Forum:Search and Rescue System Maps

The form below serves as a tool to describe the project. The form is intended to be as specific as possible to what the project is to accomplish.

• Please place all comments under the Comments heading.
• If there is a discussion page linked, then be sure to check it out as well.
• Also please do not create any articles unless all the details have been worked out, or at least the majority of them.
• Once the article/project has been created/finished, please put a mention that the article/project is completed and provide a redirect to the relevant article/s and talk page/s.

If any new things come up after the project proposal's passing, then please shift the discussion to the relevant article talk page/s.

If you have any questions on how to fill out the form, or any other question, please refer to the Project Forum talk page.

Project: Search and Rescue System Maps

Other Notes

A feature called Wikia Maps was released last week. It lets you upload an image for an interactive map, embed it in any article, and add pin points for things like loot, assignment locations, and other points of interest -- in other words, something a gaming wiki might find good use for. I've experimented with it a bit and would like some input on what I've got so far and whether Maps is something this wiki would like to have enabled.

Now, there is a Search and Rescue main article -- and, as of the implementation of a recent project, an SaR section for each planet with scannable assets -- but the system articles themselves lack any SaR information. For a player, the most intuitive course of action is surely looking up the system they intend to scan rather than consulting an umbrella article they might not even be aware of. (As I recall, the phrase "Search and Rescue" only appears in-game the first time the galaxy map is accessed.)

I counted a bit over 70 systems that would need updating, so this would be quite an undertaking; I'm not entirely sure it's worthwhile myself, which is why I'm submitting this project for community review at the earliest possible stage of development. While most players/readers might agree this kind of map system would be worth having, applying it to existing articles at this point arguably doesn't introduce any new information. Since the wiki also serves as a game guide, however, it could still be useful enough to be worth implementing retroactively. If not, we can always look into this again at the release of the next game.

Back to the matter at hand: so far I've recreated one system article over at my sandbox wiki (where the Maps extension is enabled) with a slightly altered layout and the Search and Rescue map appended at the bottom.

• w:c:elseweyr:Harsa

A somewhat large number of separate maps would have to be created, with generally only one pin in each category, but Maps is still an easy-to-use tool that could suit the purposes of an SaR map well enough. There might be opportunities to use this feature for other existing content as well, but most mapping or level documentation needs appear to already be covered in some decent enough way.

Some notes:

• While a pin's Related Article link may point to a specified section of an article, the pin description doesn't support wikilinks.
• Currently nothing in the map lightbox can be customized with CSS or JS.
• If there are suitable ones, custom images may be added for the pins.

Please submit your questions and comments below.

Comments[]

i'll have to read up. may take a while depending on workload.

it seems at this stage of development the feature lacks pin visibility at first glance: at least one click needed to get to the meat of things. huh. could've been useful to implement not just on system maps but also on level/hub maps. the lazy git in me thinks it's a flaw. but, overall, the feature does look like something usable in limited circumstances.

since nisansadds' pre-dlc images won't pass standards, i think i can provide suitables if this project goes anywhere. the rest of the necessary additions the rest of you can probably handle. T̴̴͕̲̞̳̖̼̱͒͛̎͒ͫ̃ͧeͩ̈̽̈҉͓̝̰̼̦̫̤̀͠m̫̪̪̯̻͎̫̅̇̓��͌̚p̸̙̝̓̓͌ͨ͆ͣͥ̂̕o͒̽͐̽͏̞̬̻͕͔͕͚̰͍͠͞ṙ̢̞͚͈̹̰ͨ̓ͭ̈́̌ạ̢̧̪̹̺̺̣̹̲͂͆̏ͪͨ͒ͭř̹͈͜͠y̷͍̻̜̹̼̾̽̈́e̵̹̼̟̦͚͐̈́͌͘d͉̲̣̻͉̱͗̅ḭ̷̻̆͋̆̓̔͝t̨͍̦̫̗͂̅̍̋̆ͩ͝ộ̫̟̬̳̝̲̾ͫ̒̿ͮ̑̚rͯ̎ͨͭ̄̿̽͛҉̠̫̱̠̘̘̲́ͅ7̩̻ͤͩͨ͝͡8̜̣̙͇̻ͨ͛͛̆͒̆̽̒͐͜͡ ͥ̍̉̃̇ͥ̓ͨ͏̕҉̥̹͓̗̤̠̖̤ (talk) 16:43, July 28, 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, the pins and other tools only become available once you click the map open. Can't say if any changes are planned for this issue in particular, though the feature is probably liable to some tweaking still.

The optimal image size would be at least 2000×2000px, though currently I unfortunately can't supply higher-res images than the one in my example. Assuming that one isn't cutting it either, if acceptable images are provided and the green light is given, I'll be happy to take care of the rest. Elseweyr ^{talk • stalk} 18:05:42, 2014-07-28 (UTC)

the size recommendation was stipulated probably to accommodate the inevitable pin crowding on all-purpose maps (middle-earth/westeros+essos/etc). in our case there's only about 1-3 pins per system (5 max on Asgard), item name only, description on link. too big might actually be a navigation hindrance (not to mention that the stellar backdrop texture does have a noticeably low resolution), but as always i can have 2160p (and above) shots up, limited only by the filesize.

the normal gamer experience at the time of ME3's release is 720p/1080p, so image resolutions along those lines can be minimums. T̴̴͕̲̞̳̖̼̱͒͛̎͒ͫ̃ͧeͩ̈̽̈҉͓̝̰̼̦̫̤̀͠m̫̪̪̯̻͎̫̅̇̓̇͌̚p̸̙̝̓̓͌ͨ͆ͣͥ̂̕o͒̽͐̽͏̞̬̻͕͔͕͚̰͍͠͞ṙ̢̞͚͈̹̰ͨ̓ͭ̈́̌ạ̢̧̪̹̺̺̣̹̲͂͆̏ͪͨ͒ͭř̹͈͜͠y̷͍̻̜̹̼̾̽̈́e̵̹̼̟̦͚͐̈́͌͘d͉̲̣̻͉̱͗̅ḭ̷̻̆͋̆̓̔͝t̨͍̦̫̗͂̅̍̋̆ͩ͝ộ̫̟̬̳̝̲̾ͫ̒̿ͮ̑̚rͯ̎ͨͭ̄̿̽͛҉̠̫̱̠̘̘̲́ͅ7̩̻ͤͩͨ͝͡8̜̣̙͇̻ͨ͛͛̆͒̆̽̒͐͜͡ ͥ̍̉̃̇ͥ̓ͨ͏̕҉̥̹͓̗̤̠̖̤ (talk) 18:26, July 28, 2014 (UTC)

As we said, with suitable images, this project could easily pass. This system could also be used for ME1 maps but, once more, it's a lot of workload. Maybe that I will test the map tool at some point. In any case, I'm in favor of the project and I'm ready to help. I would also leave the current system as it is and just add the interactive map at the bottom of the article. --DeldiRe (talk) 21:14, July 28, 2014 (UTC)

As promised: a first try for ME1 : [1] --DeldiRe (talk) 23:51, July 28, 2014 (UTC)

As I can see, the tool is really not hard to use. I'm willing to do my share in this project for ME1 if we can agree on it. I only need suitable and clean maps. For the ME1 case, I think that we could put the "planet view" in every template and then add a subtitle "planetary map" in the relevant article with a fresh map. (I just saw that the russian wiki is doing it that way and that it is really nicer even if their layout is currently messed up)--DeldiRe (talk) 09:22, July 29, 2014 (UTC)

Do we plan, in a the future, to integrate the tool in the wiki?--DeldiRe (talk) 10:21, September 5, 2014 (UTC)