Forum:Fallout 3 map-matching?

Alright, we all know that Fallout 3 takes place mainly in DC and the surrounding area. I was thinking; I have an old map of DC from when I used to live there. Is it possible to use this map to at least somewhat-work my way around the Capital Wasteland?

unlikely the game may have taken the landmarks but the layoput is wrong they did have to scale it down in the downtown area and they made the wastes bigger.

Also the fall out dc has a completely different layout because of the divergent history (see Divergence). As mention above there is a size flaw in the city, but the layout in terms of land marks is far from accurate, for instance the pentagon in the RW is outside dc not in it, and the mall if much larger in proportion.

I live in olney md, and can tell you that generaly, yes, the main highways, the metro, the mall, have been, generaly keep the same. but the details, the way the metro turns, the streets. no.

divergence theory works with alternate universes too.Maccy Man the man with no plan. 19:10, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

General positioning of towns is reasonably correct, although there are some name changes, e.g., Annandale is "Andale," and "Springdale" appears to be located around Great Falls or Langley. Distances are also massively compressed. You cannot walk from Alexandria to Germantown in a couple of hours in the real world. You also cannot see the Potomac from the Farragut West Metro station. Even if it were accurate, the war has made most urban areas choked with impassible rubble, requiring detours through the Metro and sewer tunnels. You can, however, approximately follow the in-game Metro system maps, and you can even download a copy from one of the Metro terminals. Quest objectives will also outline a possible route through the various tunnels. DreadPirateMurphy 20:54, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

I did my own map overlay in Google Earth and found that if you align Olney, Bethesda, and Andale (Annandale), most of the other locations match close enough. The only major offset seemed to be Germantown, which is well south of Olney in-game, and yet is 2km north of it in real life -- Danial79 07:12, March 25, 2010 (UTC)