Looking to make a map of a small portion of a larger fictional metropolis, tried a couple of demo map making programs and they were all fantasy based. any suggestions on how to go about making a modern style map, or do I need to reinstall VISIO?

I've seen some pretty good renditions in Campaign Cartographer 3. What is it that you are trying to put together. I got the "small portion of larger metropolis" part. Is it inland? Coastal? On an island? I too have a fictional city that I would eventually like to make in a Post Cyberpunk Urban Fantasy setting, and could probably use an excuse to hone my skills.

Quote from: Krimson;1038895I've seen some pretty good renditions in Campaign Cartographer 3. What is it that you are trying to put together. I got the "small portion of larger metropolis" part. Is it inland? Coastal? On an island? I too have a fictional city that I would eventually like to make in a Post Cyberpunk Urban Fantasy setting, and could probably use an excuse to hone my skills.

Coastal, 1930s, I have almost 3 pages worth of tenants written out (with a short description each), its your typical primo property scenario where it is in the wrong hands (i.e. lower and middle class people) and land developers want to get their hands on it.

I sent you a friend request if you want to provide some details on inhabitants and the like. Is there a modern style that you would like to emulate? I'm not the greatest map maker but you can see some samples here. The more realistic maps are made with Fractal Terrains, which I have limited control over since it creates random maps. However, they can be exported to Campaign Cartographer 3, which I also own with the added benefit of adding additional maps for temperature, rainfall, and climate. CC3 is based on CAD and maps are made in layers, and with the right amount of trickery many styles can be emulated.

I don't really  have any tech advice here. But in terms of building the city, I'd suggest making use of a map of a real modern city to base it on.

Easy. Search for several similar high resolution maps from the 30s (e.g. governmental maps), open them in Photoshop or a similar tool, cut and paste elements (topographical hills, rivers, highways, streets/buildings/blocks) unto an empty canvas until you have built your own. Scale, rotate, and morph if needed. Remove labels, find similar fonts, add your own labels. Done.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1039107I don't really  have any tech advice here. But in terms of building the city, I'd suggest making use of a map of a real modern city to base it on.

There are different styles, so it ends up being a matter of aesthetic taste. My recommendation would be to go to the Cartographer's Guild and just look for stuff you like. Also look at how some RPGs handle it, like the Manhattan map from Marvel Superheroes, Gotham from any DC or Batman game (or comics), or something like M+M's Freedom City. Those maps do modern on the cheap, not bothering with stuff like individual buildings.

Google Maps is also a very good resource. When I made Heritage for an Urban Fantasy Setting, I took Calgary, Edmonton, Banff, and Jasper, made an X which is right around Crimson Lake, then I took a map of Grande Prairie which had a similar population, made a mirror image of it and then made some edits. At one time, I tried to make a photo map of Mirai by cutting and pasting bits of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Google earth, print screen. Done

Quote from: NYTFLYR;1038891Looking to make a map of a small portion of a larger fictional metropolis...

Quote from: rgrove0172;1039318Google earth, print screen. Done

Any suggestions on where to find the coordinates of a fictional metropolis?

Quote from: Krimson;1039488Any suggestions on where to find the coordinates of a fictional metropolis?

40.0583° N, 74.4057° W

Supposedly some sort of analog to Hell.

If you have money and time to burn, you can have a look at CityEngine: http://www.esri.com/software/cityengine

If you have less money and time to burn, you can have a look at SceneCity: https://www.cgchan.com/store/scenecity

With both of these, you will be able to export a street network as vector shapes, generate building footprints, etc. You will be able to import these into a GIS program (QGIS -- qgis.org -- is free) or Illustrator or some other vector drawing program. If using GIS you will be able to completely customize the map to your liking.

All of these options have a very steep learning curve, or cliff.

Somewhat faster and easier:
1. Use a procedural street generator such as this one: http://www.tmwhere.com/city_generation.html
2. Trace the outlines of the streets and building footprints using an illustration program (Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity Designer, etc)
3. Add cartographic features as desired to the vector output from step 2.

Easiest:

Pick a random metropolis none of your players have heard of.
1. Go to openstreetmap.org
2. Download a PDF of said metropolis
3. Flip, mirror, skew and resize said PDF to make it unrecognizable (if required). If you pick a medium-sized city in China and you are not Chinese, you may not even need to do that.
4. Open the PDF in a vector illustration program
5. Rename features to your liking.

This last option requires the least technical and design knowledge, and the symbology will already be in place.

@NYTFLYR - since you are on my friend list, feel free to send me a private message about what you are looking for. I may be able to help. For free.

Quote from: Krimson;1039488Any suggestions on where to find the coordinates of a fictional metropolis?

Geeze just pick a city you be never been to. May as well be fictional to you!

Quote from: rgrove0172;1039865Geeze just pick a city you be never been to. May as well be fictional to you!

I have map making software, so I extended an offer to help the OP should he message me.

Quote from: Omega;103952640.0583° N, 74.4057° W

Supposedly some sort of analog to Hell.

I'm not grasping the reference.