“There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”
In this 4-part series we’ll walk through the reckoning of a Lord of the Rings style fantasy map, right in ArcGIS Pro. We map-makers get to breathe honest to goodness geographic life into the seminal aesthetic found in the LOTR cartography, and I think that’s a bit of magic just waiting around for us to wield.
The map drawn by Christopher Tolkien for his father’s book is a simple and beautiful reference. Absorbed for hours by curious minds through several generations, traced by countless fingers over the decades, and soaked up by a host of imaginations—mine included—where it has become the gold standard of fantasy mapping. Here’s how you can assemble your own fantasy-style map, with real geographic data, inspired by this seminal Lord of the Rings cartography.
Here is a link to the library of styles for ArcGIS Pro, including this style, “One Style to Rule Them All.”
0:00 First, a reading
0:21 Where to find this style resource
0:36 Data sources
0:54 How to add a style to a project
2:05 Adding a paper texture
2:45 Ecoregions of (Middle) Earth
3:18 Some examples
Fantasy mapping for fun? Making custom D&D maps with read data? Mapping your municipality in an eye-catching and exciting way? Give it a go! Here are the graphical assets I made in this video if you’d prefer to use mine. If you just can’t get enough fantasy mapping, check out Wes Jones’ channel, where he teaches you how to draw them from scratch.
Thanks for following along on this unexpected journey! I’d love to see the fantastic maps you make and hope you’ll share them with the community for fun and encouragement. Here are some of mine…
Happy mapping! Love, John
Adventures In Mapping 