PathfinderWiki:Mapping project contribution

This article covers adding to and updating the wiki map's contents. For information on embedding map excerpts in PathfinderWiki articles, see Help:Map. For other usage details, see map.

There are several ways to contribute to the mapping project. All source data used to generate the map is openly available, and the mapped points for settlements and places of interest are derived from templates on the wiki that anyone with an account can edit.

Map sources

For a list of incorporated and potential sources for the project, see PathfinderWiki:Mapping project sources.

Unreliable maps

Some published maps might not be reliable sources for the mapping project due to production errors, inconsistencies, or irreconcilable conflicts. See Project:Mapping project sources for details.

Adding and updating locations

If you can find the position of a location that has an article on PathfinderWiki on the interactive map, you can add a point of interest for it to the wiki, which also places the point on the map.

To add a point, you need its latitude and longitude on the map of Golarion. You can find these coordinates by doing the following:

Open https://map.pathfinderwiki.com. If you're viewing a map embedded in PathfinderWiki, click the four-arrows button at the top right of the embedded map to open that map's current view in a new browser tab.
Locate where the point should be positioned on the map. Zoom in as closely as possible to find the most precise coordinates.
If using a mouse and keyboard, right-click on the point of the map for the subject's position, then select "Copy Lat/Long". This copies the coordinates, such as 22.4020887, -1.3104665, for pasting elsewhere.

The first coordinate is the latitude, and the second coordinate is the longitude. On PathfinderWiki, you can simply paste the pair of coordinates as-is into the required field. For details, see "Adding points of interest" and "Adding settlements".

Positions on the wiki, whether newly defined or updated, are incorporated into the map periodically and automatically. They do not appear on the map immediately but should within a day.

For tips on finding specific coordinate values, see the {{DisplayMap}} documentation.

Adding points of interest

Note that some points of interest might have imprecise or conflicting positions in different published maps. For guidance on which position to use, refer to the canon policy, ask in the #golarion-mapping channel on our Discord server, or leave a message on User talk:Oznogon.

To make a non-settlement point of interest—for example, a geographic feature, monument, or uninhabited ruin—visible on the interactive map, use the {{DisplayMap}} template and include the create parameter, which triggers the map to create a point at the template's given latlong coordinates.

The create parameter's value determines the type of point shown, and a list of common values is provided in the {{DisplayMap}} documentation. If in doubt, use other; it can always be updated later.

For example:

{{DisplayMap
| latlong = 44.5705897, -27.4613769
| zoom    = 7
| create  = other
| align   = right
}}

is the {{DisplayMap}} used on Windsong Abbey, and create = other results in the point being shown on the map:

When copying coordinates from the map, you can paste the value directly into the latlong parameter.

The article name is used by default for the name shown with the point of interest. To specify different text—for example, if the article title contains a parenthetical disambiguation—provide it in {{DisplayMap}} as the value of the name parameter.

Adding settlements

The {{City}} infobox has its own latlong parameter, and providing coordinates there will add the settlement to the map. The settlement's size and capital details from the template are also automatically incorporated in the point's presentation on the map.

By default, providing only a latlong parameter and value in {{City}} also adds a map to the infobox centered on those coordinates at zoom level 7. If you provide a latlong value, you can optionally add a {{DisplayMap}} to the regionmap parameter to have finer control over the displayed map. However, you should not simultaneously set both the latlong City template parameter and the create {{DisplayMap}} parameter.

Note that if you add a blank regionmap parameter with no value, the automatic region map will not appear in the infobox.

For example, the point for Absalom is added to the map by setting these parameters in its {{City}} template:

{{City 
...
| name         = Absalom
...
| latlong      = 30.8886260, -0.2343082
| capital      = yes
...
}}

This also results in the map being shown of that point at zoom level 7, unless you specify a regionmap with different parameters:

Adding locations or settlements without articles

You can add locations to the map that do not have a corresponding article on this wiki by including them as described on PathfinderWiki:Map Locations Without Articles.

Updating existing locations

You can change the coordinates for points of interest and settlements when new or more detailed maps become available. Positions on the wiki are incorporated into the map periodically and automatically. They do not appear on the map immediately but should within a day.

If you update the latlong coordinates of a settlement, remember to also update the coordinates on any manually defined regionmap template.

Adding and updating geometry

Landmasses, bodies of water, rivers, forests, mountains, swamps, buildings, settlement details, and other geometric features are defined as geographic information system (GIS) data and rendered periodically. This data is stored in the pf-wikis/mapping-data GitHub repository, which uses Kart, a tool designed to help collaboratively update the data.

Unlike points of interest and settlements, geometry cannot be edited on the wiki. Modifying such features requires knowledge of GIS data-editing tools, such as QGIS. A QGIS project file, tile renderer and compiler, and map frontend are stored and developed separately, in the pf-wikis/mapping GitHub repository.

The learning curve for such tools can be steep if you don't have prior experience with them. For advice, or to raise an issue with the map and request a change from map maintainers, visit the #golarion-mapping channel in Discord, leave a message on User talk:Oznogon, or file an issue on the pf-wikis/mapping-data GitHub repository.

Rivers

Special consideration must be given to the endpoints of rivers. The rendered map interprets a free-floating endpoint on land as a spring and draws it as a point that widens to the river's defined width. Points that are perfectly shared with other rivers are interpreted as river forks. Points that are in a lake or the open sea are interpreted as estuaries. To best render the estuary, place the final point of the river's line clearly within the body of water.

Important QGIS plugins

Makes qgs files more stable for git
Freehand raster georeferencer
Kart (optional; to view diffs of changes)