I’m looking for software for making small-scale maps / designs. Say for example I wanted to map out a small-ish plot of land with various markers indicating features of the site. Another requirement is that is must have the capability to depict elevation. Others have recommended map-making software for dungeons and dragons, but of the ones I can find they are either paid / subscription models or they strictly adhere to a grid system that makes it impossible to use for my purposes.
Does anyone have some good recommendations?
Edit: It doesn’t have to be a single piece of software necessarily. If anyone has recommendations for a particular workflow (like for example if you know some good open source drawing software I could use to draw over the top of a topographic map) I’m interested in that as well.
i think qgis might have the ability to do everything you require, however the learning curve is somewhat steep.
it allows you to import data from various maps, including openstreetmap, NASA and many more.
i believe there are free/open source topographic layers that can be imported or ways to add specific data.
it can draw layers, lines and shapes on top of each other with varying translucency and colors.
it can show non-mercator map projections such as stereographic, othrographic or even more obscure ones like the waterman butterfly or some of the ones from the list at the bottom of this page: http://www.quadibloc.com/maps/mapint.htm
if you are doing this for a fantasy world map and not earth, it might add even more difficulty but i’ve read people on forums claim they could do it, using another program with qgis and on windows only. i don’t recall much else since the windows requirement was a block for me. it’s probably possible to create the shapefile from scratch.
it has the ability to customize aspects of maps and mapped datum in many more ways that i am incapable of properly explaining, describing, using or understanding. i also have cognitive/developmental disorders, so it might be easier for others, however for me, it’s a map creation program i get lost trying to use.
Go with Qgis, there a loads of well written tutorials for using it and even step by step guids to do what you want: Example.
You can take ot a step further and host your maps online with either qgis2web like This, by using the build in tools or geoserver. You might even take it to the real world with qfield or an ar tool.