solar eclipses in North America\u2014the annular eclipse on October 14, and the total eclipse on April 8, 2024\u2014are the subject of numerous eclipse maps that track the path of totality and its duration along that path. NASA\u2019s Solar Eclipse Explorer currently focuses on this month\u2019s annular eclipse, with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Map of the path of the annular eclipse on October 14, 2023, across the American Southwest.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/greatamericaneclipse-zeiler-annular-2023-10-1024x668.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/greatamericaneclipse-zeiler-annular-2023-10-1024x668.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/greatamericaneclipse-zeiler-annular-2023-10-1024x668.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/greatamericaneclipse-zeiler-annular-2023-10-1024x668.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5187,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/10\/the-perplexing-river-systems-of-middle-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788922,"position":4},"title":"&#8216;The Perplexing River Systems of Middle-earth&#8217;","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 October 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Having ruffled fannish feathers with a post critiquing Middle-earth's mountains and another admitting that\u00a0they don't like fantasy maps, Alex Acks returns with a Tor.com post about the problems with Middle-earth's river systems. Specifically, the Anduin, which breaks all kinds of hydrological rules: it cuts across mountain ranges (and parallels the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Maps and Literature&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1825041,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/01\/the-ocean-drainage-basin-maps-of-robert-szucs\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788922,"position":5},"title":"The Ocean Drainage Basin Maps of Robert Szucs","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 January 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Smithsonian magazine takes a look at the ocean drainage basin maps of Robert Szucs, whose work we first saw in 2016. A lot has happened since then: he\u2019s since produced hundreds of maps (and variations thereof) of the ocean drainage basins of various regions, countries and continents, and sells prints\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hydrology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hydrology","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/hydrology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A map showing ocean drainage basins in the United States by Robert Scuzs of Grasshopper Geography.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ocean-drainage-united-states-szucs-grasshopper-1024x770.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ocean-drainage-united-states-szucs-grasshopper-1024x770.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ocean-drainage-united-states-szucs-grasshopper-1024x770.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ocean-drainage-united-states-szucs-grasshopper-1024x770.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788922"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788924,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788922\/revisions\/1788924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}