need help mapping large scale

[Kol Korran]

i'm having a particular problem. as a DM i'm good at mapping natural places (most are fairly simple), and small dungeons (10-20 rooms approximately), but i get totally lost when trying to map big areas: a small ruined (or not ruined) city, vast mines underground, the under dark, a large fort, that sort of thing...

in my Current campaign the players are coming to a time where i'll need to have several such places prepared.

solutions i've thought of:
- certain random mappers. partially did the trick, but works mostly for dungeons. and even then, at most times it's TOO randomized.
- tried to Google some maps, but my google fu is weak (i'm fairly crap at data search).

the two closest projects are the vast mines mentioned above (i can't believe i'm asking this after all this years in D&D, but what do mines hold? the first time i'm using mines) and a sort of a City with a Cathedral/ fort in the center of it (Flamekeep from Eberron. there's a map in five nations, not nearly detailed enough). i have ideas for locals of major encounters, but... how to flesh it out, bring it together, what's there other than my imagination? :smallsmile:

this has been a slightly jumbled up post, hope you don't mind... thanks in advance.

[Yora]

The best way to make good maps is to get familiar with maps. The players have seen maps before and have certain expectations how maps look like. To make great maps, you have to meet those expectations how a map is supposed to look like.

What I would do is searching for maps of real world areas that are somewhat similar to what you have in mind. There are maps for cities and settlements from all times and places that can help you to get some examples of how such locations actually looked like.