I am not a math geek. I am several other flavors of geek, but not math. And there is a mapping problem that involves three dimensional measurements.

I want to do a star map for RPGs, and do not know what format it would be best to present with end users.

Stars. Local stars. Say, 12 Light years diameter around Sol. I can do the 2d map, and even indicate position from the sun, above and below the plane of the ecliptic.

But I would like to deal with distances between stars ... as the crow flies. And we can assume the Crow doesn't always want to go back by Sol to see Aunt Gramma. Sometimes you just want the shortest route. It would be easy to present the resulting data from a 2-axis chart, but getting the distances is more of a problem than my tiny brain can wrap around.

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This is the fourth of five posts before I am considered real. The CAPTCHAs weren't enough of a clue, I guess.

And here is my regular white for a higher contrast options for low vision map geeks, like me. I can get high contrast using the mobile phone format otpion, but I cannot post maps to a map forum to discuss maps in that readable format. So I'm guessing. I've got my screen blown up to 'damn big' and still can read the black on brown options.

If the idea was to evoke the old map persona, you know what would really evoke the old map persona - black on beige. Ink on parchment. Ink on foolscap. Ink on pulp paper. But very few maps were printed in yellow with brown backgrounds.