Mapping

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Illo-Exploration.jpg

A page to describe how the Alliance handles surveying, mapping, and updating astrographic charts.

History

How was this done in the past and how does it affect existing charts. Probably a lot of this started with (outdated and patchwork) maps grabbed from Earth by the Pelted on their way off the planet, and then the automated data gathering done by their vessels during the Exodus. The data they gathered in the early days of the Alliance was limited by time and attention (busy colonizing planets and building a new coalition) and technology, since the Well drive was young tech not too long into the Alliance's formation. Fleet's size limited exploration initially, since Fleet's second task (after "keep the humans from re-enslaving us if they come after us") was to find new worlds for the Pelted to colonize.

Alliance Procedure

The galaxy is a big place, and the Pelted are dedicated to exploring it. This section discusses how the Alliance handles its mapping activities. I should probably consider whether I want to talk about how other alien races handle this. Maybe a separate section.

Remote Data Gathering

  • Observatories
  • Orbital telescopes
  • Remotes and drones

In-person Data Gathering

"Fleet Always Wins" is the acronym thrown around by private organizations that do survey work, because they rarely have the resources or reach to get anywhere first. Fleet is far and away the largest provider of exploration data, and its size makes it unlikely that this will change anytime soon (for the Alliance, anyway). The search for habitable worlds (and the bounties paid by the Colony Bureau for their discovery) is exciting enough to entice private entities into the game, however, so there will always be some number of small-time outfits that do the work, either under their own flags, or contracting to Fleet in remote areas.

  • Survey ships
  • Mapping outposts (reserved for areas that might be changing, or are on unexplored borders)
  • Fleet activities
  • Private or corporate activities
    • Ownership of data and legalities in the rare cases that a private entity discovers a new area before Fleet

Administrative

  • Labeling conventions ("spinward, coreward", 3d projections versus 2d, planar labels for 2d maps ("what slice of the stack am I looking at")
  • Updates of charts
  • Naming of features (sectors, planets, etc)
  • Promulgation of data
  • Planetary assessments: habitability, terraforming potential, Mediger Scale measurements
  • Planetary assessment: flora (useful? toxic?)
  • Planetary assessment: fauna (potentially sapient?)
    • If there might be native races, then procedure for how to handle that based on their technology level

Note that there is probably some way to tell "where you are" in the more settled parts of the galaxy--a galactic GPS, more or less. Probably built off the repeater network, and incorporating satellites from inhabited planets. Probably the "Well satellite specifically for FTL network communication with the Alliance" mentioned in Sword of the Alliance.[1]

Interface with Alien Powers

  • Data sharing agreements
  • Naming rights
  • Claims of habitable worlds and disputation resolution

Note here that the Chatcaava lied about their empire's size and gave the Alliance a false set of maps during the Treaty of Za'ara, and how that contributed to the Alliance's complacency leading up to the war. No one on the Pelted side expected the data share to be used as a weapon. [2]

The initial treaty the Alliance and Empire had signed had required both signatories to offer maps delineating their respective political boundaries, but this map looked nothing like those. "Did you lie? Or have you simply been very busy expanding?"
"Lying would have required us to believe you worthy of the truth." The Emperor rolled onto his stomach to free his wings, stretching them and then folding them against his spine. "But the answer is'both.'"[2]

Agencies

The various entities that use this data, or contribute to it. Other than these, which are already on the wiki, there are probably astrogation oversight groups and navigator's guilds (which interface with merchant and private vessels as well as Fleet); schools that need this information to train navigators and surveyors; companies that handle creation of and maintenance of repeater networks for the Well-pushed comm system; charities that use this data; and political agencies that publish when borders change/are re-negotiated. Travel companies and commercial carriers will need updated charts when planning routes like the ones mentioned when Jahir and Vasiht'h are traveling toward Sharsenne prior to the outbreak of the First Chatcaavan War.[3]

Governmental

Cultural

Not sure whether I'll fold this section into the rest of it once it's filled out more, but this would be where I put mentions of the fine art renditions of star maps, like the ones in Alon Levy's office on the border.[4]

Dependencies

Don't have a better name for this section yet, it's 'these are other pages that are affected by this.'

Meta

According to the author's notes, the galaxy doesn't map directly to ours.

References