Very detailed analysis of map sizes

[RockStarNiko]

"GTA V is larger than San Andreas, GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption combined"

 

This statement made me get really excited when I read it, but I wanted to find out exactly how big we might be talking so I spend last few hours finding out exactly how big the maps of SA, IV and RDR actually are.

 

Also I hope my painstaking efforts put to bed the debates on whether SA or RDR is bigger.

 

 

On each image RED bar = route jogged GOLD bar = 1 mile

 

 

Update - I also measured the distance of 2 blocks in GTA IV using two taxis.

Method was get in one, park it directly in front of the other, bumper to bumper, then repeat

The distance was 33 taxi lengths

On the scaled image below of GTA IV the distance was 22-23 pixels.

Next I repeat the experiment in SA, again using 33 taxi lengths

When finished I looked on scaled image of SA and the distance was = 22-23 pixels

Length of a taxi in both game can then be calculated as being 17-18 feet

The result of this experiment leads me to believe that the in game measuring stats used in both SA and GTA IV are the same and so the map comparisons in this thread are very accurate

Could RDR have used a different in game measuring system?

From SA to GTA IV they switched from metric to imperial and from one generation to the other, yet the system stayed the same

So why would they switch from GTA IV to RDR? Same units and same generation.

I don't see any reason why they would change it.

Consider this too

It takes John 21 mins 8 secs to jog across RDR map

It takes Carl 17 mins 48 secs to jog across SA map

Now, play each game and jog about a little, who do you think is jogging at the faster pace?

How fast would Carl take to jog across the RDR map?

 

 

 

 

SAN ANDREAS

 

 

384 pixels = 1/4 distance and this is the distance I jogged after finding suitable route.

 

Distance travelled by foot = 1532.76 metres = 0.95241 miles

 

1 mile = 403r pixels

6 minutes = 518 pixels

 

Time taken for Carl to jog from point A to B

= 4 mins 27 secs

(Route = julius junction, southern crossing - lamppost just before turn off)

 

Total Area of image = 0.95241 * 4 = 3.80964 * 3.80964 = 14.513 sq m

Total Area of image = 1536 / 403 = 3.81141r * 3.81141r = 14.527r sq m

 

Note: This shows the high degree of accuracy

 

GTA IV

 

 

256 pixels = 1/4 distance and this is the distance I jogged after finding suitable route.

 

Distance travelled by foot = 0.79 miles

 

1 mile = 324r pixels

6 minutes = 352 pixels

 

Time taken for Niko to jog from point A to B

= 4 mins 22 secs

(Route = corner of topaz and bismarck, western crossing - lamppost just before weazel billboard)

 

Total Area of image = (1024 / 324) = w-e distance of 3.16049r miles * (654 / 324) = n-s distance of 2.01852r miles = 6.380r sq m

 

RED DEAD REDEMPTION

 

 

510 pixels = 1/4 distance and this is the distance I jogged after finding suitable route.

 

Distance travelled by foot = 0.95 miles

 

1 mile = 537r pixels

6 minutes = 579 pixels

 

Time taken for John to jog from point A to B

= 5 mins 17 secs

(Route = directly south was tree on cliff, directly east was weird tree - small trail finish line - using waypoint and compass point ran in straight line - i did this run twice for an average, both times ended up identical)

 

Total Area of image = (2040 / 537) = w-e distance of 3.79888r miles * (1694 / 537) = n-s distance of 3.15456r miles = 11.984r sq m

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the images scaled down that each 1 mile GOLD bar is ~200 pixels

 

 

 

NOTE: I have edited and now also added a scaled comparison using the time taken to jog, ignoring in game mileage changes, just for an alternative.

GREEN BAR is a 6 minutes bar

 

Here are the images scaled down so that each 6 minutes GREEN bar is ~300 pixels

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

San Andreas is the largest game world of the three.

 

"GTA V is larger than San Andreas, GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption combined" statement means

GTA V could be roughly 30 sq m (somewhere in the ballpark)

 

"GTA V is larger than San Andreas, GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption combined" statement means

it could take over HALF AN HOUR to jog from one side of the map to the other

 

Cars are faster than horses, but those horses are pretty damn quick

Edited November 11, 2012 by RockStarNiko

[Wreak Havoc in Los Santos]

good point man

 

[Linki]

I'm inept when it comes to numbers/math.

 

Hate to ask - could you explain what's going on?

[nikobellic91]

You are a genius! Kudos.

[Forkie]

Finally someone using actual math. Really nice post man!

[CIAman96]

This needs to be spread around. There's so many people believing that RDR is 28 square miles or twice the size of San Andreas and then thinking that V will be 50 square miles. Good work man. I'm thinking with actual land area it'll come out to about 25-28 square miles.

[RockStarNiko]

This needs to be spread around. There's so many people believing that RDR is 28 square miles or twice the size of San Andreas and then thinking that V will be 50 square miles. Good work man. I'm thinking with actual land area it'll come out to about 25-28 square miles.

Before the preview I said to myself I be happy if we get 5 x 5 and 25 sq m

 

After the preview I hope they bump it up to 6 x 6 and we get 36 sq m

[Magic_Al]

I approve of this topic.

 

 

Spread the truth with this sig:

Edited November 10, 2012 by Magic_Al

[JuankAirPilot]

 

Nice work and display of non-laziness my friend. /respect........although you know some idiot will chime in here any minute disputing your calculations.

