Someone Created a High-Resolution Map Of Westeros That Shares an Uncanny Resemblance to a Location on Google Maps

Winter is here and so is this incredible map.

Edmund

• Published in Interesting
• May 4, 2019

As the final season of beloved HBO series 'Game of Thrones' (or GOT as it is commonly known as) is airing fans are celebrating this show that has kept them all hooked for years.

One 25 year old fan has decided to show his love for the show in a creative and detailed way. Artist Julio Lacerda is a cartography enthusiast and has designed a detailed map of Westeros.

This map is so well detailed and filled with information from the works by George RR Martin that you would almost believe this was a place on Google Maps.

The full map

Julio has been an artist since childhood. Now he mostly draws dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals for various publications and museums although he is really fond of fantasy and pop culture.

”I found out about Game of Thrones when the show was in its second or third season,” Lacerda said. “It was starting to gather a big following, and even though none of my friends had been watching it yet, people were talking about it a lot on the internet. So, I decided to give it a chance and immediately fell in love with it.”

Lands of always winter

Julio isn't just a fan of the show, he also loves the books.

“As cliche as it sounds, I have to say that I prefer the literary version,” the artist said. “The world that George R. R. Martin has built over the years is so incredibly detailed and well-thought-out, some aspects of it just have to be simplified or left out altogether for the TV adaptation. Also, working with such a huge audience, a [limited] budget and deadlines make the writing for the show a lot less rich and smart compared to the original. That said, I still like the show very much and it did a great job of bringing the story to life.”

The North

“I think what makes me like Game of Thrones so much is the fact that it’s one of the most complex stories I’ve seen, coupled with truly incredible worldbuilding,” Julio said. “At least in the books, every single person and place mentioned have some background info presented at some point, and almost every action of the characters have a meaning or payoff later in the story. It’s a rabbit hole of trivia and theories that are hard to leave once you’ve jumped in!”

The Westerlands

“I’ve always loved geography and cartography, and for the past year, I’ve been creating some fantasy maps of my own. With season 8 airing, I felt inspired to try my hand at replicating this iconic map in a somewhat realistic way (as if it was seen from space), since most reconstructions of the maps in Game of Thrones go for either a simplified or traditional, vintage look.”

The Reach

“Fortunately, the map of Westeros is fairly well-documented,” Julio concluded. “I cross-referenced several different sources, with special attention to the official The Lands of Ice and Fire maps. It took me around two days to create it; At first, I did the outline of the landmass, I then created a height map to represent the different altitudes and ran it through an erosion simulator, which gives the terrain this realistic look. Then I textured the image with the help of some aerial photographs from NASA and rendered it in a 3D software which interpreted the height map I created to replicate lights and shadows. The final step was to add all the graphics and text.”

People began to notice that this map looks like a combination of Ireland and the UK

“Being from west Dublin it appears I live in a place called Crakehall just south of Lannister port.”

Here is what others had to say about this map

It must have

Yep

If you say so

It seems to be accurate because a lot of thought seemingly went into it

It may be. I'm sure it's no definitive

That's lucky

That would be great

Who isn't at this point

Don't tell the flat earthers

Well, there's your answer

Yeah, it's so well made.

This would make a great wallpaper

What are your thoughts on the map? Do you watch GOT? Are you emotionally ready for it to all come to an end?

Edmund