Datamaps & Overlay views

[Tropod 144]

Another topic I don't see here.

Two seperate yet related features; Datamaps & overlay view; as these exist in SC4, they are lacking. So here are some functions/features that would be ideal;

First of all, neither the Datamap or Overlay view should be attached in such a way that selecting an option on one forces the other to show the same data (as it currently does in SC4). This is important. An option to allow this though, to force an amalgamation when viewing data, would be good (the way it was setup in SC3K was quite good). We should also be able to hide the datamap with any options selected/deselected without it affecting the city screenview (like it currently does in SC4), though this should not be a problem if the datamap & overlay view are seperate (it should still not do this though if we choose to amalgamate the 2 through an option).

Functions/Features;

Ideally any datamap/overlay should allow a variety of items, groups & sub-group items/categories to be selected. Following are some examples;

(Following section would apply to both Datamap & Overlay view function).

Police; ability to select all police stations, &/or different types/sizes of police stations.

Jails; ideally this should be viewable on its own seperate from police (or if with Police, seperately selectable).

Fire stations; same as police.

Health care; same as police.

Power (stations); ability to view all &/or also different types of power stations, & also power lines. For example; option to view all power stations, & also an option to view coal, gas, &/or other types of power together or seperately.

Education: ability to view all &/or also different types of education facilities. Need to be able to view say schools, seperate from libraries or universities or museums. An option should also  exist to be able to view all at once.

Networks; ability to view all &/or also different types of networks together &/or also seperately.

Traffice; similar to Networks.

Transport; bus stops, train stations, airports, seaports, ferries etc etc. Again, should be able to view all at once or each on its own.

Recreational; different kinds of recreational facilties, be able to view all or different kinds.

Ideally the Datamap should have the ability to zoom in/out & be scrollable (like the map on Grand Theft Auto, if my memory serves). Ideally it would be nice to also have the ability to place custom names on the datamap ourselves & an option to make them shown/hide. The datamap could potentially also be used to Jump from one area to another of a landmass to another (see my post  in Regional Play thread P2).

Overlay View function;

One of the biggest problems in SC4, is being able to view or build certain things like a bus stop in a big city full of tall buildings.

An Overlay function would allow the ability to select/deselect any number & different kinds of categories for viewing/hiding; the less restrictive the better. So for some examples;

Civic

Networks

Non-Civic

Recreational

Commercial/Industrial/Residential

And others.

The important thing here is, being able to hide those structures that might otherwise block the view or placement of & affect our ability to properly access smaller structures.

If you have any thoughts or ideas fire away.

[Xyloxadoria 1,099]

Sc 3000 had overlay views, they were really helpful in making a city. i dont know how you would do that with sc4 though, because it is not in the program.

[Romaq 18]

One REALLY important feature is the ability to view overlays and maps in oblique, such as with maps.yahoo.com or whatnot. I'm playing Caesar IV, and there's no means to get an oblique overhead shot of the city. I'd really appreciate the ability to produce streetmaps and overlays, even publish prints to my color printer. The really CREEPY INSANE people might want to publish their city overview map to a high-quality poster at an instant printing place. Having that option is much better than NOT having that option.

[Androv 6]

I remember you could print your entire city with original SC4. Tried it once, I'm pretty sure it took up 12-13 pages of my dot-matrix printer.

I'm a bit of a road nut and I would love the ability to print out a road map of the city. I don't think this is vital to the game but I love naming roads and so on in SC4.

I'm not sure about the CREEPY INSANE people - I think it would be nice to post an overview map of your city online to compare it with others though.

[Romaq 18]

Yeah, but spending $100 for a frameable wall print might be considered excessive. I'd only contemplate it if I built a really REALLY good city, and I could get a nice enough print to frame.

Creepy!

[Androv 6]

I admit I only printed out the city that had filled the entire map... spent ages trying to find the little train/tram thing that was the only form of mass transit.

[The_Dalai_Llama 15]

I can't disagree with any of those ideas... the overlay in SC4 was flawed due to the fixed views. Since CU is in full 3D, it's not as big of a deal, but any way to easily place small structures like bus stops is a plus. Either toggling buildings on and off or making specific buildings transparent would be great.

An idea just popped up... I always seemed to have a tough time using my civic buildings efficiently. I think there should be a way to track every non-RCI building, not just individually, but in groups... a table, if you will. For example, you've got a city with 4 high schools. You should be able to display a table that shows the vital stats of the 4 schools... student/teacher ratio, budget, size, etc. I think this feature would benefit those who want to maximize efficiency in their city.

One last light bulb turned on... I say take a cue from Mapquest and Google Maps... a traditional road map along with a satellite image-ish type overview map.

[Romaq 18]

YES on Maps/ Satellite/ Hybrid-ish overview maps YES YES, but one specific request: OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE! It would be really ratty to have the ability to produce a map, but all the skyscrapers are tilting away from the centerpoint because of perspective. Reality does NOT provide oblique views, but the satellites approach oblique with the maps we can get from mapquest and such.

Anyway, enough of my soapboxing.

[The_Dalai_Llama 15]

Originally posted by: Romaq YES on Maps/ Satellite/ Hybrid-ish overview maps YES YES, but one specific request: OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE! It would be really ratty to have the ability to produce a map, but all the skyscrapers are tilting away from the centerpoint because of perspective. Reality does NOT provide oblique views, but the satellites approach oblique with the maps we can get from mapquest and such.

Anyway, enough of my soapboxing.quote>

 

Kind of like SimCity classic's overhead view.  That could potentially work as long as the perspective is angled in a way it doesn't block other lots or objects.

[Romaq 18]

That's the thing with the Oblique View... what it REALLY means is 'don't do perspective views of anything', and then the view is presented top down. All 90 degree walls are invisible... you only see straight down them from the top. You don't see things that way in reality, but it sure makes a nice map presentation.

[rctshack 182]

A top down (or oblique) view is needed badly. Especially for downtown areas or needing to line objects up. It should also have the option to name streets and so on in this view since it would be easy to choose streets and stations and so on. It would also make it easy to make transport routs this way. There were times in SC4 where I couldn't see areas of my downtown because it was blocked by sky scrapers in all 4 views. I think there should also be an option to make buildings and transports turn semi-transparent to be able to see the ground behind. If I want to build a train track through downtown... I may want to turn buildings and roads to 50% so I can see exactly where I am adding this tracks.

[Romaq 18]

An oblique overhead overhead should look pretty much solve the problem. Only 'overhanging stuff' would be in the way, which would be in the way no matter what without semi-transparent options. We'll see what they cook up for us.

[MayorTim 16]

An excellent proposal Tropod, I really don't have much to add. Everything sounds great and I hope these make there way into CU.