Mapping Los Santos! Building/landmark analysis

[LotusRIP]

You guys are getting way to caught up in your units of measurement. Seriously, measuring a metre in a video game is like saying how long is a piece of string? There's no unified measurement in a virtual environment... and every game is different... it's just weird that you guys are trying to talk measurements of a map of a place that doesn't exist on paper to be able to measure accurately.

 

Just look and admire.

[CaptRobau]

It's mostly because there's no new stuff to admire. You can measure things in-game though. It's a world that's not to far off from RL and we're comparing games made by the same company and often even the same engine. A meter in IV is a meter in RDR. Knowing the scale helps to figure out if we're thinking top small or too large while mapping V.

[lxr]

You guys are getting way to caught up in your units of measurement. Seriously, measuring a metre in a video game is like saying how long is a piece of string? There's no unified measurement in a virtual environment... and every game is different... it's just weird that you guys are trying to talk measurements of a map of a place that doesn't exist on paper to be able to measure accurately.

That is a common misconception. Of course you can measure a meter in a video game, and of course you should measure game maps in meters (as opposed to, say, time it takes to cross the map on a horse). The protagonist is ~6ft tall, and everything else follows from that. And that in fact makes every game the same (unless we're dealing with dwarfs in a miniature wonderland, or a game without any humans or human environments, or a story that explicitly screws with dimensions, like an imaginary GTA V where the last cutscene shows Roman Bellic having simulated all of Los Santos in his garage).

 

And of course, meters (or miles) are the best choice if you want to compare games. The maps below, for example, all have the same scale, which is 10 meters per pixel.

 

 

 

[poncratias]

you guys allways underrate how much of the map will be NOT land!

 

 

I think it could easily be that the whole ocean area will be the size of the RDR map.

 

We then are left with the IV+SA map as Land area, which seems like there really is just as much land as jbte's and lxr's map show!!!

 

NOT MORE!

 

everything we'Ve seen so far is everything there will be!

[lxr]

 

you guys allways underrate how much of the map will be NOT land!

 

 

I think it could easily be that the whole ocean area will be the size of the RDR map.

 

We then are left with the IV+SA map as Land area, which seems like there really is just as much land as jbte's and lxr's map show!!!

 

NOT MORE!

 

everything we'Ve seen so far is everything there will be!

No, we're not making this up.

 

Quote: "Rockstar says the map is 3.5 times bigger than Red Dead Redemption -- 5 times bigger if you include topography, as representatives kept talking about be depths of the ocean."

 

Which makes the whole ocean area 1.5 times the size of the RDR map, and we then are left with 3.5 x RDR as land area.

 

And this is consistent with R*'s other statements.

Edited January 18, 2013 by lxr

[wingbert69]

Hey guys!

 

I am new in this forum. I`m from germany and a very big fan of GTA.

The size of the map is GTA SA, RDR & GTA4 with room to spare (Rockstar statement)

GTA SA 14,52 sq mi

GTA 4 6,38 sq mi

RDR 11,98 sq mi

 

Alltogether 32,88 sq mi. In another statement Rocktar said only the city and countryside would be 3,5 times RDR (like others mentioned before) and with the ocean 5 times. That would mean only for the country 41,93 sq mi.

 

 

 

So I made the map with 3,5 times RDR and on the top in the right corner you can the size of Liberty City from GTA IV.

 

I made a map for Los Santos after reading in different forums. If you look at it you can see a border. I think/hope Rockstar put mexico in the game. They did in RDR and I think they can/you can do a lot of missions when you have a country like that. It is my little wish.

 

 

Sorry for my bad english. I try my best.

 

Here it is. Give me a little feedback

 

[Getzmunney]

This thread was so interesting.. Now all these nerd calculations have me lost

[Raavi]

This thread was so interesting.. Now all these nerd calculations have me lost

Those are actually basic calculations. And they help you better understand the real scope of the map.

[iiConTr0v3rSYx]

Thanks for joining the forums, wingbert69 . I've seen your work over at iGTA5.

[Getzmunney]

This thread was so interesting.. Now all these nerd calculations have me lost

Those are actually basic calculations. And they help you better understand the real scope of the map.

I know... Rockstar if you hear me.... HELP!!!

[Raavi]

This thread was so interesting.. Now all these nerd calculations have me lost

Those are actually basic calculations. And they help you better understand the real scope of the map.

I know... Rockstar if you hear me.... HELP!!!

I feel you.. The wait is getting way too long.

[Kifflom112]

So what other areas around LS you guys think R*are hiding from us?

