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City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser

maps.probabletrain.com

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Re: City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser

#11

Post by sieabahlpark »

ecopoesis wrote: post #9
gruez wrote: post #2

In the demo pics there are radial/circular subdivisions. I find this odd, given that it's supposed to be an "American-style" generator. I've personally never seen any american city that has radial subdivisions.

Boston ( https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3591352,-71.06249,15.28z ) is close to round. You don't get grids until you get out of the colonial era city.

These cities were originally part of the colonies of the British empire. So I would say they aren't necessarily completely "American". I'd look more central to western US cities to see how American style city planning is done.

Re: City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser

#12

Post by moondev »

MrMetlHed wrote: post #7
pwinnski wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are circles in cities, but not (to my knowledge) circular sub-divisions as depicted on the site. That's something I associate with Europe, not America. In most of America, including Washington D.C., the circles are very quickly ironed back out into grids.

What about some of these retirement communities like Sun City, Arizona: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sun+City,+AZ/@33.6291865,-...

Gotta say that design is pretty cool looking. I like how they put a golf course on the perimeter!

Re: City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser

#15

Post by BorisTheBrave »

Curious that the author no longer credits the paper that a lot of the ideas are based on: InteractiveProceduralStreetModeling, Chen et Al 2008 http://www.sci.utah.edu/~chengu/street_sig08/street_sig08.pd....

One should give credit where it is due.

Re: City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser

#16

Post by eat_veggies »

BorisTheBrave wrote: post #15

Curious that the author no longer credits the paper that a lot of the ideas are based on: InteractiveProceduralStreetModeling, Chen et Al 2008 http://www.sci.utah.edu/~chengu/street_sig08/street_sig08.pd... . One should give credit where it is due.

It's cited in the first sentence of the "Implementation details" section [1] of the website

> Algorithm - Road Network

> This generator is based on the paper ‘Interactive Procedural Street Modeling‘.

[1] https://maps.probabletrain.com/#/algorithmoverview

Re: City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser

#17

Post by dylan604 »

ebg13 wrote: post #4
MrMetlHed wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Washington, DC? https://www.google.com/maps/place/Washington,+DC/@38.9099853...

Not very similar. Those DC "circles" just crosscut a rectangular array. The area itself does not appear radial.

DC is modeled after the square and compass symbols

http://dcpages.com/gallery/Capitol-Square-Compass-Tour/WashD...

Re: City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser

#19

Post by rob2312 »

I did an undergraduate project based on the same paper as this (not nearly the same quality, but similar enough if you squint).

The procedural method used for this kind of generation is really powerful -- you usually see L-Systems being used to create basic sort of fractals but these sort of implementations can become pretty smart. For example, you can provide a height map of the terrain, and make it so that the roads find smooth paths down hills.

And then that's before you realise that the buildings themselves can be generated via rules which describe how to make buildings. And then, the layout of rooms in a building, and the layout of furniture in each room. There's some really impressive potential here if a group of people were devoted enough.

Another good paper is: http://peterwonka.net/Publications/pdfs/2006.SG.Mueller.Proc...

Re: City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser

#20

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

moondev wrote: post #12
MrMetlHed wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about some of these retirement communities like Sun City, Arizona: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sun+City,+AZ/@33.6291865,-...

Gotta say that design is pretty cool looking. I like how they put a golf course on the perimeter!

I'd chalk it up there with the "deigners" who draw swoopy lines for parking lots that look great on a map and are a nightmare to use.
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