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For a potential upcoming Traveller campaign, I would like to make a map. Since Traveller's got quite good support for generating maps already, I figured I might see if I could go one further by creating an interactive one.

Specifically, I'd like to make a sort of interactive atlas thing, with multiple discrete "zoom levels" (Sector, subsector, system and world) that players can navigate between by, for example, clicking on a hex in the sector level in order to navigate to the system entry for that hex, then clicking on a specific planet in that system entry in order to bring up the entry for that world. I'd also like to be able to include additional information in text format at every zoom level, so as to include UWPs and notes wherever they would be most useful.

Unfortunately, it would take me quite an infeasibly long time to build such a thing from scratch; I'm therefore wondering if there's an existing tool specifically designed for this, or which could be easily re-purposed to do what I want with a minimum of effort. It's entirely possible that no appropriate software exists, but the Traveller fanbase has often surprised me before.

So tell me, RPG.SE: Am I in luck?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Have you considered space as a graph of solar systems, rather than as a continuous void? Or is that not in keeping with the Traveller RAW? \$\endgroup\$ – Shalvenay Feb 10 '15 at 4:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Shalvenay I'm really only interested in Traveller-style astrography, in which solar systems are arrayed on a two-dimensional plane of hexagons. It's not very realistic, but it works in play, and hurts suspension of disbelief less than you might expect. \$\endgroup\$ – GMJoe Feb 10 '15 at 4:30
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    \$\begingroup\$ There is a campaign manager/mapper with this kind of click-to-zoom/click-for-notes fractal idea, but alas I only read about it years ago and have never managed to rediscover it. :( It may be reassuring to know it has already been created, though. \$\endgroup\$ – SevenSidedDie Feb 10 '15 at 8:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie I am, indeed, reassured by that information - It sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. \$\endgroup\$ – GMJoe Feb 11 '15 at 0:19
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Appropriate software for this sort of interactive map display does exist. If you're willing to use the official Traveller universe's map data, you can find an interactive version at http://travellermap.com

If you want to use your own map data, it is possible to use the site's API to display custom map data instead of the OTU map:

The content to render is submitted as part of the payload, allowing custom maps to be rendered. Options (see below) can be specified either as URL parameters or in the POST body. A specific subsector can be rendered using this parameter, which can be either part of the POST data or a URL parameter

Alternately, if you have access to a server running IIS7, the site's source code is available on github, allowing you to set up your own Traveller map site, independent of the one hosting the OTU maps.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ That's very close to what I want (and is incredibly impressive just in sheer scale). I'll have to investigate to see how well it supports arbitrary notes. \$\endgroup\$ – GMJoe Mar 21 '15 at 13:08
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If you're willing to spend money on this, I have heard really good things about ProFantasy Software, and they do have a Cosmographer 3 expansion to their Campaign Cartographer 3 program.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Could you perhaps give more information about how it supports the "click-on-hex, view-UWP" interactivity that I'm looking to fill these things with? \$\endgroup\$ – GMJoe Mar 20 '15 at 5:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ Apologize, but no. My previous DM used this, making wonderful maps with multiple zoom level, but I never bought the software myself. I know it is set up that you can zoom in out on hexs, I just don't have practical experience with it. \$\endgroup\$ – The Amused Muse Mar 20 '15 at 6:24

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