Probably just what is north of the Santa Monica Beach Parody.

[lxr]

 

Give me a little feedback

Hey. I guess it depends on what you're trying to show.

 

Using numbers with two decimal digits suggests high accuracy, but your numbers and maps are not 100% accurate. For example, SA's 36 sq km are less than your "14,52 sq mi", and your SA and IV maps don't have the exact same scale (IV is a tiny bit bigger than that). Your combined map seems plausible in terms of size, maybe even in terms of land vs. water (even though neither of us has counted the blue pixels), but most of the details are fantasy. Some in the "we don't know if it's true" sense, but also many in the "we know it's not true" sense.

 

If it was just intended to be a rough sketch (or to illustrate "if there was Mexico, where could it be"), then it's fine of course. Personally, but that may just be me, I prefer pure fantasy maps (here is one of my all-time favorites) to any map that mixes fact and fiction.

Edited January 18, 2013 by lxr

[trevors685]

 

 

 

 

This photo...

It makes me realize how large GTA V is going to be.

[œaœa]

This photo...

It makes me realize how large GTA V is going to be.

Yeah, there's a reason why Rockstar is only showing overhead shots of LS and not actual street level. It's a lot bigger than people think.

[kesta195]

This photo...

It makes me realize how large GTA V is going to be.

Yeah, there's a reason why Rockstar is only showing overhead shots of LS and not actual street level. It's a lot bigger than people think.

Exactly. A lot of people don't appreciate how big this city will suddenly seem when you are walking/driving around it on street level. R* said LS is roughly the same size as LC and they mean it, so that's big enough for me.

[GtaVComments]

You guys are getting way to caught up in your units of measurement. Seriously, measuring a metre in a video game is like saying how long is a piece of string? There's no unified measurement in a virtual environment... and every game is different... it's just weird that you guys are trying to talk measurements of a map of a place that doesn't exist on paper to be able to measure accurately.

 

Just look and admire.

I was actually thinking the same thing. How can you measure a map in a game. For all we know SA map may not even be the size it's said to be. Has anybody actually gone around the whole map measuring it meter by meter? I imagine not, and I'm talking whilst playing the game, not looking at a map diagram and estimating what a meter is. SA could only be 2/3 of what R* say it is, that's why some people don't believe that RDR is bigger than SA, and others believe it is, there's no REAL proof.

 

It'll still 'feel' bigger, I'm positive of that, but don't always believe everything that R* says. That's something I've come to believe. I mean, I love GTA and all but, for IV, for example, I remember hearing, you'll never see the same ped twice (no really sure if R* said that, but a lot of people were referring to this 'strong rumor')

 

Things aren't always as they seem either, I had a totally different nostalgic feeling in the build up to IV, than I did when I actually played it, so same can happen for V.

 

I don't think we'll even see the map fully, on a diagram, until we get the game and press pause, usually leaks come out, but who knows if it's legit. I have a feeling a number of you guys' maps will be close, like fido and lxr etc...

 

Keep it up

[G-Eazy]

Im getting mindf*cked by all these numbers...

 

[CaptRobau]

Modders know, because there have to be standard units of measurement in a game for the devs (and later the map modders) to make things in proportion to each other. A standard unit in the III era was exactly 1 meter. Comes up at 36 km² exactly.

 

I do get your thing about how things can feel large though. Subjectively, RDR was the biggest game of them all. The fastest you'll ever go there is the speed of a galloping horse (not even SA's bicycles compare as they could go as fast as cars), there are less landmarks to base distance on and all the open space help a lot to make it feel gargantuan. Just Cause 2 on the other hand is truly gargantuan but feels less immense than it is because you cover distances very easily by using planes, helicopters and your parachute all the time.

[F4t4l1ty]

Hi. I created these maps in vector CAD program. I used traniers to find out ingame coordinates and find out coordinates of most western and most eastern points on the map (you can see it in some images). Then it's easy put image into the program and resize it correctly. Islands are basically traced(outlined?) 2D polygons and I can determine their area. Maybe it's useful for someone

 

IMAGES:

A is area (km^2)

P is perimeter (km)

 

LC:

not in scale with SA image!!!

 

SA:

not in scale with LC image!!!

 

SA + LC in scale:

 

Links to other images:

 

How accurate outline is:

http://i.imgur.com/cmSq5.png

http://i.imgur.com/7Mxad.jpg

 

Areas as squares, rectangles... These are IN SCALE

Green square means whole area, blue square/rectangle (they have the same area) means land area.