[kietotheworld]

Fake

[RockStarNiko]

I approve of this topic.

 

 

Spread the truth with this sig:

lol I like that

 

thanks

[LX-FBN]

Amazing job man!

 

 

Magic_Al, do you mind if I use that sig?

 

[Neckbeard]

I just made a clusterf*ck map of the right scaled maps and placed Liberty City from GTA IV next to it for a rough comparison

 

[Magic_Al]

Amazing job man!

 

 

Magic_Al, do you mind if I use that sig?

Everybody use it! Make it viral. Now that Rockstar has used these maps as units of measure to describe GTA V it's really relevant.

[Linki]

Oh, so that sig is representative of GTAV?

[caiaof]

they said that the size was including interior buildings area too.

 

don't be too optimist about that statment, the final map could look not that bigger because of the interior size.

 

and sorry for my engish/grammar

[H. León]

I just made a clusterf*ck map of the right scaled maps and placed Liberty City from GTA IV next to it for a rough comparison

 

That's awesome!

Looks like an official map !

[Thom Yorke]

Great analysis. Now I'm even more stoked

[LotusRIP]

Sure you can estimate road widths, albeit very very roughly, but how do you measure the length of those red and yellow lines? Whose to say you didn't screw up and the line is longer in RDR than IV etc....

 

Also, when they made the statement that the map size is all those combined, were they just using a rough representation of the maps? Did they have the mathematics like this to support the statement? It could be just an estimate from visual and feel.

Edited November 10, 2012 by LotusRIP

[kgrogfefji82]

I made this purely on the assumption that the maps are all pixel appropriate so if not sorry for being dumb

 

 

It's pretty obvious of what is what but just in case, red is RDR (parts you can actually access not the whole square thing with empty inaccessible space) and blue is IV. It's pretty half assed but I decided to throw it together

[CIAman96]

they said that the size was including interior buildings area too.

 

don't be too optimist about that statment, the final map could look not that bigger because of the interior size.

 

and sorry for my engish/grammar

Unless half of the buildings are fully explorable, interiors will not take up much space on the map. At the largest, maybe 1-2 square miles.

[Vicecitystories]

Sure you can estimate road widths, albeit very very roughly, but how do you measure the length of those red and yellow lines? Whose to say you didn't screw up and the line is longer in RDR than IV etc....

 

Also, when they made the statement that the map size is all those combined, were they just using a rough representation of the maps? Did they have the mathematics like this to support the statement? It could be just an estimate from visual and feel.

great points. I to questioned this

[Sneakerhead.]

Very smart of you OP, I approve.

[danron13]

Didn't SA have like an infinite ocean? Or was it just massive? Cause that counts as part of the map

[The Scottish Guy]

What the? Liberty City and RDR are virtually the same size!

 

I guess being on horseback makes a huge difference. RDR felt alot bigger than LC.

 

Anyway, good work sir.

[Snake Without a Tongue]

"GTA V is larger than San Andreas, GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption combined"

 

This statement made me get really excited when I read it, but I wanted to find out exactly how big we might be talking so I spend last few hours finding out exactly how big the maps of SA, IV and RDR actually are.

You Nate Silvered that real good, boss.

[RockStarNiko]

Sure you can estimate road widths, albeit very very roughly, but how do you measure the length of those red and yellow lines? Whose to say you didn't screw up and the line is longer in RDR than IV etc....

 

Also, when they made the statement that the map size is all those combined, were they just using a rough representation of the maps? Did they have the mathematics like this to support the statement? It could be just an estimate from visual and feel.

I checked and checked again the measurements when I was doing it and I also just double checked, I still have all 6 images saved in pictures folder.

 

 

RDR image was 2040 pixels x 1694 pixels

 

The red line goes from 1195 to 1705 = 510 pixels which is 1/4 of 2040

 

 

GTA IV image was 1024 pixels x 654 pixels

 

The red line goes from 200 to 456 = 256 pixels which is 1/4 of 1024

 

 

SA image was 1536 x 1536 pixels

 

The red line goes from 170 to 554 = 384 pixels which is 1/4 of 1536

 

 

 

You can check for yourself by saving the scaled images, open with paint and scale back up to original size (or just calculate it)

 

Also you can actually repeat the exact route I took and measure for yourself, I included the route I took

 

I know it is very possible I jogged an extra pixel or two but I tried to be as exact as possible

[MuffinMcFluffin]

 

I made this purely on the assumption that the maps are all pixel appropriate so if not sorry for being dumb

 

 

It's pretty obvious of what is what but just in case, red is RDR (parts you can actually access not the whole square thing with empty inaccessible space) and blue is IV. It's pretty half assed but I decided to throw it together

So is is accurate that Angel Pine and Happiness Island are roughly the same size?

 

Just asking to be sure.

 

 

 

 

 

[i am a girl on the internet]

they said that the size was including interior buildings area too.

 

don't be too optimist about that statment, the final map could look not that bigger because of the interior size.

While GI/R* did say that, including interiors, V's map was bigger than SA, RDR, and IV's maps combined, they also said "with room to spare."

 

Substitute the interior space for the "room to spare" bit, and you'll most likely have an approximate representation of that map's square footage/mileage.

[JPichay]

tl;dr