Without this becoming a spamlisting, (sorry first proper go here on this bit!), what programs would you use for map-making?
http://www.mapmaker.com/ (Map Maker Pro) was what I used to have a go at street design but couldn't quite get the hang of it.
http://www.map-tool.com/ - but I haven't yet tried that properly.

I could try Paint, but I'm trying to make it look semi-professional, since this is an information site, not a fansite etc.

The open street map tools Merkaartor and JOSM can be used offline and make reasonable attempts.

Merkaartor makes the better looking results but has some quirks when opening files it has saved (exporting to GPX when saving, then opening and saving in JOSM sorts that!)

You can even make proper slippy maps out of them - see http://kjs.me.uk/osm/fantasy.php?zoom=1 ... ayers=B000 for example (original data from OSM, edited in Merkaartor and then run through there Mapnik stuff)

I think Truvelo uses Paint for all his maps.

The thing that matters is not the tool you use, but what you do with it.

I use Gimp for all editing work I've done for SABRE Maps, including faking up 1925 MOT Maps as 1923 ones. There's a bit of a learning curve, but it's free and available on most platforms, so it can't hurt to give it a go.

I've got GIMP, just trying to work out how to make some maps with it.

There's two tools I've tried, Map-Maker Pro and something else I found on Avax, but both have steep learning curves and cost a fortune, and the freeware ones need a Honours Degree in Linux and scripting and other such nonsense!

I was browsing thro' my J & B atlases and was quite surprised how imperfectly drawn/printed they were (This has been mentioned before but I can't remember just where).

What I'd love to create for myself, which I'd be only too pleased to share, is a Half-Inch/1:100000 Atlas of the whole of Great Britain, ideally colour-layered in feet and with the roads as up-to-date as possible, in A4 or A5 format.

Is such a thing possible? I saw an application to create an atlas plus index out of Open Street Map but it worked on scripting techniques that I found totally incomprehensible - apart from that it was a waste of space as it left three-inch margins on an A4 sheet.

I've sent for the latest set of CDs from the OS OpenData scheme but where to go from there I'm not sure!

Chris Williams