 

http://i.imgur.com/IF9HX.png

http://i.imgur.com/F3ahN.png

 

NUMBERS: (easy to copy and paste )

 

IV [km^2]:

land area:

2,396067593

0,812829107

0,113625854

0,085870403

2,590697386

2,275042850

0,0770387288

_______________

sum=8,35117192

 

whole area:

16,926357

 

---------------

 

SA [km^2]:

land area:

10,89199658

1,794137002

6,491151755

6,929379868

0,106944812

2,475209007

______________

sum=28,688819

 

whole area:

35,701523

 

---------------

 

LC+SA [km^2]:

 

52,62788

Edited January 18, 2013 by F4t4l1ty

[iiConTr0v3rSYx]

The post above .

[Choco Taco]

SA is the only size that has been verified: http://www.gamespot.com/grand-theft-auto-s...e-hood-6126774/

 

It's 36 km². Converting your 14 square miles even punches out that number, not 22.

 

Yeah, I converted incorrectly. I converted the total 36km2 to miles, but you have to convert side by side numbers first and then multiply.

 

 

[lxr]

 

You guys are getting way to caught up in your units of measurement. Seriously, measuring a metre in a video game is like saying how long is a piece of string? There's no unified measurement in a virtual environment... and every game is different... it's just weird that you guys are trying to talk measurements of a map of a place that doesn't exist on paper to be able to measure accurately.

 

Just look and admire.

I was actually thinking the same thing. How can you measure a map in a game. For all we know SA map may not even be the size it's said to be. Has anybody actually gone around the whole map measuring it meter by meter? I imagine not, and I'm talking whilst playing the game, not looking at a map diagram and estimating what a meter is. SA could only be 2/3 of what R* say it is, that's why some people don't believe that RDR is bigger than SA, and others believe it is, there's no REAL proof.

 

It'll still 'feel' bigger, I'm positive of that, but don't always believe everything that R* says. That's something I've come to believe. I mean, I love GTA and all but, for IV, for example, I remember hearing, you'll never see the same ped twice (no really sure if R* said that, but a lot of people were referring to this 'strong rumor')

In fact, we do know all these things. R* uses a well-defined scale when developing the game, and if you want to write a mod for GTA, you can communicate with the game using precise distances, in meters. People have measured and mapped SA, and with regards to IV, yes, I have actually, almost literally, "gone around the whole map measuring it meter by meter" (see here, bottom of the post).

 

With regards to "you'll never see the same ped twice", that's not a mystery either (it's wrong). There are tools ("trainers") for GTA IV that let you manipulate almost every aspect of the game, and that includes spawning, or being, any ped that's in the game, or in a cutscene. That list of peds is long (and they often come with different outfits or hairstyles), but not endless, and after a while, you've seen them all. (To spawn half-pipes in the middle of a busy highway is more fun. And it doesn't end there, see here.)

 

I'm not part of the modding community in any way, but I can assure you that past editions of GTA have been examined very thoroughly, by a large number of people. Same will happen with V, once it's out on PC.

Edited January 18, 2013 by lxr

[GSi]

My mind=is blown by this topic, Pure Dedication and best part of the site for me I look forward to more

 

Excellent work guys

[Supercrammer]

You guys are hardcore!!!

[lxr]

 

[LOTS OF IMAGES AND NUMBERS]

This is actually very impressive (as it shows, for example, that the Liberty City land mass is only 49% of that particular part of the map).

 

I even think it's more precise than R*'s own numbers. They'll probably just use something like this (which shows the different "zones" the map is split into, as the full thing is too large to be loaded all at once, so they only load the parts that you can actually see, at different levels of detail).

[Choco Taco]

Conclusion:

 

V land = 86.63 km2 = 9.31 x 9.31 km (= 33.45 mi2 = 5.78 x 5.78 mi)

V total = 123.75 km2 = 11.12 x 11.12 km (= 47.71 mi2 = 6.91 x 6.91 mi)

 

I made this to get a visual of the possible map size.

 

 

 

I'd like it be as large as possible, but I'm thinking the total area will be under 30 square miles.

[iiConTr0v3rSYx]

Now that I look at the SA/LC comparison, it makes me wonder how big LS actual is and how big the countryside will be. Liberty City is quite small if you crunch all the islands together... Once again, great work everyone!

[YouthGamer]

do u guys have jobs or a life

[iiConTr0v3rSYx]

 

do u guys have jobs or a life

With a username like "YouthGamer", do you? Be grateful you have people actually taking the time out of their own lifes to do something like this. .