EVE Online's answer to GPS
by James Egan 
Sep 5th 2008 at 9:00AM
Filed under: Sci-fi, Galleries, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Tips and tricks, News items, Maps
EVE Online is a vast setting where all players interact in one galaxy. While other MMOs are sharded across different servers, some with different locales, EVE places all of its players together. Its implementation ensures that many servers seem to be just one from the perspective of any pilot flying in New Eden. However, given the daunting size of EVE's explorable environment, there have been some players who took it upon themselves to map the known universe and release their findings as a resource for other pilots. Shayne Smart, aka Serenity Steele, is one such player. He's been getting some media attention in recent months as Vice-Chairman of the Council of Stellar Management (CSM). Beyond his duties on the CSM, Smart is also well-known to many players as the creator of EVE Strategic Maps, a spiral bound collection of star charts which some fans of the game find indispensable. You would think Smart would find mapping out 5000 solar systems (each with its own myriad planets, moons, stations, and other resources) a feat hard to top. But what Smart's done is found a way to use the in-game browser in the EVE client to act as a sort of GPS, tracking your position as you jump from one solar system to the next, and allowing you to better see your relative position in the galaxy as part of your overview. The cartographer's latest 'minimap' effort is presently 2-D only and in beta, though is well worth a look and quite simple to use. Click the gallery below for Shayne Smart's instructions on how to use the free 2D minimap within your in-game browser.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
michael, St E said on 10:22AM 9-05-2008
Tinfoil hats are fully engaged...
Aka: SS is running PR interference after Ombey's http://www.ombeve.co.uk/ continue to improve, and the new dynamic maps at http://evemaps.dotlan.net/ get in the way of his business plan - they're both free resources - with a feature that's only really useful as pointer to his own maps.
Having a member of the player elected council in a business relationship with the publishers of the game's official magazine; no, that's not disturbing at all.
Nice feature, SS, but please - gentle author - remember to add value by including links to the community non-commercial alternatives.
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James Egan said on 11:41AM 9-05-2008
Hey michael. The tin foil's not necessary in this case, I have no bias towards one map or other. When I began the game I used the free downloadable 2D maps (Ombey's) which I agree are much-improved; I've never used the Dotlan maps before, but now that I've seen it, I do like that search feature. Still, I'm most familiar with SS's strategic maps, which I bought recently, and that's probably what I'll stick with for a while.
There are some disadvantages to using physical maps in a setting that's constantly changing, but my own preference is to have something I can look at off screen. I used to print out Ombey's EVE Regions maps a while back too, to fill that need.
I'll likely cover more on free map alternatives at some point in the future as I have in the past --
http://www.massively.com/2008/08/03/wayfaring-through-new-eden-with-evemap/
-- but that wasn't really the point in this post. What struck me as interesting is that the 2D minimap functions in the in-game browser (finally, a use for it beyond EVE-Survival) and tracks your progress as you jump from system to system. I think it's cool. I don't want to use the word 'gimmicky' but is it something I'll use daily? Doubtful. And as was mentioned on the forums, the ability to zoom would make it a lot more useful. But it's still interesting and uses what's available to all EVE players in a new way. Definitely post-worthy, I'd say.
Well, I'm glad you pointed out the Dotlan maps, that's a new one for me. And there are a lot of (free !!) community-developed resources out there for EVE players beyond EVEMon and EFT and it seems there are always new things turning up. Ultimately I'd like to explore these a bit more at Massively. All things in time...
Brendan Drain said on 4:08AM 9-07-2008
Holy moly, this looks really handy. This is one of those things I love about EVE, players will alwys fill the gaps in the game's developments that CCP may not see. EVE's greatest asset is and has always been its playerbase.
I wouldn't be surprised if a simple mini-map became an optional part of the standard user interface, the standard F10 map and F11 minimaps are clunky and often laborious to deal with.
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