Show HN: An interactive map of Tolkien's Middle-earth(middle-earth-interactive-map.web.app)
191 pointsby frasermarlow12 hours ago22 comments
  • ivolimmen3 hours ago
    The first thing that poped in my head when seeing this: it must have taken quite some time to thoroughly go thought all this to make it. The developer must have a huge passion for LOTR. Seeing all the message that it was build using AI it hugely deminishes this feeling. Still a very nice looking map.
  • frm8824 minutes ago
    This is awesome, thank you. I will play around with this all day :)
  • tuom1s40 minutes ago
    This is amazing, and only recently I started to read the books. So this map will actually be handy to follow through the story!
  • aquir2 hours ago
    It's great but it's the Map of Middle-Earth in the Third Age, right? During the First and Second Ages Middle-Earth looked very different and this makes showing events from the Silmarillion for example very confusing.
  • topherjaynes10 hours ago
    One doesn't simply vibe code into Mordor!(but seriously love this)
  • freakynit5 hours ago
    As much hate as vibe-coding gets (and most of it is justified), it has also allowed all of us to vibe-code our thoughts to small single-page web apps very easily.

    Shameless vibe-coded plugs for my own regular usage:

    1. https://llm-token-cost-calculator.pagey.site/

    2. https://metrics-memory-usage.pagey.site/

    • helloplanets8 minutes ago
      Whatever you're using as your visual templating instructions, I like it. Mind sharing?

      Been using a slightly modified Tufte template for my vibed small apps, but this is much better.

    • emaro2 hours ago
      I don't mind people sharing their plugs about related things, but don't you think the connection here is a bit far-fetched?

      Imo we're past the point where being vibe-coded is an interesting link. This is a thread about an interactive map of middle earth — not about vibe-coding, token usage or anything like it. Imagine if everyone posted their vibes projects now...

      • freakynitan hour ago
        You're right. I got too excited to share. Couldn't delete now because of HN rule (1 hour), but will keep in mind. Thanks..
    • frasermarlow5 hours ago
      Yeah, for sure. Vibe coding has it's place, I think. It's the people who pretend to build production-ready systems that are just hollow shells that give it a bad name. It is what it is. I vibe-coded this game and I take pride in it: https://frasermarlow.github.io/vibe-star-chase/
      • freakynit3 hours ago
        yep.. vibe-coding works, but, only up to a certain housands of lines of code max, that too, with bigger models.. beyond that, it starts to make absolutely stupid mistakes and starts to screw up with the architecture and general layout of the project all while leaving huge security holes. You need to guide it beyond that.
  • bananaflag11 hours ago
    I notice the map is the one from the movies (it shows the Orocarni a bit too close, but it's nice they appear on the map).

    Maybe when describing historical events you should also put the year (it is given only for some of them).

    Anyway, very nice work! I think it's appropriate especially for casual fans (especially movie fans) to delve (sorry) deeper into the lore.

    • frasermarlow9 hours ago
      Hey thanks. Good call, I will have Claude figure out the years for each event that can be pinned down.
  • randomeel3 hours ago
    Amazing ! But it did kind of spoil the rest of the books since i am reading LOTR for the first time...
  • chantaiman_fnf2 hours ago
    Wish I had this thing when I was young. Like... 25 years ago? lol I had to turn back to the map page over and over... Thanks for the work!
  • jcstryker4 hours ago
    Great work! A window into one of the most important universe we have created.

    Any chance you would be willing to share the source code?

  • 4ndrewl2 hours ago
    Looks really nice. There are tons of interactive Middle Earth maps, but this looks really polished.

    Did the LLM suggest using some pre-existing standard like MBTiles for the tiles?

  • shdh10 hours ago
    Using a tile server for this feels hilarious
  • blevinstein8 hours ago
    Arda was supposed to be drastically changed after the First Age. This map is from the Second/Third Ages. Do the events from the First Age map currently into what is shown? Do some have to be excluded?
    • frasermarlow7 hours ago
      Well I included 13 Silmarillion events, but most are actually Second Age events that map perfectly fine. Three of them are First age so it's a bit fudgy. The project has no Beleriand events... they literally cannot be placed because Beleriand sank beneath the sea after the War of Wrath. Cuiviénen it tricky. The Sea of Helcar where it sat was reshaped when Morgoth's strongholds were taken out, so that is approximate. Would love to make age-appropriate (ha ha) maps, but I only had this one to work from.
  • balajeekalyan9 hours ago
    Wow! this is so detailed. You are putting vibe-code to genuine use.
    • frasermarlow9 hours ago
      Best use case I have found so far :-)
  • pants28 hours ago
    Would love just for fun to feed this through an image generator to make it look like satellite imagery or maybe even Google Maps.
  • twostorytower10 hours ago
    This is awesome! Can you make the zoom in and out smoother? I have to pinch every single time to get to the next zoom level instead of continuously zooming as I pinch.
    • frasermarlow9 hours ago
      Yep, that zoom thing is a bit fiddly on mobile in particular. I will see what I can improve.
  • imwally7 hours ago
    Anyone know a decent place where I can buy a giant print of this for my wall?
    • frasermarlow7 hours ago
      Good question. Check out Reddit - that is where I found the original. I understand it was made for the movies but I have not been able to locate the exact source or a place to order it from.
  • strider_20188 hours ago
    I made an account just to say thank you. Really great work. I would love to see a map of the first age events.
    • frasermarlow6 hours ago
      If I can find the right source materials, then challenge accepted.
  • vldszn7 hours ago
    Looks very good! Thank you
    • frasermarlow7 hours ago
      Thanks. Being on Hacker News is fun. But it turns out to be expensive too if your project takes off and Firebase charges for downloads!
  • kilbey110 hours ago
    Mad respect; I've been working on building maps and it's a LOT harder than it might seem.
    • frasermarlow9 hours ago
      Honestly the hardest thing for this was getting the pins in the right place. I had Claude create a tool for me to get the location and have it correct placements. Even after a dozen 'pins' were on the map, it still had problems placing the next pin (relative to the ones it had). Claude has gotten better and honestly I had not figured out Claude in the browser when I built this.
  • devcraft_ai13 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • zhichuanxun4 hours ago
    [dead]