Talk-Line: Making ascii maps (Europe)

I've been meaning to do an ascii map of Europe, to go with my World
and USA maps.  The technique I use is really very simple, at least
for the first rough draft:



                 __-,           |     /|       _/     /
                <  <-            ~~ _. |      / -    /\_|
               <~   /             ,/ \  \     | `'  |
           _-,.'/   \             |   |~___/~~      \
        /--` _/ '~|  \             | \___    _--~\/~
        '|   |  ,-'   |       __--'       `-'
       /~ _/-'.'       ~,   /\
       `~'    ~->     <'_./'
            _'--~~~~~~_~
                 |\-'~
             (~~`'
              ~-
               `\                                                    _/-_
                /                       _,                           /    (
    __         ,'                _,    | '--,                       |      `
   ,'  ~~~---~-'       ,_-_  _-'~  `,   `,  |                       |
   |                   |   ~~    /|  \    |   ~- _                 /      _
  /                 _/-'         \/    `-. `~>     \               \_---~~
 '               /~'           ,-,        \,  ~--_ |      . ,--__
 /              /    ()        | |          ~\ <\_/ \_    |\/    |
\               |               ~            ,),'     ~\__ '-    _|
/_            _/'                       (~-~|`'         ,-~ ,-   `,
  ~~|   ___-_-'                          ~-_ |           \_-'       `-,__-~
     \_/                                    `-'


I just cut any old piece of clear plastic film to the size of 22 * 76
on my screen (or so).  Then I have to find a map the right size, and
trace it in felt pen.  I tape this over a blank wordprocessor window,
and just 'under-trace' the outline, starting at the top, one row at a
time.  I limit myself to these characters, almost entirely:

~`'-_,./\|

Very occasionally I'll use <>(){};: if the geography is ususual.

The map above was done in less than half an hour using this technique,
with no 'retouching'.  It looks pretty scraggly to me though, like a
Koren cartoon, so to smooth it out I'll have to put an hour or two into
sitting with a good map and just fiddling things, one character at a
time.  I'm doubtful that this process can be automated, but good tools
could make it a lot easier.

In fact, this one seems to be too tall, and I'll probably redo it with
a smaller map, so as not to waste the two hours on something non-ideal...



j

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