Sorry I haven't been on here in a while...
I am working on a project to create a map for a fictional modern city.  It's not for an RPG, but I figured you guys could help me out anyway.
I know what features it will have and the general topography, and I know enough to base it at lease loosely on real cities.
However, I don't know how to go about making a map.  Any suggestions?

Quote from: Redforce;1025576Sorry I haven't been on here in a while...
I am working on a project to create a map for a fictional modern city.  It's not for an RPG, but I figured you guys could help me out anyway.
I know what features it will have and the general topography, and I know enough to base it at lease loosely on real cities.
However, I don't know how to go about making a map.  Any suggestions?

There's a fantastic G+ group called The Library of Gaming Maps.

RPGnet also has a thread on digital map design, might be of use.

Another way would be to get a map of a medieval / renaissance / Victorian-era central European city from Google or your local library etc, and just re-purpose that.

Thanks for the links, Motor.

Quote from: Redforce;1025583Thanks for the links, Motor.

Sorry, somehow I missed that you were looking specifically for modern. A city like Singapore might suit your needs, or maybe one of the new towns in England like Milton Keynes or Welwyn Garden City.

That's not a bad idea, and pretty close to what I am looking for, even though it's going to be an American city.
It's on one or two islands, like Gotham City (Batman), Liberty City (GTA IV), or Stilwater (Saints Row 2), in a bay right at the mouth of a large river.

Quote from: Redforce;1025587That's not a bad idea, and pretty close to what I am looking for, even though it's going to be an American city.
It's on one or two islands, like Gotham City (Batman), Liberty City (GTA IV), or Stilwater (Saints Row 2), in a bay right at the mouth of a large river.

Maybe somewhere in the Gulf States would fit, they've been building like mad from scratch these past few decades, and they are all on the coast.

Quote from: Motorskills;1025588Maybe somewhere in the Gulf States would fit, they've been building like mad from scratch these past few decades, and they are all on the coast.

Funny you should mention that- the real-world location for this city will be on the Gulf Coast.

Quote from: Redforce;1025590Funny you should mention that- the real-world location for this city will be on the Gulf Coast.

I meant Dubai, Qatar, Oman, etc.

Quote from: Redforce;1025576Sorry I haven't been on here in a while...
I am working on a project to create a map for a fictional modern city.  It's not for an RPG, but I figured you guys could help me out anyway.
I know what features it will have and the general topography, and I know enough to base it at lease loosely on real cities.
However, I don't know how to go about making a map.  Any suggestions?

YouTube has plenty of videos for making such maps. Just pick a style to use from them.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1025641YouTube has plenty of videos for making such maps. Just pick a style to use from them.

When I do a city map - I only do Early Modern+ games - I start off with what kind of access does this city have for Land (highway), Sea (Port), Air (Airport), and Internal (Streets & Mass Transit)? Rank that access 1-10. Does it have several major interstates coming into the city? It should rank high for Land. Is the airport small and cramped? It should rank low for Air. Is the subway system TEH SUCK? Internal is very low - etc. Then place these into neighborhoods. The interstate comes in from the west and skirts the city center before leaving to the south. The Airport is on the bay, hemmed in by tall buildings on three sides. The seaport is here in this commercial district along the bay.

Then I go neighborhood by neighborhood. What is this neighborhood? Residential? Commercial? Governmental? etc. So I choose, say, residential. Then what kind of residential - Dense (high rise rentals), Urban (low-rise rentals), Suburban (single family homes), etc. How nice is it? New? Old but spiffy? Dilapidated? Slummy? How big is it? How important is it to the city government? How do the cops see this neighborhood?

Then I ask: What are other neighborhoods are accessible easily from here? This helps interrelate everything. I usually draw a relationship map from this, like a schematic. Some games that's good enough. I would look at similar neighborhoods in similar cities. Houston TX, New Orleans LA, Galveston TX. See what they look like - maybe use photos of these neighborhoods to illustrate to the players. I might draw in important streets - high volume traffic or social importance. Spot interesting things - parks, playgrounds, theaters, shopping areas, restaurants, etc. You can always add these in as you play. I wouldn't bother drawing and naming side streets. You can always just describe them, but keep a list of names and make notes when you use these names. Otherwise you could end with three Charles Streets - which *could* happen, but is confusing. It's better to note "Charles Street - in Livingston Park, residential side street, bodega 'AJ's', donuts! Nicer than most streets in LP. Vietnamese restaurant 'What Dat Pho?' on corner Highland." That's what you need for roleplaying.

Added: Whups! Sorry! Misunderstood the "not for roleplaying" bit! I thought it was not for a published roleplaying game - just internal use. Then let's say this is all for developing the city, and actually drawing the map is techniques the other posts can help you with!

Cartographersguild.com also has an active membership. They specialize more in fantasy maps of cities and worlds, but in general cover everything. There is lots of advice to be found in the forums.

So, I'm a big fan of taking modern cities and playing with Google Maps, and a website called https://www.scribblemaps.com/ .  There are lots of options, but I like using the "Pencil" option with the "Mapbox Custom" style.

Here's Istanbul in that style:

https://www.scribblemaps.com/create/#lat=41.02324110746467&lng=28.972771167755127&z=15&t=mb_pencil

To make a modern city, you have to think up the history of that city.  To get a city that seems realistic today, unless that city is Brasilia, you need to first imagine how that city looked like in the past.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1026499To make a modern city, you have to think up the history of that city.  To get a city that seems realistic today, unless that city is Brasilia, you need to first imagine how that city looked like in the past.

This is true. No city ever started at nearly the size it currently is. It began as something much smaller. You need to decide why people settled in the area in the first place. Fishing village? A good port area for shipping? A silver lode in the region? A good stop-over point for the railroad? Once you figure out why people settled there in the first place, you can figure out the city's "character" and start building up from there. You don't need to go through every year or decade of expansion, but it can help you determine where the building began, so you can work out how the city expanded over time and in what directions. It can also help you determine what kind of places and businesses the city got and when.

For example, a railroad stop would begin with the basic essentials of such a community: a tavern/saloon, a hotel, craftsmen and their houses,and a few businesses. These would expand to eventually include a town hall, major restaurants, theaters, and other "luxury" businesses as the town grows. As the decades go by, you would get highways and an airport. You might even lose a few things along the way. So, the layout would be a lot of the major buildings, like the town hall, the largest mercantile area, and major business districts close to the original building spot. Peripheral residences and businesses would expand out from that point. More advanced and larger things, like concentrated industrial parks, airports, and the such would usually be on the outer part of that, depending on when during the city's history they would have been built. Outside of these core city elements, it's often mainly suburban sprawl.

For real world examples, you should be able to find historic maps of old cities, like New York, Boston, London, and Paris, to compare their sizes and community nexuses over time.

Yes. Also, most cities that endure tend to change purposes repeatedly over time.