I'm sure this has been covered to death in the past, so I apologise if it has, but I'm damned if I can find the threads...

My group are taking a break from Star Wars for a while (doing a bit of Cthulhu, heaven help us...) and by the time I start running SW again I'd like to have a map of the local sector, so the players have a better sense of what's going on and where. Can anyone recommend a good space mapping tool? I want to be able to include system names, hyperspace routes, travel times and, ideally, symbols to denote Imperial and Rebel bases.

Cosmographer seems to be the top of the line. I bought a copy and played around with it for a while, but it has a pretty steep learning curve...

https://secure.profantasy.com/products/cos3.asp

Cosmographer does have a steep learning curve, and I'm a professional cartographer. However, there are plenty of tutorials, and it can do some amazing things once it has been mastered.

How complex are you thinking you want the image? Something like the WEG Tapani sector map, or the Correlian Sector in SoF is so simple if you posted an ink sketch many people could just convert it over for you in their sleep.

How complex are you thinking you want the image? Something like the WEG Tapani sector map, or the Correlian Sector in SoF is so simple if you posted an ink sketch many people could just convert it over for you in their sleep.

Oddly enough, it was the Tapani sector map that got me thinking I wanted to produce something really nice for them.

Cosmographer does have a steep learning curve, and I'm a professional cartographer. However, there are plenty of tutorials, and it can do some amazing things once it has been mastered.

I remember the learning curve involved when I started using Campaign Cartographer 2 back in the day. However, the examples shown on the Cosmographer website look really good, so I think I'll go for that one unless anyone has another suggestion.

Of course, knowing my players, as soon as I get the sector mapped out they'll plot a course for the other side of the galaxy and never look back.

Good thing there is a cosmic storm blocking all hyperspace traffic. They'll just have to turn around.

For my SW campaign I've gone no-frills. I pulled out a pencil and a sheet of heavy paper and went to town, making a hand-drawn map just like I did when I was a kid (which is what got me into cartography in the first place). Sometimes it is fun to go low tech.

OP, have you seen the Star Wars Atlas? It's not a computing tool but it does show you major and minor routes in the regions, plus it zooms in to variosu regions like Hutt space, the area around Tatooine and a few others.

I'm using that for my game, both the (many) mentioned worlds and adding my own where I wanted them. IIRC there's a way of calculating travel time, though I think it contradicts the stuff in Fly Casual anyway.

OP, have you seen the Star Wars Atlas? It's not a computing tool but it does show you major and minor routes in the regions, plus it zooms in to variosu regions like Hutt space, the area around Tatooine and a few others.

I'm using that for my game, both the (many) mentioned worlds and adding my own where I wanted them. IIRC there's a way of calculating travel time, though I think it contradicts the stuff in Fly Casual anyway.

I have a copy and use it regularly. Unfortunately, it's not hugely helpful for my game - I started with the Whisper Base scenarios and my players are still based in and around Onderon, which isn't shown in great detail, so I'm having to make up the Japrael Sector from scratch.

OP, have you seen the Star Wars Atlas? It's not a computing tool but it does show you major and minor routes in the regions, plus it zooms in to variosu regions like Hutt space, the area around Tatooine and a few others.

I'm using that for my game, both the (many) mentioned worlds and adding my own where I wanted them. IIRC there's a way of calculating travel time, though I think it contradicts the stuff in Fly Casual anyway.

I have a copy and use it regularly. Unfortunately, it's not hugely helpful for my game - I started with the Whisper Base scenarios and my players are still based in and around Onderon, which isn't shown in great detail, so I'm having to make up the Japrael Sector from scratch.

Ah, fair enough.