Remodelling bits of maps has been a theme in the last week and I decided to go back to one of my earliest areas, Fontjana. This wasn't awful, but it was a typical Potlach creation with untidy lines and crude over-simple buildings. Now I have started redoing the town starting from its centre and working out. Much of the previous incarnation will remain but with more realistic proportions.
The Old Town, unsurprisingly the oldest part of the city, was first priority:
http://opengeofiction.net/#map=16/50.9028/109.9637
In particular I tried for the first a technique used to great effect in cities in Antharia: using pedestrian area shapes to show the true width of the streets. It gives much better character to this area where there is no separate pavement and roadway (seeing as private motors are not allowed). Finally learned how to use the tag historic=citywalls properly too. Fontjana's walls are mostly gone on the south and east sides, which allows the single-track tramway to use the gap left between buildings or half of pedestrian streets (somewhat the character of the Helsinki and Dublin LUAS systems). The stop Varashus uses a clever layout to fit two platforms and two tracks into a narrow space (I might make Harjupoorta a single bi-directional platform to better fit the area). As ordinary cars are not allowed (council and some disabled are) and buses do not run in the narrow streets, the tramway is a great asset to tourists and residents, even though it is possibly damaging the old towers and city gates by rumbling so close to them. The tram going through the Harjupoorta actually used to happen in my city: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=bargate%20trams&first=1&cw=1262&ch=631
One thing I'd like to ask you all is how best to show areas in front of restaurants which are used for outside seating. They are not part of public squares (or they may be public property in legal terms but there is a barrier) yet they are not really the same as the 'beer garden' tag.